Vinnie colt heads Coolmore hat-trick

Coolmore Australia principal Tom Magnier struck with a hat-trick of seven-figure purchases on Day 3 of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, headlined by the $1.9 million paid for Lot 585, an I Am Invincible colt from the draft of Newgate.

Coolmore struck gold with a son of I Am Invincible last spring with the Chris Waller-trained Home Affairs booking his progress to the Jerrys Plains stud barn with a runaway success in the G1 Coolmore Stud S. in October.

Magnier is clearly keen to revisit that success with the same trainer after he prevailed in a tough bidding dual to go to the top-price of the Sale so far for the well-related colt.

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"He’s a lovely horse. To the team at Newgate, they don’t need any introductions as to how well they raise their horses. He was a lovely type. We know how good Dubious was," he said.

"We have a great team here at the Sale picking these horses. Everyone landed on this horse. They liked him a lot.

"He’s one of the lovely horses in the Sale. He was fast and has got the pedigree that everybody understands. Chris will have to work his magic now."

Gallery: The trio of million-dollar yearlings bought by Tom Magnier on Day 3, images courtesy of Magic Millions

The colt is out of Suspicieuse (Fr) (Elusive City {USA}), who has already produced the Group 2-winning son of Not A Single Doubt and young Aquis stallion Dubious. It is a family with rich international bloodlines, featuring stakes winners Sediciosa (Ire) (Rail Link {GB}) and San Huberto (Ire) (Speightstown {USA}).

Suspicieuse was originally a €55,000 (AU$86,000) Arqana purchase and is owned by Love Racing. Since foaling this colt, she has produced a filly by Pariah and visited King's Legacy (GB).

It was a marquee result for Newgate, which continued to reign supreme on top of the vendors' list at the end of the third day, with nearly $12 million in sales.

"He was born on the farm. James Harron purchased the mother and put a syndicate together to buy the mare and some great supporters of the farm are in the mare. We were really pleased when he was born because he’s been a star colt since day dot," Newgate Managing Director Henry Field said.

"The day he was born, I remember talking to James Harron and saying this horse will top a yearling sale one day and that’s exactly what he’s done.

"He’s the real deal and it’s great that Coolmore have bought it. There was hot competition for him but he was a rare jewel."

Field was particularly pleased to see the colt head to the Coolmore syndicate.

"I’m glad they got him. Tom Magnier and M.V. Magnier are really close friends of mine and it will be very special if the horse can run as good as he looks because, if he does, he’ll be a horse that will certainly take the market share away from our stallion barn in two years' time," he said.

"We feel great about the fact that he was so well admired by so many judges but I’m most happy for the clients of the farm that own the horse. Most the owners of that horse have been long time clients of Newgate and when he was born it was… we hit the jackpot."

Snitzel colt fits the bill

Earlier, Magnier had paid $1.1 million each for colts by Snitzel (Lot 428) and Not A Single Doubt (Lot 436).

The Snitzel colt, out of American mare Red Lodge (USA) (Midshipman {USA}), was purchased from Emirates Park, with Magnier saying Coolmore was keen to access a family which had global appeal.

"We liked this horse a lot but the thing that stood out for us was the Midshipman. Obviously we have Golden Pal, probably the fastest horse in America out of a Midshipman mare and Wesley Ward has been onto us all week because he trained the mother and it’s a very, very fast family," he said.

Golden Pal (USA), the winner of the G1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, could be headed to Australia this year to tackle some of the rich sprint races and Lot 428 is also from a family with plenty of speed with his dam a stakes winner over 1100 metres and a granddaughter of multiple Grade 1 winner Memories Of Silver (USA) (Silver Hawk {USA}).

"He’s a horse that we’re thinking about taking down here, Golden Pal, so it’s kind of a page that we know well, it’s got plenty of speed and it’s what we liked in Australia. They’re very fast, loves the speed and the proof has been in the pudding, so far," Magnier said.

The colt will join Waller's stable as well.

"We need a bit of luck now and there’s no better man than Chris (Waller) to get the job done."

For the second day in a row, Emirates Park managed to secure a seven-figure result, having sold an I Am Invincible filly (Lot 306) or $1.55 million on Wednesday.

"He was lovely colt and it’s a great result. We bought the mare in America a few years ago and it’s the first one we bred ourselves out of her. To get a result like that, it pays for her and it’s gone to a good stable. That's all you can hope for," Emirates Park General Manager Bryan Carlson said.

"From when he was born, he has always been a lovely colt. He was always aimed at Magic Millions so we couldn't ask for much more."

Red Lodge produced a Tassort filly last year while she is now in foal to I Am Invincible.

Emirates Park has sold eight lots across the first three days at an average price of $517,500 which Carlson said was a brailing outcome to this point.

"We’ve had a great sale. We are trying not to be at the top end for a boutique farm and get the results."

Million-dollar milestone for Lauriston

Also celebrating a marquee result was Lauriston Thoroughbred farm, which sold its first $1 million-plus lot when Magnier paid $1.1 million for its Not A Single Doubt colt, Lot 436.

Magnier was again effusive in his praise of the colt out of Rhodamine (Success Express {USA}), saying Coolmore was particularly keen to secure one of the final colts by now-pensioned Arrowfield Stud stallion Not A Single Doubt.

“It’s like certain types of property, they don’t make them anymore. He was just such a lovely horse. The strength and the power and the width. He looks like a real fast, early type. James O’Brien and all their staff did a great job with the horse," he said.

"There’s good horses here and there’s just such tough competition. You’ll have days when you get plenty and days when you won’t."

Rhodamine, who sadly died when foaling this colt, is the dam of two stakes performers by Not A Single Doubt, Legend Of Condor and Pantonario, the latter who finished third in the G3 Gimcrack S. for Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott in October.

James O'Brien of Lauriston Thoroughbred Farm said it was a milestone moment for the Victorian Farm, whose previous best result was the $520,000 this colt's brother secured in 2017.

"He's a lovely colt, really strong, I think he will be really early. His sister ran third in the Gimcrack, and I think that he's given us every indication that he is as early, if not earlier than her," he said.

"To go into a Coolmore stallion syndicate as well as Chris Waller training him, that's a fantastic outcome."

That Pierro-Redoute's nick

Ciaron Maher Bloodstock continued to invest at will throughout the third day, and the Sale's biggest buyer made a considerable splash when paying $1.5 million for Lot 419, a colt by Pierro from Kia Ora Stud.

The colt, who is out of Kia Ora's multiple stakes-winning homebred Ravi (Redoute's Choice), became the equal highest-priced yearling of his Coolmore-based sire, but it was a price that Maher's Bloodstock Manager, Will Bourne, said they were prepared to pay.

“He’s got a lovely physical and going along with that, he’s a Pierro out of a Redoute’s mare who’s won herself," he said.

“Pierro-Redoute’s crosses have produced three Group 1 winners from a sample of sales of about 40 horses. So it’s a proven sire, the mare could run, it’s a proven cross so it was a real no brainer for us. We loved the colt and we thought we had a bit of profitability in our favour."

Bourne said the physical nature of the horse and his pedigree suggested he would be a horse that would be peaking in his 3-year-old season.

"He’ll be more of a 3-year-old but he’s that athletic, I wouldn’t put it past him to do something at two. Pierro sires more 3-year-olds but in saying that we saw Snowden’s horse (Paris Dior), a Pierro, really win dominantly at Canterbury (Friday) so he can still get a 2-year-old," he said.

“Going off the benchmark of yesterday at $1.7 million, he’s a quality colt, one of the proper colts in the Sale so that ($1.5 million) is what the market says.’’

Ravi won a G3 Sheraco S. and Listed How Now H. in the dual blue colours of Kia Ora and is a sister to Elzaam, who was a Listed winner and Group 1-producing stallion.

She has produced an unraced brother to this colt, Ravin, who cost Mick Price $200,000 through last year's Inglis Easter Sale, while she foaled an I Am Invincible colt last year before visiting that stallion again.

Kia Ora Bloodstock and Breeding Manager Shane Wright said the result meant a lot to the team.

"A phenomenal result, we love the colt and expected him to sell well but you can never foresee a result like that," he said.

"He's been very popular all week and has taken everything in his stride the whole way through the Sale and never put a foot out of place. This kind of temperament along with his physical attributes made him a very sought-after colt and one of the busiest horses I've ever had pleasure of selling at Magics."

Among the nine stakes winners by Pierro from Redoute's Choice mares are Group 1 winners Arcadia Queen, Regal Power and Levendi.

"We all know the Pierro x Redoute's cross works so well and when you can combine that with the type of horse he is a very exciting colt going forward, and the market reflected that," Wright said.

"Ciaron and David have bought a magnificent group of horses this week and we couldn't be happier that he joins their stable, he gets every chance and we wish them the best of luck with him."

Another record day

Magic Millions Managing Director Barry Bowditch said the extraordinary success of the third day had been building over the first two sessions of the Sale.

"To be already at $154 million is a huge Sale. I think the momentum that we’d got over the first two days of the Sale was evident today. It was bullish bidding. There was from bottom to top, it was strong and I’m speechless to be honest. It’s an outstanding Sale," he said.

Again, despite the dizzying figures and host a $1 million-plus lots, it is the 94 per cent clearance rate which is most pleasing for Bowditch, with vendors getting rewarded for putting their horses on the market.

"If you had said we’d be sitting here at the end of Day 3 and we’d sold 516 horses and only passed 34 in, I would have told you to get your head read. But that’s exactly what we strive to do. To find buyers at all numbers for these horses," he said.

"It’s not about us just finding people to buy the big horses, there’s work in them but there’s just as much work in the lower end of the market and that’s just as vital for our vendors who support the Sale at all levels.

“It’s going to be a record-breaking Magic Millions Yearling Sale. We’re super proud of what we’ve put together.”

Silverdale celebrates after Snitzel sale

The top-price filly on the day was Lot 590, the daughter Of Snitzel and Sweet Sherry (Bel Esprit) offered by Silverdale Farm and sold for $1.35 million to Badgers Bloodstock and Glentree Thoroughbreds.

The filly is the first living foal out of Sweet Sherry, who was a Group 2 winner on the track and is a half-sister to multiple Group 2 winner Arinosa (Dash For Cash) as well as stakes-placed pair Onerous (Dash For Cash) and Andaz (Dash For Cash).

"She is by Snitzel and a great physical type… it made her a key target for us right from the very start," Glentree Thoroughbreds' manager Luke Simpson said.

"The plan is to race her and she’ll later enter our broodmare barn. Ciaron Maher and David Eustace will have her to race."

It was a first seven-figure result for burgeoning outfit Silverdale Farm, and a moment worth celebrating for principal Steve Grant and his team.

"It's just our second consignment, so just wait until we get good at it," he said. "We prepare these horses for life and the Sale is only one of the processes for us.

"We're just on our way to celebrate, we've given her a big kiss goodbye as she won't be here in the morning and we're off to kick up our heels."

Silverdale is in the remarkable position of leading all vendors by average, having sold four horses at an average of $743,750.

"We came with good expectations and I like looking at the average sales by studs. We were pleased to get on the board up high last year and looking at that now well that's of course fantastic to be leading the list," he said.

Sweet Sherry, who was a $260,000 yearling purchase from Swettenham Stud by Cloud 9 Thoroughbreds and who raced for trainer Brent Stanley, produced an Exceed And Excel filly last year and then visited I Am Invincible.

Another Zoustar for the Victorian Alliance

The Victorian Alliance swooped to pay $1.3 million for a Zoustar colt (Lot 375) on Wednesday and replicated that approach a day later, by paying $1.25 million for Lot 574, a son of the same stallion, who was offered by Widden Stud.

Thursday's purchase is out of Group 2 winner Summer Sham (Not A Single Doubt), meaning this colt boasts a triple cross of blue hen Shantha's Choice (Canny Lad) in his pedigree.

His third grandsire is Redoute's Choice through both his sire Zoustar and his dam, who is also a granddaughter of the late Arrowfield stallion's half-sister Unspoken Choice (Giant's Causeway {USA}).

"He’s got an unbelievable family, out of a Group 2-winning daughter of Not A Single Doubt and the family of Redoute’s Choice," Ryan McEvoy, General manager, Bloodstock at Rosemont Stud, which spearheads the Victorian Alliance said.

"The Victorian Alliance, clearly our emphasis is to buy colts that can ultimately end up in the stallion barn at Rosemont and again he’s a horse that fits that profile."

Widden-based Summer Sham was purchased by David Redvers for $650,000 in 2019 and has an unnamed Star Witness 2-year-old and a Zoustar foal filly, going back to the same sire again in 2021.

It’s Go Time for Snitzel

Four-time Champion sire Snitzel had three $1 million-plus lots on the day, with the third, Lot 567, a colt from Segenhoe Stud, going to Annabel Neasham and Brian McGuire for $1.1 million.

Like the other seven-figure Snitzel colt, he is out of an American mare, the Listed winner Street Secret (USA) (Street Cry {Ire}), who has already produced the Listed winner and Group 1 placegetter Frankely Awesome (Frankel {GB}).

The rich international pedigree includes Urban Sea (USA) (Miswaki {USA}), the half-sister to this colt's third dam, and the dam of influential sires Galileo (Ire) and Sea The Stars (Ire), who were both G1 Derby winners.

On pedigree and type, he was hard to fault for Neasham.

"He was an absolute beauty. We’ve had our eye on him since we saw him on the farm. Snitzel you can’t go wrong with, can you? And she’s already a producer of a Group 1-performed horse," she said.

"When you buy off farms like Segenhoe it just gives you a bit of assurance. Year in, year out they produce good horses off their farm and he was born and raised there. That for me is a big tick, where they come from. That combined with him just being a beauty is probably what made us go to that price."

The colt was bred by Sir Owen Glenn's Go Bloodstock, who purchased his dam, Street Secret for $680,000 in 2017. Segenhoe Stud General Manager Peter O'Brien said the result was a fitting success for Sir Owen and his bloodstock manager Stephen O’Connor.

"He is a really good client of ours, a great friend of the farm and everyone was over the moon for Sir Owen to get a million-dollar horse because he puts so much in," he said.

"He’s a terrific man. He’s put a lot of money into the horses and if anyone deserves that result, it’s him. Particularly it’s gone to Annabel, who is also another great friend of ours so it’s a perfect scenario."

Street Secret has a Lonhro foal filly, while she was sent to Snitzel's son Russian Revolution, last year.

Sir Owen re-invests

Go Bloodstock was also active as a buyer at the top end, spending, in conjunction with Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, $1 million on Lot 523, a colt by I Am Invincible from the Yarraman Park draft.

Go Bloodstock's flagbearer in Australia was Criterion (NZ) (Sebring) and this colt is out of his stakes-winning half-sister Silently (Anabaa {USA}), who has already produced the Group 2 winner Muwaary (O'Reilly {NZ}).

"Great stallion, I Am Invincible, there was a lot of strength particularly through his second dam there. Criterion featured prominently there. Sir Owen's Go Bloodstock raced Criterion so they’ve bought into the partnership in the horse," Bott said.

"He just looks a nice forward type, athletic colt that caught our attention pretty early in the Sale and has held that all the way through. He was the one that we were really prepared to secure."

Silently, who is owned by Yarraman Park's Mitchell family, foaled a brother to Lot 523 last spring before visiting Wootton Bassett (GB).

It was the first million-dollar lot for Waterhouse and Bott of the Sale, but they have purchased a total of 24 horses either on their own or in partnership, spending a combined $10.355 million and trailing only Ciaron Maher Bloodstock in terms of investment.

"We’ve bid strong on a couple of colts but this one we were particularly strong on. This one was very easy because we all rated him very highly, we all marked him very highly across the board," Bott said.

Day 4 of the Sale commences at 10am local on Friday (11am AEDT).

Top lots

Top buyers

Top pinhooks

Vendors by aggregate

Vendors by average (3 or more sold)

Sires by aggregate

Sires by average (3 or more sold)

As the sun went down on another day of million-dollar action, Gus Roland caught up with Newgate Farm’s Henry Field and Godolphin Australia's Vin Cox to reflect on Day 3 of the Magic Millions.

Cover image courtesy of Magic Millions

Gold Edition's achievements in the breeding barn have not lived up to what the daughter of Lion Hunter did on the track and just one of her 10 foals to date has been a winner.

But in the aftermath of Lot 436, a Not A Single Doubt colt out of her late paddock mate Rhodamine (Success Express {USA}) being sold for $1.1 million to Tom Magnier, Lauriston Thoroughbred Farm principal James O'Brien was tipping his hat to Gold Edition back at the Corinella Farm.

"Sadly we lost Rhodamine while foaling this colt. She bled badly and we lost her and it was a tragedy," O'Brien explained to TDN AusNZ.

"Her paddock mate was Gold Edition and as mares often do, when one decides to foal, the other one does as well.

"Goldy foaled half an hour after this mare and sadly we couldn't get Rhodamine back on her feet. We popped the placenta from Goldy's foal on the Rhodamine foal and Goldy took them both on."

Gold Edition's Lonhro colt and the Not A Single Doubt out of Rhodamine grew up as close as two foals could be, with the grey mare keeping a close eye on both of them.

"She raised them both as what she thought were twins and they have been raised effectively as brothers through to this point," O'Brien said.

The two colts were only separated this week, with the Lonhro colt selling for $150,000 to Dean Watt/Dynamic Syndications as Lot 83 on Tuesday, before his mate captured the attention of some of the best judges in the land, eventually landing with Coolmore Australia principal Magnier.

They will end up in two of the most successful stables in the country, with the Lonhro colt reportedly heading to Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, while the Not A Single Doubt colt will be trained by Chris Waller.

Rhodamine's rich return

Thursday's Sale is the end of an era for the O'Brien family's association with Rhodamine, who was picked out by O'Brien's late father Kevin for $140,000 at the same Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in 2007.

"When we bought Rhodamine, we used to use Ron Maund, who trained for us and selected our horses. He always said that on conformation Rhodamine was one of the best he ever bought," O'Brien said.

"As an astute horseman, it was quite significant for him to say that."

Rhodamine won eight of her 60 starts in the O'Brien family's orange and emerald colours for a collection of trainers, including Maund and while she didn't quite pay them back for that initial investment, with just under $100,000 in prizemoney, she has delivered in spades as a commercial broodmare.

"The full brother (to Lot 436), Legend Of Condor made $520,000 through the ring at Premier. We then sold the full sister at a weanling sale two years ago for $280,000 and the pinhookers, Silverdale Farm and Suman Hedge, sold her for $750,000 to Gai Waterhouse last year at this same Sale," O'Brien said.

Named Pantonario, that now 2-year-old filly has placed twice for Waterhouse and Adrian Bott in both of her starts, including at stakes level on debut. It proved a timely update for her yearling brother ahead of this Sale.

"She debuted in the Gimcrack and managed to place behind Coolangatta. I think she's a filly with plenty of upside. It's sad that Rhodamine has passed but exciting that there are still two Not A Single Doubts we can look forward to watching," he said.

"I am very happy. That Legend Of Condor, he was our equal highest lot previously at $520,000 and we have more than doubled that with his result, so I am over the moon, ecstatic."

Cover image courtesy of Magic Millions

To do it, they’ve teamed up with long-time friend and trusted bloodstock agent Michael Wallace following his fresh departure from China Horse Club and ventured back as an independent agent. Richard and Michael Freedman, along with Wallace, have been drill-like in their approach to this year’s Sale, looking at every horse on the complex.

“There’s a pretty strict strategy involved here,’’ Richard said. “We have, I think, a very good reputation in training 2-year-olds. Across the board, all the Freedmans have produced a lot of Group 1 2-year-old winners and certainly that’s where the breeding industry places a huge amount of value.

“A lot of people realise that and want to play in that space. The idea is that we come here and between us, and with Michael Wallace, we set up a partnership to target the sort of horses we think can do the job as a 2-year-old, and at the very latest as a 3-year-old.

“We’re looking to make stallions. That’s what these horses are aiming at being. That’s the lucrative end of the market that a lot of our investors want to play in,’’ Richard said.

Putting the process to work

From the 1235 horses that had the eyes of the Freedman brothers and Wallace on them leading to the Sale, most of them twice, stressed Richard, they have collated a list of about 80 with an aim to take home eight to 10. By the end of Day 3, they had put together 10.

“We’ve sorted them down to the sort of horses that we like to train and we think are likely to run as 2-year-olds,’’ Richard said. “You have to have a long list and you have to be happy with everyone on that list, because you just have to work down and buy the ones you think are value.’’

The Freedman Brothers and Wallace combination were not likely to take a $1 million horse home from the Gold Coast, Richard saying buying yearlings at that type of price was a “fairly risky proposition’’.

“We like to play in a slightly lower space, although that number keeps climbing every year as the market climbs and it’s definitely more this year than we’ve paid in other years. But I still think we’re at the better end of the value,’’ he said.

“The skill of this is getting the right horses at the right price. You always do (miss out) but it's not a perfect science. Luck does play its role. You could miss one that you were hugely keen on and buy one that you were not quite as keen on and it turns out to be the better horse.’’

Michael Freedman may have five fewer years of exposure to the Freedman Formula than Richard but, given his knowledge of it spans 45 years, he is just as familiar with it and, more importantly, sticks to it.

“We’ve done quite a bit of homework leading up to it and think we’ve put together quite a good list of horses,’’ he said. “As is the case for everyone, it is whether we can buy them or not.

“We’ve been underbidder on two or three colts that we liked but you’ve got to be disciplined about where you think your limit is at in terms of price. Sure, there was a few here that we would have liked to take home but we just ran out of juice.’’

The lion’s share of the yearlings the Freedman and Wallace partnership buy will go to Michael’s Randwick stables, while Richard says he does like to have some 2-year-olds in his Rosehill stable along with the 3, 4 and 5-year-olds.

“That’s the way it’s worked in the past. The stable is progressively getting younger and younger and I think that suits where we sit in the market,’’ Richard added.

And while it had been just colts they’d purchased by Thursday in the Sale, Michael said he was hopeful of taking home a filly or two also.

“We’re certainly not exclusive to buying colts,’’ Michael said. “Given the group we’ve put together this year there is probably more an emphasis on colts than fillies but that’s not to say we wouldn’t consider a nice filly.’’

The Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale had been a happy hunting ground for a lot of people, Michael added, while Richard was of the strong belief that not everybody can play in this market place and there are some very good trainers who are struggling to play in this space financially.

“It depends a little bit on the clients that you’ve bought a racehorse for,’’ Michael said. “Some people are happy to just come in and buy a horse just as a racehorse without that (Magic Millions) series in mind. Others come here with the mindset that they’d like to buy something for the 2-year-old race next year, it does vary from client-to-client.’’

Richard says the very specialised business that comes in-hand with Magic Millions also meant more of a certain type of horse was definitely on offer.

“It’s a very specialised business,’’ he said. “As far as the sorts of horses that are here… there are staying horses here, there’s not as many here as there are at other sales. People tend to send their earlier maturing type of horse to this Sale.

“That is why we’ve taken a heavy leaning to the Sale. The sort of horses we’re looking for specifically, more of them are here.’’

A Golden endorsement

The Freedmans said winning the Golden Slipper with Stay Inside (Extreme Choice) had given clients confidence in their ability as trainers but also was a glowing endorsement at picking winners in the sales ring.

“With us, it’s less about the result and more about the process. We’ve always had a process for doing this. What you need to feed into that process is quality stock,’’ he said.

“When Michael (Freedman) and I got together, he was just back from Hong Kong, I’d been out of the game for a little while. It’s taken a while to get to the point where we’re feeding that stock into the process.’’

The Golden Slipper success came in the second year of the Freedman Brothers' partnership, but Richard was quick to point out that the horse was bought in the first year of the partnership.

“We came here that year when we bought him (Stay Inside) to buy horses to get up and run. We were starting off and needed horses to get up and run,’’ Richard said.

“Luckily, we picked a number of horses and in that bunch, which wasn’t many horses, we only took home eight horses, one was the Golden Slipper winner. That gives people confidence that we still know how to do that. You know, we won a lot of Golden Slippers quite a long time ago, and people wonder if we can still do it, and we delivered.

“I think we’d be right up there with everyone with the number of Group 1 winners the Freedman brothers, collectively, have bought in the sales ring. That’s a skill that we lean on pretty heavily.’’

The Freedman buys

While they don’t like to play in the million dollar space, the Freedman brothers have come close already this week, paying $800,000 for a Snitzel colt out of Our Crown Mistress (Star Witness) and from a family which includes Group 1 star Racing To Win (Encosta De Lago) and The Everest winner Classique Legend (Not A Single Doubt).

It was justified with the comment: “We’re working to an average rather than to a particular number per horse. Sometimes you’ve got to spend a bit more to get the one you like and there are some we’ve spent less on.

“He’s just a great athlete. A great stallion and pedigree we like. He walked the right way, he’s shaped the right way. We often buy a very similar horse over and over again because it’s worth it,’’ Richard said.

“There’s certain tells as part of our IP that we’ve developed looking at yearlings, for me, probably 50 years and (Michael), 45 years. We’ve got it down to a list of attributes they have to have and when they tick all those boxes then we’re in for it.’’

A Written Tycoon was purchased based on the stats of not just the stallion but the broodmare, the broodmare sires, even the studs.

“We do a lot of stats on stallions. We do stats on their broodmares and broodmare sires. We do stats on studs that sell very good horses. While everyone’s keeping stats on the trainers, we’re keeping stats on them too,’’ Richard said.

Gallery: Some of the Freedman Brothers' purchases at the Magic Millions Sale so far, images courtesy of Magic Millions

“They’ve got to fit all those criteria. It’s not just, ‘I like that horse, let’s buy it’. There’s a process."

And one of the few Southern Hemisphere-bred Kingman (GB) colts in the Sale is headed to the Freedman brothers, purchased for $525,000, with the very aim of snaring a stallion.

“He’s probably a stallion more suited for his 3-year-old year than his 2-year-old year. There are certainly some stallion-making races for 3-year-olds as well."

Cover image courtesy of Bronwen Healy

Ahead of the R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic this weekend, a quick probe of the field reveals an interesting fact. Exactly a quarter of the 16 horses will represent farms from the New South Wales Southern Highlands, which is an extraordinary effort for the pretty district south of Sydney.

It’s also a sign of a shifting influence in the state’s breeding circles.

As race favourite, the boom filly Coolangatta (Written Tycoon) plays a cool hand for Milburn Creek, while newcomer Zhongli Thoroughbreds has the Annabel Neasham filly Soaring Ambition (Not A Single Doubt). For Manx Park there is Golden Artie (Artie Schiller {USA}), while Peter Beauman’s Carrington Park Stud has the Bel Esprit gelding Thelwell.

For Beauman, it’s a sign of things to come.

Carrington Park Stud is on 180 acres of combined pasture west of Jamberoo. It’s a rolling, ridiculously green district that is virtually drought-proof.

“I think the Southern Highlands is going to be a major breeding hub,” Beauman said. “There are a lot of studs moving here, and I think it’s going to become, if it hasn’t already, quite a popular breeding area.”

Stallion ambitions

Beauman established Carrington Park Stud about 15 years ago. The property is sat close to the Carrington Falls escarpment, which is a little east of Robertson and, as the crow flies, a little north of Kangaroo Valley.

“Where we are we’ve got our own little weather system,” Beauman said. “Because of that we get quite high rainfall through the year and it makes for very good pasture. I established Carrington Park on my own 15 years ago, and with my partner Margaux we run it all mostly ourselves.”

Beauman and Margaux Le Guay are horse folk. As well as studmasters they are show jumpers and eventers and they have around 40 broodmares on the property, some their own and others belonging to clients.

They stand one stallion onsite, the Redoute’s Choice horse Sheer Talent, but Beauman has ambitions to stand a commercial stallion at Carrington Park.

“Our dream is to stand a very good stallion one day in the Southern Highlands,” he said. “No other studs do at the moment. We’ve stood a few other stallions before, like Salade and another called Road Hog, but our dream is to get a nice, commercial stallion that we can have on the farm because we’re set up for it.”

As such, Beauman is always on the watch for an opportunity.

“We always keep our eye out,” he said. “We get a lot of advice from good people in bloodstock, but it’s just about that opportunity popping up.”

Second time’s a charm

As opportunities go, Beauman has a good one this week.

He arrived at the Magic Millions complex on Thursday ahead of his five yearlings catalogued for Books 2 and 3 of the Gold Coast Yearling Sale. They are by Shalaa (Ire), Impending, Tosen Stardom (Jpn) and Vancouver, plus the only yearling by Sheer Talent in the Sale.

“They’re all very different horses, all very different in type and different in breeding,” Beauman said. “Every one of them has a good quality to advertise.”

Gallery: Carrington Park Stud's yearlings to be offered at Magic Millions, images courtesy of Magic Millions

In particular, he is rapt with Lot 1225, the Impending colt from the Street Cry (Ire) mare Nightingales whom he said would be popular on pedigree and type. The studmaster said his own colt, Lot 1233 by Sheer Talent, was worth a good look.

“He’s out of quite a good mare that’s related to that horse of Peter Moody’s, Lightsaber,” Beauman said. “We don’t expect him to make a lot of money but we hope he’ll be the next Thelwell.”

Carrington Park sold Thelwell in its inaugural January draft last year.

The Bel Esprit gelding was one of four colts that Beauman took to his farm’s first presence at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. Even though Beauman had sold horses at various sales before, including the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale, it was his first time under the Carrington Park banner at January.

Thelwell, who was sold for $25,000 to Shane Dowling, has since won three times his sale price in four Queensland starts that included a second to Coolangatta in the G3 BJ McLachlan S. on Boxing Day.

Cartoon character

Two-year-old Thelwell was bred by Sydney breeder Gary Kirkman, and he arrived at Carrington Park at foot with his dam Di Maria (Not A Single Doubt).

“We received him with the mare when he was at foot and we did the weaning,” Beauman said. “Then we raised him on our property through to the Sale last year. We’ve done quite a bit of work for Gary in the past, and this was a funny little foal. He wasn’t little on type, but he was quite solid, always a good eater.”

Beauman said the yearling Thelwell was a chunky youngster but he was very athletic when he galloped about in the paddock. It was amusing to him when the horse was given the name ‘Thelwell’ because the connotations of it – a cheeky, chunky, cartoon pony – were worrying.

“I knew about Thelwell from being a kid, and my mum used to cut out his pictures for me,” Beauman said. “When I heard that he’d been given that name, I thought to myself, ‘oh no, I hope they don’t think he’s hopeless’. But his results have shown that he’s pretty handy.”

Beauman remembers that Thelwell came into trim during the yearling prep ahead of his Sale last year, but he was always a bit chubbier than the others.

“He muscled up a bit but he didn’t tighten up the way the other yearlings did,” he said. “He was always a pretty relaxed, casual sort of fella and his temperament never waivered. He was always great to do anything with.”

Thelwell is trained at Deagon by Sharryn Livingston.

He will start in Saturday’s field with jockey Justin Stanley from barrier five and, while he’s sitting at about $34 in the market, he isn’t without a chance. He was well up the ballot as horse number seven, and there are so many good facets to his story that it’s hard to keep track.

For one, Livingstone has been a professional trainer for just a year, and the story of her clapping eyes on the horse in the Carrington Park draft is a good one. Thelwell was too tired to get up for his inspection, so instead he sat up like a dog in stable B23.

In a short time, the gelding has taken Livingstone on a whirlwind trip straight to the top in Queensland. The odds of it happening are amazing, with Livingston housing just four horses in her yard.

After her son Jack drew the ideal barrier (five) on Tuesday morning, she had every reason to look forward to the weekend.

“It is surreal, to be honest,” she told Racing Queensland after the draw. “We all dream of coming here with a 2-year-old and I’m still trying to take it all in. But it proves that you don’t need to be a big stable to get a good horse.”

Cover image courtesy of Sportpix

Imagine rolling up at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, spending $36,000 on one grey filly and then rolling home. Imagine that filly taking out the R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic the following year, and then two Group 1s and a Group 3 as the year went on.

Imagine that filly earning over $1.5 million in prizemoney, nearly 42 times her sale price, and then foaling two stakes winners, among them the $8.8 million earner Chautauqua (Encosta De Lago).

“The odds of it were ridiculous,” said Edwina Throsby. “You just couldn’t believe it would happen.”

This was the story of Lovely Jubly, a daughter of the Danehill (USA) stallion Lion Hunter. It’s been exactly 20 years since she won the 2002 Magic Millions 2YO Classic, a race that, even then, was career-defining.

Lovely Jubly was a cheap grey filly, bought on the Gold Coast in 2001 by the late trainer David Throsby. She was the only horse Throsby bought at that Sale, and she has remained in the Throsby family ever since, right up to the present as a 22-year-old retiree.

“She is exactly the same today as when she was two,” said Edwina, the late trainer’s daughter. “She’s very easy to handle and always has been. She’s in charge of the paddock, always number one, and they follow her everywhere. She’s got her own presence about her. She always had and always will.”

One horse

On paper, Lovely Jubly was a half-sister to the dual Group winner Sir Howard (Alannon). On the bottom line, the family is largely a Kiwi one through the broodmare Jaboulet (NZ) (Vice Regal {NZ}).

Lovely Jubly was bred in 1999 by Carnation Lodge in Queensland, which was the small breeding empire of studmaster Dan Hayes. The property was in Delaneys Creek north of Brisbane.

At the time of her sale in 2001, Lovely Jubly wasn’t in fashion. Her sire, Lion Hunter, was consistent but he wasn’t yet an Australian star. He’d been consistent as a racehorse with three wins in eight starts, none at stakes level, but he was Group 1 and Group 3 placed in Sydney and Melbourne.

The grey stallion stood the entirety of his stallion career at Neville Stewart’s Oaklands Stud, Toowoomba and, from day dot, he was an impressionable sire.

Lion Hunter was Champion First Season Sire in 2001/2002 and, before his premature death in 2004 at just 11 years old, he was one of the most prolific producers of winners in Australia.

He was the sire of 17 stakes winners across just six crops, and they included the brilliant mare Gold Edition, the four-time Group winner Chinchilla Rose and Lovely Jubly. Three years after his death, in 2007, Lion Hunter broke a world record for siring the most number of seasonal winners in one country (240).

Gallery: Some of Lion Hunter's stakes-winning progeny, images courtesy of Sportpix

Lovely Jubly was from the first book of Lion Hunter progeny, one of 73 live foals from 104 mares the stallion covered in his first season. She headed to the 2001 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale as a neat, average-sized but masculine grey filly on David Throsby’s radar.

“Everyone goes to the sales these days and buys dozens of horses, but my father went to buy one horse and she was it,” Edwina said. “We were there for 10 minutes, he bought her for $36,000 and we left.”

Throsby had picked Lovely Jubly on her pedigree. He liked the family. He was an abattoir operator in the Hunter district but he was a very decent trainer too, keeping at one time a row of stables opposite Gosford racecourse.

More than this, he was a very good judge of horse.

“My father picked this filly on her pedigree initially,” Edwina said. “She was speed on speed and, as a breeder, you always like to look for that. On paper she looked to be a very fast horse and physically she was so masculine, and that’s what you want in an early runner, especially in a filly.”

Attitude is everything

Lovely Jubly first appeared in silks at Kensington in December 2001, in a 2-year-old handicap won by no less than Victory Vein (Mr Henrysee {USA}). That filly was subsequently Champion 2-Year-Old of Australia.

Thereafter, Throsby’s filly clattered through her juvenile season being first or second in her next seven races, and among them were wins in the Magic Millions 2YO Classic, the G3 Champagne Classic, G1 BTC Sires’ Produce S. and G1 TJ Smith Classic.

She was second in the Listed Doomben Slipper, and her final 2-year-old record read eight starts for five wins and two seconds. Her electric juvenile form didn’t surprise the Throsby family.

“She always showed ability from day one,” Edwina said. “She wanted to get up and get going, so she showed us early that want to race and will to win. I think that went right through to Chautauqua too. They’ve got a great will to win and they’ve got to have that, and we saw it very early in this family.”

That strength of attitude is something that has made this equine family very famous in the last handful of years.

Chautauqua, who was Lovely Jubly’s sixth foal, was as obstinate in the twilight of his career as he was brilliant, and none of his antics came as a surprise to Edwina.

“I was in a different world to everybody when that was going on,” she said. “They all thought they could change him but they were never going to change him. They’re very special horses.

“Even in the paddock, if Lovely Jubly doesn’t want to be caught one day she won’t be caught. She’ll come back the next day and we don’t mess around with that. They’re one-in-a-million types of personalities.”

The last laugh

As a 3-year-old, Lovely Jubly was there or thereabouts but without the same cutting dash as her juvenile season.

Among her significant efforts was a second to Bollinger (Dehere {USA}) in the G1 Coolmore Classic, while her final win was for trainer Brian Mayfield-Smith in the Listed Era S. at Caulfield in 2003. The mare was retired to stud after picking up a cannon bone injury at her final start in the G3 Tristarc S.

Lovely Jubly was sent back to Magic Millions to sell as an untried broodmare, but the market wasn’t like it is today and she was passed in at $720,000.

Thereafter she came home to the Throsby family’s Hunter Valley property Woodbury, and she embarked on a breeding career that produced Chautauqua in 2010 and his stakes-winning half-sister London Lolly (Charge Forward) the following year.

Woodbury is a boutique operation. It keeps its mares onsite but it's aligned with Neale Bruce's nearby Berkeley Park Stud for walk-on services, and Bruce also assists with the sales.

Over the years, while the Throsbys have sent a few of Lovely Jubly's offspring to sale, Chautauqua was the first of note and he appeared in the draft of Berkeley Park Stud.

He went to the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale in 2012 and was famously passed in at $300,000. His reserve was $400,000 and, in hindsight, Edwina is still unsure why it happened.

“I took him to the Sale and he didn’t get a bid,” she said. “No one liked him but after all his races he was suddenly an imposing, beautiful animal. I’m still not sure how that works.”

Edwina said fashions probably had something to do it, much like it had when Lovely Jubly sold in 2001.

“Encosta De Lago wasn’t the flavour of the month, and so much of the sales these days is all about what’s in vogue,” she said. “In 2012 it wasn’t Encosta, but Chautauqua had the last laugh in every way.”

Chautauqua was the defining progeny for Lovely Jubly, but his half-sister London Lolly was a winner of the G3 SAJC Breeders’ S. and Listed St Albans S. at Moonee Valley.

Edwina didn’t get the option to return Lovely Jubly to Encosta De Lago when Chautauqua started doing his thing, with the Coolmore stallion retiring in 2014. In his place, the mare went to a succession of great sires including Street Sense (USA), More Than Ready (USA) and All Too Hard.

Last spring, she settled on an Encosta son for Lovely Jubly’s final foal which resulted in a colt by Rubick.

“This Rubick is probably the most similar to Chautauqua to date,” Edwina said. “I would have sent her to Encosta every year if I could have, so this was the next best thing. If he’s a third as good as Chautauqua with all that blood, then that will be great.”

Woodbury’s beating heart

The Lovely Jubly family is the beating heart of the Woodbury operation, but it’s not been a lucky one.

The mare had 14 foals in total and very few have been sent to the sale ring but, while Edwina has tried to retain the family, she has only Lovely Jubly, London Lolly and Mulberry Walk (More Than Ready {USA}) as breeding stock. The rest have largely met with accidents or illness.

“We would have had more Chautauquas but we’ve met with extreme bad luck,” Edwina said. “A lot of them have died in unforeseen accidents during racing or such. I lost one the other day to colic. Out of 14 foals seven have died, so it's really what could have been.”

Edwina calls it obscene bad luck. Her horses have succumbed to leg infections, track accidents and sickness, and it’s happened to the foals, to the 3-year-olds and to the older horses.

Her most recent loss was a 2018 filly by Air Force Blue (USA). It’s a frustrating example of fate and fortune.

Of the surviving stock, London Lolly has produced the promising Snitzel horse Britain, who races in the red and green silks of Lovely Jubly. The 4-year-old gelding is with Greg Hickman at Warwick Farm and he’s won two races to date from 10 starts.

His I Am Invincible half-brother, All England, is a lightly raced 3-year-old with the Snowdens at Randwick.

“London Lolly is a great producer,” Edwina said. “She’s got a lovely Nicconi filly on the ground and she’s definitely one we’ll hold on to in hope of passing on that great family. She’s not like her mother. She’a bit more relaxed and a bit more laid back, which happens as they get older.”

Edwina said the last of Lovely Jubly’s foals, the Rubick colt, is certainly the most like his dam and the most like his famous, millionaire three-quarter brother.

“He’s every bit like them both and he’s only the one that I’ve had like Chautauqua,” she said. “So we’ll be hanging onto to him to race.”

There’s a certain wistfulness about the Rubick foal, like the story has come full circle. There’ll be no more foals from 22-year-old Lovely Jubly, and it’s fitting that the last one is as closely related to her best son as is physically possible.

“If I’d had more surviving foals, I might have been in a position to sell more,” Edwina said. “But with the luck I’ve had, it’s left me no choice but to hang on to everything I’ve got.”

That being said, Woodbury will be sending a Not A Single Doubt colt from London Lolly to the upcoming Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, one of the very last foals from that sire. It will be a promising lot because Not A Single Doubt has been very hot on the Gold Coast this week.

“He’s a lovely colt and there’s no more of them, they’re not making Not A Single Doubts anymore,” Edwina said. “So he’s something to look forward to and hopefully he’ll bring a bit at Easter.”