Team Widden is committed to holding the line on socialising in a bid to ensure it’s all hands-on-deck across the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

Widden Stud Principal Antony Thompson said his team had made sacrifices leading up to Magic Millions, keeping a low profile and not attending events and staying on the farm to avoid illness, and he felt there were plenty of 'lovely Magic Millions types' in Widden’s draft to deliver the results and rewards that would make those efforts all worthwhile.

Most exciting, though, will be the nine colts and a filly by Trapeze Artist as part of the first crop of Widden’s much-touted first-season sire, who’s opening stud fee was $88,000 (inc GST).

“Obviously Trapeze Artist was the most expensive first season sire and the most popular when he went to stud and he comes to the Magic Millions as the most represented of the first-season sires with 33 yearlings in the Sale,’’ Thompson said.

“We’ve got 10 Trapezes in our draft and have got a really nice lot of colts and a filly. They’re really nice, both type and pedigree, those we have presented.’’

Thompson said the Trapeze Artist offering at the Sale was colt-dominated with the sire’s breeder Bert Vieira, who also raced the four-times Group 1 winner, keeping some of the nicer fillies by him. He said the filly in the Widden Stud draft, out of Fratianne (Lonhro), is a bit of a star.

“She has obviously got a super pedigree coming out of Fratianne,’’ he said. “The Fratianne filly is a star being a half-sister to Tenley, the Reisling Slipper winner and Godolphin’s lovely filly, and her other half-sister Biscayne Bay is a Stakes-placed 2-year-old and ran third in the (Victoria) Oaks this year for Ciaron Maher and David Eustace and I think they believe she’s a Group 1 filly in the making.

“She’s from that Skating family and she’s a lovely grey filly who really catches the eye. So I’m sure she will be a filly with a big residual value as well as a nice racing proposition."

The last colt by Trapeze Artist to be sold from the Widden Stud draft, going under the hammer as Lot 929 late on the Saturday night, is among the top picks and quite the carbon copy of the sire.

“Our last colt, the Dream ’N’ Believe colt, he’s a smashing-looking colt and if you look at a picture of him, he’s a lot like Trapeze Artist. Obviously with the white blaze and the markings but a lovely, strong horse and he’s a half to a couple of stakes winners out of a Shamardal mare.

Lot 312, the grey colt out of Natchwahli (NZ) (O’Reilly {NZ}) also has been turning heads at on-farm inspections for the Widden Valley stud, and will be well sought-after, said Thompson.

“He’s also a horse that’s been much admired. There’s been plenty of talk about him during the inspections. He’s a really strong, well-balanced horse out of an O’Reilly mare who can do no wrong as a broodmare sire.’’

And the Bisutti (Northern Meteor) colt, Lot 807, is not short of current claims as a half-brother to Stupendo (Supido) who won at Flemington on debut and is bound for the R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic. The colt is also a half-brother to Absolute Flirt (Stratum), Group 3 placed and a Listed race winner.

Standing by Written By

Written By also has the first of his first crop of yearlings on sale at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale with 20 yearlings on offer and Widden Stud lining up seven of them.

“Written By was a natural 2-year-old, pre-Christmas horse,’’ said Thompson. “He won his first four starts as a 2-year-old and was a Champion 2-year-old colt, so he has the right credentials to get you a Magic Millions 2-year-old winner.

“And he profiles a horse… it will get really nice, natural 2-year-olds. They look like him; precocious and fast 2-year-old types is what we’re seeing so far.’’

With Written By free of Danehill and the success of his sire Written Tycoon when crossed with the Danehill line, the picks of the Written Bys on sale are 'fairly obvious’, according to Thompson.

“You’ll see some really nice ones out of some Exceed And Excel mares and Danehill-line mares, Redoute’s mares, so there’s a good representation of that,’’ he said.

“The Positive Problems (Lot 382) is a really nice sort of filly and she’s a half-sister to Celestial Spirit who won on debut for Gai Waterhouse and is heading towards the Magic Millions race. She’s a really forward type.

“The Buthayna (Lot 829) colt and the Totally Sure filly on that sort of Danehill cross, with Buthayna being out of an Exceed And Excel mare, he just looks a really naturally 2-year-old type. And Totally Sure out of a Not A Single Doubt mare, that filly again on that cross, she’s a lovely top filly and has great muscle definition.’’

Thompson said that in similar fashion to the Trapeze Artist yearlings, the Written By crop looked a lot like the sire and were “peas in a pod” in some cases.

First foals from impressive mares

A number of prized mares from the Widden Stud broodmare band also have their first foals at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale demanding attention based on their pedigrees and providing plenty to talk about.

Prompt Response (Beneteau) with an I Am Invincible colt at the Sale, Lot 393, is said to be a terrific mare who contested at the highest level.

“She was a Group 1 winner but also ran in all the top races from two right through to five. You look at the races she’s won or placed in, they’re proper races,’’ Thompson said.

“The other, pretty special mare with her first foal is Cool Passion, with a Lohnro filly (Lot 877). She’s a quality filly and she’s again out of a very good mare, Group 1 second and a Group 2 winner… she’s a lovely mare."

More magic from the master

Widden Stud’s proven sire, Zoustar, also is well-represented in the large draft, with nine yearlings by the sire of 2018 R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner and triple Group 1-winning heroine Sunlight.

“A couple of the Zoustar colts are stars,’’ Thompson said. “The colt they’ll probably be jumping on and talking about is that by Summer Sham (Lot 574), the stallion pedigree being the Redoute’s pedigree, the Redoute’s family, but also a couple others of those Zoustar colts will be very popular.’’

Other Zoustar colts from impressive mares include those from Fox Swift (Foxwedge) (Lot 60) and Summer Girlfriend (USA) (Forest Camp {USA}) (Lot 572).

“And, obviously, the Vezalay filly (Lot 666) is out of a very good mare, so we’ve got some very good Zoustars as well,” Thompson said of the mare by Shamardal (USA) purchased for $1 million by Widden Stud and David Redvers Bloodstock in the 2019 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale and whose filly, Night Move (I Am Invincible), sold last year for $1.25 million.

“He’s the proven sire and keeps on just doing a great job,’’ Thompson said. “He’s proven to get the elite performers and he’s obviously already had a Magic Millions winner, so he’s the right horse for the big sales."

A couple of interest

Of the rest of the draft, there is a 'very nice' The Autumn Sun filly (Lot 175) who was an expensive foal when purchased at last year’s Magic Millions Weanling Sale for $360,000, and a Sioux Nation (USA) colt out of Firemaid (USA) (Machiavellian {USA}) (Lot 48) that will have a bit of interest, Thompson said.

“The Sioux Nation, that was a mare we sent to Sioux Nation based on the mating and hoping to get a filly to keep. There wouldn’t be too many Sioux Nations around but he’s a lovely horse and I think he’ll have a bit of interest,’ Thompson said.

There will be some 107 stallions represented at next week's Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, including 20 of them with their first crops, hoping to make a considerable mark in the commercial market for the first time.

We are currently in an era of abundant commercial success for Australia's leading stallions, which have parlayed auction ring popularity into on-track glory for their progeny, the result of which is a cyclical further powering of the demand from the buyer's bench.

Since 2015, there have been 6177 yearlings sell through the year's opening sale, the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, with those horses fetching a combined $1.1 billion in aggregate sales. Last year's Sale alone saw over $213 million traded over the seven days, a new record amid the uncertainty of the global pandemic.

So who is the king of the sires in recent times when it comes to selling on the Glitter Strip in January? Well there are a few ways to cut the pie to judge that.

The law of averages

The 2022 Sale will be the first time in 19 years that the progeny of Redoute's Choice won't be available and his commercial legacy to Australia is evident by the fact that he is still the leading sire by average of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale since 2015 (for those with more than 10 sales).

His 93 yearlings sold in the past seven years have averaged $402,258 and include six $1 million-plus horses. He leads I Am Invincible ($384,949) and his own son Snitzel ($351,249) in that time period, with the top five completed by fellow Australian champion sires Fastnet Rock ($342,686) and Exceed And Excel ($301,250).

The late Japanese champion Deep Impact (Jpn) leads the averages of all sires having had one yearling sell on the Gold Coast for $1.9 million. That yearling developed into the G1 Spring Champion S. winner Profondo.

Table: Top sires by average (more than 10 sales), Magic Millions Gold Coast since 2015

Numbers on their side

The two dominant Magic Millions stallions in the era since 2015 have undoubtedly been Snitzel and I Am Invincible. Snitzel was the leading sire on aggregate at this Sale in 2015, 2016 and 2017, while I Am Invincible has been top of the charts in that regard every year since 2018.

It is little surprise then to see them well clear on top when it comes to the volume of horses sold in January on the Gold Coast Sale in that timeframe.

Snitzel has had 298 yearlings sell, 12 more than I Am Invincible. Those standings could change by the end of the 2022 Sale due to numbers, where I Am Invincible has 54 representatives and Snitzel 44.

Third on the list of total sales since 2015 on 235 is the late Sebring, whose final crop sold through last year's Sale, while Not A Single Doubt, whose final crop will be sold this year, is fourth on 179. Next is Zoustar on 161. Newgate young star Deep Field is set to make a big jump this year. He has had 140 of yearlings from his first four crops sell at the Gold Coast Sale, but has the biggest representation of any sire, 56, in the 2022 catalogue.

The big money

When it comes to total aggregate sales since 2015, I Am Invincible leads the way, with total spend of just north of $108.6 million. To give that some context, it is 9.61 per cent of the total aggregate, when his progeny has only made up 4.6 per cent in terms of numbers.

Snitzel is a clear second with $103.6 million in total sales, or around 9.2 per cent of the total spend through the Sale in the past seven editions.

Buyers have spent $55.1 million in the progeny of Coolmore's Fastnet Rock over that time, a number highlighted by five $1 million-plus lots, while Not A Single Doubt's progeny have cost a combined $52.9 milllion and Zoustar's $49.7 million.

Table: Top sires by aggregate, Magic Millions Gold Coast since 2015

Million-dollar babies

There has been a total of 55 horses sell for $1 million or more at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale since 2015, or around 0.89 per cent of the total offering. Getting that seven-figure result is a big moment for any vendor and a feather in the cap of a sire.

The make-up of the sires of those 55 yearlings is relatively concentrated, with 16 represented in all. That is 5.3 per cent of the overall number of individual sires (296) represented across those seven sales.

I Am Invincible leads the way in terms of volume of $1-million yearlings in that time, with 12 in all, including the top individual price in that time period, with 2018 graduate Faretti, who cost $2 million.

Snitzel had had nine seven-figure yearlings in that time, with his own sire Redoute's Choice having six and Fastnet Rock five. Not A Single Doubt has four, all of which were last year, the equal most of any sire (with Vinnie in 2019) in the one Sale.

Others with multiple Gold Coast yearlings in that price range since 2015 have been Exceed And Excel, Medaglia D'Oro (USA) and Pierro, with three apiece, and Written Tycoon and Zoustar, with two each.

Table: Sires with multiple $1 million-plus yearlings, Magic Millions Gold Coast since 2015

As mentioned earlier, I Am Invincible and Snitzel have the advantage of much bigger numbers, so are more likely to get more high-priced lots. A breaking down of $1-million lots by percentage of lots sold is instructive in judging those batting above their weight.

Deep Impact, as mentioned, has a 100 per cent strike rate of seven-figure horses at the Gold Coast since 2015, while fellow international Kingman (GB), has had one of his two Magic Millions lots, the $1.8 million colt purchased by Tom Magnier last year, reach that milestone.

Of those with larger numbers of yearlings, it is Redoute's Choice who leads the way since 2015, with 6.45 per cent of his representatives having joined the millionaires' club, Medaglia D'Oro is second on 6.25 per cent (three from 48), while I Am Invincible's strike rate of million-dollar yearlings is 4.2 per cent.

On the track

The ultimate judge of success for many is on the track and while we didn't quite have the time and resources to break down winning and stakes-winning graduates by sire, we did extract the numbers of Group 1 winners, looking at the 39 graduates of this Sale that have gone on to claim elite racetrack success. Those 39 horses represent 31 individual sires.

Leading the way are two sires with a trio of Group 1 winning Magic Millions graduates since 2015.

All Too Hard has had Group 1 winners Alligator Blood, Forbidden Love and Wellington all graduate from this Sale, while Not A Single Doubt has had Farnan, Qafila and Shout The Bar come through the Gold Coast on the way to Group 1 glory.

Gallery: All Too Hard Group 1 winners

Fastnet Rock, Pierro, Snitzel and Written Tycoon have had two each, while there are a further 25 stallions which have a yearling sell through the Gold Coast and then go on to win a Group 1 race.

Table: Sires with multiple Group 1-winning graduates, Magic Millions Gold Coast since 2015

Cover image courtesy of Highgrove Stud

Midweek racing in Sydney was at Warwick Farm on Wednesday and, from his vantage point at the Magic Millions complex on the Gold Coast, Highgrove Stud Principal Ron Gilbert was watching on.

In the first race, a 3-year-old maiden over 1200 metres, he had the gelding Stick To Your Guns, and the result was exactly what he wanted when the horse cruised home by 1.33l.

Raced by the Darby Racing Syndicate and trained by Mark Newnham, Stick To Your Guns was bred by Highgrove Stud and sold at the 2020 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale for $80,000. Wednesday’s win was only the gelding’s third appearance on a racecourse, but he did it smartly off a last-start second at Canterbury in June when still a 2-year-old.

Stick To Your Guns was a pre-post favourite at Warwick Farm and he jumped smartly from his widest draw with apprentice jockey Tom Sherry.

Settling down, the pair opted to stay in front with Destiny’s Bounty (Headwater) on their inside, and they went around the turn in that order.

In the straight, the two leaders looked like they would be pressed by the Turangga Farm horse Cyber Attack (Exosphere) and, widest out, Allusionist (Super One), but Stick To Your Guns picked right up at the 100 metres and drew away, ears pricked.

The final margins were 1.33l to second-placed Destiny’s Bounty, with 2.05l to third-placed Allusionist. The time was 1:10.08s for the 1200 metres, the last 600 metres ticked off in 34.69s.

Still a bit new

Trainer Mark Newnham was trackside at Warwick Farm, and he said Stick To Your Guns had always shown ability. It was simply a case of putting the pieces together.

“He isn’t really sure of his job yet, and that was the idea of finding him something to follow,” the trainer said. “He trialled well doing that previously, but he got left in front a long way out today. You could see him just wander a little bit when he was put under pressure, but I’m sure he’s got a really good future.”

Stick To Your Guns debuted last May when he was sixth to Cape Breton (Vancouver) in a 2-year-old maiden. He was then second at his next start before a decent break into Wednesday, and it appears to have done him well.

“He couldn’t have done that (winning) last time in, especially without the blinkers on,” Newnham said. “So he’s made good improvement. He’s a horse that’s still maturing but it’s good to get another decent win for Darby Racing.”

Tom Sherry said Stick To Your Guns had plenty to come as a 3-year-old.

“I would have liked to get a bit more cover with the blinkers off,” the jockey said. “He’s still a little bit new at home and he raced that way today. He was on and off the bridle and, when he hit the front, the ears were pinned and he thought the job was done.”

Sherry said that was a good sign in itself.

“It’s always promising because it indicates he’s got a lot more in the tank,” he said. “I do think he’s going to progress to be a nice horse.”

Banking on Capitalist

Stick To Your Guns is the first foal from the So You Think (NZ) mare Marli, who belongs to Ron Gilbert and resides at Highgrove Stud.

Marli was unraced, but she’s a half-sister to Khan (Exceed And Excel), a winner of the Listed Breeders’ Plate at Randwick. Through the third dam Mintly Fresh (USA) (Rubiano {USA}), this is the family of the popular import Manighar (Fr) (Linamix {Fr}), who was brought into Australia by OTI Racing and who won three Group 1s in 2012.

“I bought Marli off James Harron in a private sale,” Gilbert said. “She was withdrawn from a broodmare sale and a few months later I bought her from James. I loved her pedigree but she was also a very good type.”

Gilbert doesn’t place a lot of importance on type when it comes to mares. He’s been around long enough to have seen average-looking mares do great things.

“It’s not my main criteria, buying sexy-looking mares,” Gilbert said. “But Marli certainly is one of those, which was a bonus.”

Gilbert bought Marli as a maiden broodmare and opted for Capitalist in her first season. She was among the very first book of mares sent to the Newgate stallion.

“I thought Capitalist was a lovely animal and he’s very much an Australian-style sire,” Gilbert said. “But mainly for me, he was a horse that won the Breeders’ Plate, the Magic Millions and the Golden Slipper, and surely he would pass on some of that ability to his progeny. I can’t think of another horse that has won all of those three races.”

If it was a risk sending a new mare to a new stallion, Gilbert didn’t admit to it.

“I was just thinking that if I get this wrong, there’s no way you could pick a stallion,” he said. “You might as well just throw a dart.”

Good buying

The yearling Stick To Your Guns, nicknamed ‘Bob’ after his dam, headed to the 2020 Inglis Classic Sale as part of Highgrove’s four-horse draft.

He was one of two Capitalists among them, the other a colt from the Charge Forward mare Taliqua which ended up selling for $180,000 to a Hong Kong consortium.

“Scott Darby bought him for $80,000, which I thought was good buying,” Gilbert said. “I thought he’d make a bit more than that, but we’re there to sell our horses. When you’ve got someone like Scotty, who is a good judge of horses and a great supporter of vendors, sometimes you let horses go for less than you think they’re worth.”

Gilbert thought Stick To Your Guns would have made anything between $120,000 and $150,000.

“I was quite shocked that Scott got him for $80,000, if I’m honest,” he said. “But hopefully it turns out a good result for Darby Racing because ultimately that’s a good result for Highgrove.”

Gilbert has since sent Marli to a different stallion each season since Stick To Your Guns.

The mare had a Star Witness colt in 2019 that is an unraced 2-year-old by the name of Sly Witness. This spring, Marli foaled a Pierata colt who is likely to head to Magic Millions this time next year, and she is currently in foal to Darley’s freshman sire Bivouac.

“We have a breeding right in Bivouac so he was an obvious choice, but he was also a winner of three Group 1s,” Gilbert said. “It was a pretty easy choice of first-season stallion.”

Magic Millions draft

Gilbert is a low-key studmaster. He doesn’t take to social media to advertise any success, which he says is probably a mistake but it’s just the way it is.

“I’m sure people in the industry follow things enough to know that the farm goes pretty well,” he said. “But it’s still exciting when one of our horses wins because we watch things very closely up here.”

Gilbert had to tune into Warwick Farm from Bundall on Wednesday as he kept his draft of four yearlings in tune for next week’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. The Highgrove youngsters are by Brave Smash (Jpn), Pierro, Russian Revolution and The Autumn Sun.

“They’re a really good, solid draft of nice horses,” Gilbert said. “I like all of them for different reasons and I’m hoping the buying bench will as well.”

He said the Russian Revolution colt, Lot 41 from the Fastnet Rock mare Fast Return, was an ideal second-crop representation of his sire.

“This one is quite a different Russian Revolution,” Gilbert said. “He’s got some size, and I’ve heard that they’re better yearlings in the second crop than the first, so that’s a good sign. They’re off and running from that first crop, so you’d expect they’ll go well in the second.”

Gilbert has a penchant for the Newgate stallion because of the Stravinsky (USA) on the horse’s dam side.

“I always genuinely thought that Russian Revolution would make a good stallion,” he said. “He couldn’t have started much better at this stage.”

Of Lot 57 by The Autumn Sun, Gilbert said this chestnut colt was a sharper representation of his sire.

“He’s quite forward, and he looks more an earlier 2-year-old than a later 2-year-old, which you might not expect to see by The Autumn Sun,” the studmaster said.

“When I saw this stallion as a racehorse, and then I saw him again at Arrowfield, he'd let down very quickly into an amazing-looking sire and that was the reason that I wanted to use him. I think the progeny that I’ve got by him look like they’ve come to hand quite quickly and quite well.”

Cover image courtesy of Ashleigh Thoroughbreds

For Senga Bissett, the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale has been a happy hunting ground, one of the starting points for the G1 Champagne S. winner Captivant (Capitalist), who emerged at this Sale from the draft of Bissett’s Ashleigh Thoroughbreds two years ago.

Captivant, from Bissett’s mare Speedboat (Commands), sold for $500,000 to the China Horse Club/Newgate Bloodstock/Starlight Racing partnership and, since then, the colt has notched over a million dollars in prizemoney. Alongside his Champagne victory, he was second to Anamoe (Street Boss {USA}) in the G1 Caulfield Guineas and third to In The Congo (Snitzel) in the G3 San Domenico S.

For Bissett, Captivant was the realisation of a breeding dream.

Speaking to TDN AusNZ earlier this year, she said the colt was the product of years of trying to get into the Ride The Rapids (River Rough {NZ}) family (Ride The Rapids is the great-granddam of Captivant).

“I’ve always loved the family but I’d never been able to afford one to buy,” Bissett said.

That changed in 2015 when she managed to land Speedboat for a respectable $30,000 and the rest, as they say, is history. Bissett was already a breeder of note before Captivant came along, but the burgeoning colt did the Ashleigh Thoroughbreds brand plenty of good.

The Artist among them

Bissett runs Ashleigh Thoroughbreds alongside Ivan Woodford-Smith. It’s a pretty outfit along Cressfield Road, just outside of Scone, and the neighbouring property, now Willow Park Stud, produced the likes of G1 VRC Oaks winner Bulla Borghese (Belong To Me {USA}) and G1 Thousand Guineas winner All Time High (Flying Spur).

In the past, Bissett sold yearlings under the banner of Southern Cross Breeders, which included Ashleigh Thoroughbreds, Byerley Stud and Riversdale Farm.

In that capacity, she sold the first winner for Widden Stud sire Star Witness, a filly called St Remy. In the last handful of years, however, the farm has presented drafts in its own name, and it has eight in the catalogue for next week’s Magic Millions.

“We’ve got some very nice yearlings,” Bissett said. “They should be affordable and I think overall it’s a very nice draft by a range of different stallions.”

The eight horses are by sires Capitalist, Deep Field, Exceed And Excel, Hellbent, Shooting To Win, So You Think (NZ) and Trapeze Artist. They represent a range of tastes and budgets, and Bissett said there isn’t necessarily a formula to knowing what will be popular at the yearling sales.

“I would like a crystal ball but I don’t have one,” she said. “I just have to study the stallions and hope that I’m doing the right thing. The main thing for me is mating the mares with the right types of stallion.”

As an example, Bissett mentions Lot 499, the Trapeze Artist filly from the Encosta De Lago mare Senta Helga.

“This filly is out of a very refined Encosta De Lago mare and I think the mating has worked out beautifully,” she said. “She looks very much like her father but is a very athletic type, and she looks like maybe she could get over more ground than just being a pure sprinter.”

Bissett had plenty to say about Lot 499, which will appear as one of the 32 yearlings by first-season sire Trapeze Artist.

“I don’t think anyone could not like her,” she said. “I can’t find anything wrong with her, she’s beautiful. I find that a lot of people that come to the farm these days on inspections say very little, especially if they’re with a big group of people, so it’s hard to gauge sometimes how people are feeling about the new sires.”

Deep Field pair

Lot 908 is one of a pair of yearlings by Deep Field in the Ashleigh Thoroughbreds draft.

He’s a colt from the Strategic mare Delaluna, and he’s a half-brother to the stakes-placed Quick Feet (Northern Meteor) who, as a yearling, was the highest-priced of her sire’s fillies in 2015 with a $540,000 price tag. She was sold by Bissett as an Inglis Easter yearling.

“This is a lovely colt,” Bissett said of Lot 908. “He is a sprinting type and also a very good mover.”

The obvious suggestion for colts by Deep Field is that they will draw attention from the Asian market. Bissett confirmed this and added that Delaluna’s 2018 foal, an Astern colt, was sent to Hong Kong.

“She’s got an Astern 3-year-old trialling very well in Hong Kong at the moment, and I know there’s not much time, but I would hope that he might even get to the races before we sell this colt next week,” she said.

Equally, Lot 303 by Deep Field, a filly from the Lonhro mare My Goodness, is one that Bissett has high hopes for.

“This is a bigger, scopier type of filly and she’s also a good mover,” she said.

Lot 303 has the famous Twiglet (Twig Moss) as a second dam. As such, this is a family responsible for the stakes winners Fairy King Prawn (Danehill {USA}), Easy Rocking and Crevette (Danehill {USA}), the dam of Cosmic Endeavour (Northern Meteor).

Gallery: Twiglet family's stakes winners

Of the remaining five horses in the draft, Bissett said there are selling points on every single one of them.

“The Exceed And Excel filly is a very neat type,” she said of Lot 280, who comes from a half-sister to the multiple Group-winner Montana Flyer (Flying Spur).

“She’s not so big but she could go early,” Bissett added.

She also said that Lot 239, a colt by Shooting To Win from the Foxwedge mare Mahlia, had plenty of upside.

“He is a really lovely horse, a bigger type,” she said.

Lot 239 has a page that Bissett knows well. Mahlia is a three-quarter sister to the stakes-placed Wedgetail (Foxwedge), whom Bissett sold as a yearling at the Inglis Classic Sale in 2018 for $180,000 to McEvoy Mitchell Racing.

This is the same family as the aforementioned Bulla Borghese, and also the recent Listed Gosford Guineas winner Bacchanalia (Exceed And Excel). For kicks, it’s also the family of the well-performed Lizard Island (Sebring), who was second in the G1 Caulfield Guineas to Press Statement.

Bissett, overall, said her draft was particularly ideal for the Gold Coast.

“It’s really hard to knock any of the horses,” she said. “They are a very good collection of yearlings.”

The Ashleigh Thoroughbreds draft will arrive at the Gold Coast early on Friday morning and, all being well, it will begin parades that day.

“I just want to get up there now,” Bissett said, alluding to the obvious COVID pressures around staff and movement of people. “I hope it all goes alright because it hasn’t been easy for a lot of people, ourselves included.”