With the approach of the 2022 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, Duncan Grimley is poised for another January in southeast Queensland. Since 1986, the bloodstock manager for John Singleton’s Strawberry Hill Stud hasn’t missed a Sale, making it 37 straight years upcoming.
“I always look forward to going to the Gold Coast for this Sale,” Grimley said. “It’s a great time of year, and it’s a great holiday time of the year. Even 25 and 30 years ago, when we all started bringing the kids up, they’d all head off to the pool together while we were at the Sale, and now those kids are racehorse trainers and still great friends.”
Grimley said the social scene on the Gold Coast each January made this particular Sale a destination event.
Bridie Sparkes and Duncan Grimley | Image courtesy of Bronwen Healy
“There are relationships that you build around sales events, especially Magic Millions because all the wives and kids want to go too,” he said. “Great friendships are made at those events, and they’re friendships that can last a very long time.”
In that vein, he’ll be joined at the Sale in a few weeks’ time by his somewhat boss and definite long-time friend John Singleton, the master of Strawberry Hill Stud. The pair has an eight-horse draft consigned to the Gold Coast Yearling Sale, and much of it is built on that Joie Denise family that Strawberry Hill has nursed so well.
More Joy
It was a long time ago when Singleton was introduced to Joie Denise by way of Arrowfield Stud. Initially, he owned half of the mare in Arrowfield’s Sunday Silence (USA) project and then, after a few years, he owned her outright.
The mare’s 1999 foal was Sunday Joy (Sunday Silence {USA}), which Singleton purchased for $1 million, and there began one of the best modern families in the Australian Stud Book.
Gallery: Some of the Joie Denise family
From it has come Tuesday Joy (NZ) (Carnegie {Ire}), a four-time Group 1 winner, and More Joyous (NZ) (More Than Ready {USA}), who gave Singleton arguably the best days of his racing life. More Joyous won 20 stakes races, 18 at Group level (eight of which were Group 1s), and she’s had five foals to date at Strawberry Hill.
Among them is the Frankel (GB) mare Woman and the Snitzel mare Joyous Legend, the latter selling in October via the Inglis Digital Online Sale for $1,025,000. She went to Rosemont Stud, one of a tally of high-profile horses that went to the Victorian outfit this year.
More Joyous is represented in Strawberry Hill’s draft in January. She comes via Lot 698, a Snitzel colt from her daughter, Woman. This is the very first foal from Woman, who retired from the track in 2019, and the colt is likely to draw plenty of attention.
Lot 698 - Snitzel x Woman (colt) | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
In recent times, first foals from strong families have attracted considerable money, most notably this week's juvenile winner Man In The Mirror (Not A Single Doubt), who was a first foal from the Group-winning mare One More Honey (Onemorenomore) and who fetched a $1.8 million price tag.
Additionally, the draft features the penultimate foal from the legendary Sunday Joy who, at 22 years old, was retired from stud duties this year after foaling a colt by Dundeel (NZ).
Additionally, the draft features the penultimate foal from the legendary Sunday Joy who, at 22 years old, was retired from stud duties this year after foaling a colt by Dundeel.
Lot 578 is a Sunday Joy colt by Fastnet Rock, the only progeny of that stallion in the draft. He is one of only nine yearlings overall in the catalogue by Coolmore’s ageing super-sire, making him a limited edition, by some accounts.
And then there is Lot 114, a Zoustar colt from a daughter of Tuesday Joy in History Repeats (More Than Ready {USA}). History Repeats was a winner on the track but, more substantially, she is a three-quarter sister to More Joyous.
Even more Joy
Strawberry Hill Stud is one of the significant breeders north of Sydney and it has nursed along a number of significant families, but even Grimley admitted that its crown jewels were the Joie Denise family.
“We basically have one major family and that's the family of Joie Denise,” he said. “If you look at the draft this year, we’ve got History Repeats, Sunday Joy and Woman all from that family, and that is the backbone of Strawberry Hill’s breeding.”
“We (Strawberry Hill Stud) basically have one major family and that's the family of Joie Denise.” - Duncan Grimley
Grimley said the team was expecting the three yearlings, Lots 698, 578 and 114, to be warmly received on the Gold Coast.
“Each of them has got good qualities and I’m sure they’ll be well-sought by people when they look at them,” he said. “We’ve got a Fastnet Rock colt, and there aren’t going to be too many of those there (there are four in the Sale), and although this colt (Lot 578) is out of an older mare in Sunday Joy, she was a Champion mare herself and she has thrown More Joyous, who was a Champion. So there should be good interest in him.”
Lot 578 - Fastnet Rock x Sunday Joy (colt) | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
Grimley added that the Snitzel colt from Woman had the first-foal pizazz, so both colts had plenty on their side.
“They should have good residual from them,” he said.
Unsurprisingly, Strawberry Hill Stud still gets a lot of love for its Joie Denise family, even after all this time. There’s been no such thing as waning interest.
Lot 114 - Zoustar x History Repeats (colt) | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“Every time we take one to the marketplace, whether it be a yearling or a mare from that family, people want to get involved,” Grimley said. “It is very strong, and we don’t sell that many fillies out of it. We sold a couple in the last few years and they’ve all sold very, very well, especially mares at the end of their racing careers.”
Joyous Legend was the first yearling that Strawberry Hill sold from either More Joyous or Sunday Joy, and she fetched $800,000 from Legend Racing at the 2020 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale. A year later, she went for a tick over $1 million to Rosemont.
Queen of the fillies
The rest of the Strawberry Hill draft is by stallions Zoustar, Merchant Navy, I Am Invincible and Written Tycoon. They’re a fine collection and Grimley won’t be pressed on his personal favourite. It’s not his way.
“We’ve got a very even, nice lot of horses,” he said. “The four fillies are all really good, top-quality fillies. They’ve all got good pedigrees and they’re all nice-quality types of horses.”
“We’ve got a very even, nice lot of horses.” - Duncan Grimley
Among them is Lot 172, a Zoustar youngster from the dashing Karuta Queen (Not A Single Doubt).
Strawberry Hill had great success with this mare two years ago when selling her fifth foal, Queen Of The Green (Written Tycoon), for $1.5 million to Sheamus Mills Bloodstock (FBAA) at the 2020 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
Lot 172 - Zoustar x Karuta Queen (filly) | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
Interestingly, 13-year-old Karuta Queen has produced seven foals at Strawberry Hill and every single one of them has been a filly. Lot 172 is no exception and, while she’s a more subdued bay colour than her ritzy mother, she is an attractive and tidy type.
In the Navy
Of additional interest in this draft is Lot 194, a colt by Merchant Navy from the Lonhro mare Lady Lakshmi.
Lot 194 - Merchant Navy x Lady Lakshmi (colt) | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
This is the family of the stakes winner Celebrity Girl (Starcraft {NZ}) and subsequently Instant Celebrity (Not A Single Doubt), who was a winner of the G1 Robert Sangster S. and G2 MRC Thousand Guineas Prelude.
This colt comes from the second crop of Coolmore sire Merchant Navy, who stood the 2021 Australian breeding season for $33,000 (inc GST).
“This is a late foal (November 5) but he’s a big, strong colt,” Grimley said. “Everything this mare has thrown has had good ability, and she’s got a good horse at the moment up in Hong Kong.”
“Everything this mare (Lady Lakshmi) has thrown has had good ability, and she’s got a good horse at the moment up in Hong Kong.” - Duncan Grimley
That horse is Lady Lakshmi’s first foal, the Zoustar gelding Happy Healthy. He arrived in Hong Kong last year and he’s won three races in nine starts for close to HK$13 million (AU$2.3 million) in purses.
Grimley said that Merchant Navy was chugging along steadily as a sire.
“People forget that he himself didn’t appear until the back end of his 2-year-old career,” he said. “Anyone who was expecting the Merchant Navys to get up and win the Gimcrack or the Breeders’ Plate were a little unrealistic, but he has done well and trainers seem to be happy with them. I’m glad they’ve given them a bit more time.”
As good as ever
A quick scan over Strawberry Hill's draft will conclude, excepting Merchant Navy, that it’s well-represented with established sires.
“When you’ve got a very good broodmare band, you tend to take less risk,” Grimley said. “Wherever possible, we will use proven stallions that suit and, this year, that’s how it’s worked out. Next year it might be a little bit different because we’ve used Farnan a bit, so it does change from year to year.”
Lot 250 - Snitzel x Mirror Mirror (filly) | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
Strawberry Hill Stud won’t have a buying interest at the Sale, concentrating solely on its selling presence, and Grimley expects that the upcoming Sale will kick along famously, as it has even through COVID.
“Magic Millions has done a good job again in getting the catalogue out, and it’s a very good, strong and even catalogue, I think,” he said. “There’s interest apparently from overseas, so it remains to be seen if people can get here.
"But there’s been enough interest around the farms with inspections, even though it’s been difficult this year, so it looks like the interest will be as good as ever.”
