Cover image courtesy of Inglis

Sunlight sibling shines brightest

Tom Magnier and his Coolmore colts partners identified Lot 434, the Zoustar colt and brother to three-time Group 1 winner Sunlight, on offer by Widden Stud, as their pick of the Sale and fought off a determined play from BK Racing and Breeding to take him home for $3 million.

It was the highest price Magnier has ever paid for a yearling in Australia, the highest price paid for a yearling by Zoustar and the $3 million is the equal third highest price paid at an Australian yearling sale.

Given the Widden colt's pedigree, a brother to both Champion filly Sunlight, who Coolmore paid $4.2 million for at the 2020 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, and Group 3 winner Sisstar, it was no surprise to see him top the Sale, and that it was Magnier winning the day.

"Obviously, we bought Sunlight off Widden and the Thompson family have been producing good horses for a long time and they are very good friends of ours," Magnier said.

"Obviously, we bought Sunlight and the foal at home by Justify is our best foal at home. It’s a family that we know well. When you are trying to make stallions you need to have horses like this. He was probably the best type of the Sale. Widden have the horses looking great."

The Zoustar colt, like all of Magnier's six $1 million-plus colts purchases for the week, will go to trainer Chris Waller and the Coolmore Australia principal praised everyone involved in making the purchase possible.

"We are delighted to have a great team behind us in our colts syndicate. When you go and fund colts like this you have to have everybody agreeing that this is a colt that ticks every box for the whole team," he said.

"We will obviously need a bit of luck and they can't all be good, but you are doing the right thing if you are trying to buy the good pedigrees and the good types. They are going to a good trainer."

A fully Charged pedigree

The colt's dam, Solar Charged (Charge Forward), has been an exceptional producer since Widden Stud and Qatar Racing purchased her for $650,000 in 2014.

Her progeny have fetched a total of $5.7 million through yearling sales since and include two Group winners, two stakes performers and five winners in total. She foaled a filly to Zoustar last year and visited the stallion again in 2021.

It was also a record for Widden Stud, with an emotional Antony Thompson, keen to share the glory with his staff.

“I can’t believe it. Words can’t describe the rollercoaster being behind the auctioneer there and seeing that horse make $3 million, it is just overwhelming,” said Thompson as tears of joy welled up.

“It is stunning work from the team, the guys, our partners in him. I’m blown away. You go into the ring and you’re hoping they sell well, but you never know late in the Sale. You’re worried if they (buyers) have done their budgets and all those things.

“We knew we had a very special horse, but wow, that is a very special horse. We are just flabbergasted. To top any sale, but to top an Easter Yearling Sale is pretty awesome.”

Thompson paid tribute to Coolmore's commitment to buying the best colts in the land.

"Coolmore have been wonderful supporters of the farm. They bought the top-priced horse off us in Melbourne as well (by I Am Invincible for $950,000) and they, of course, bought the full sister to this bloke in Sunlight," he said.

“They like buying off Widden, I think they feel confident in what we do. Hopefully, one day this guy is a stallion for them in the barn at Coolmore and we can send our mares back to him.”

Snitzel suits for Coolmore

Magnier also secured the second top lot of the Sale, going to $2.25 million for another regally related colt, this time by Snitzel. Lot 374 from the Arrowfield Stud draft is out of Group 1-winning mare Response (Charge Forward), making him a brother to Estijaab, a $1.7 million graduate from this Sale in 2017.

With such a pedigree and profile, he was destined to soar into the seven figures, but Magnier had to go further to see off Northern Farm, who also had their eye on him.

"If you want to find good pedigrees, they’re all here this week. The team thought he was a really nice physical, I think everyone was on him," Magnier said.

"We have a great team around us, Chris, Guy and the team at Coolmore, they all really liked this horse. It is a real stallion's pedigree if he does it on the racetrack and they’re the horses we’ve been trying to get this week.

“To be fair to the Messaras at Arrowfield, they do a great job in producing horses for this Sale and to get a horse out of their draft is great."

Magnier purchased two colts by Snitzel across the Sale, continuing a trend of finding the best presented colts as stallion prospects.

“Snitzel is a four-time Champion Sire and everybody is looking for the next Snitzel, the next Fastnet Rock and hopefully we’ve already got the next I Am Invincible (Home Affairs) and they’re the boxes you need to tick when you’re looking at a stallion’s pedigrees," he said.

“The Messaras produce great horses and they have done a great job with Snitzel. The Danehills, through the Fastnet Rocks, the Sadler’s Wells through the Galileos, you’ve got to try and follow those lines and who knows where it’s going to come from, but if you’re buying progeny by the top stallions you’re in with some chance.”

As well as the Emirates Park-owned Estijaab, Response has produced three other winners, including the stakes-performed Alter Call (Fastnet Rock) and Remarque (Snitzel). She has a weanling colt by Snitzel and then visited The Autumn Sun.

Arrowfield Chairman John Messara praised the Snitzel colt.

"We felt he was going to fetch big money because he was admired by so many professional buyers. In the end they got into a tussle to get him up to pretty high level," he said.

"We are very proud of him. His mother has thrown two good ones ahead of him, so it’s a low-risk proposition buying him based on what his mother has already thrown."

Hawkes double up on Arrowfield quality

Arrowfield also celebrated two other star results with daughters of Group 1-winning mares on Wednesday, with Lot 424, a filly by Snitzel out of Silent Sedition (War Chant {USA}) selling for $2.2 million and Lot 448, a filly by Dundeel (NZ) out Stay With Me (Street Cry {Ire}) selling for $1.7 million, a record for the sire. Both fillies sold to Hawkes Racing.

Wayne Hawkes described the Snitzel filly as one from the very top draw that they were determined to take home.

"She was more like a colt to be fair. So when you’re buying these fillies and they look like colts, it’s a bit special," he said.

"She is (a forward type). What more can I say about her than what everyone already knows? When you see these fillies that are winning against the boys and that’s what (her dam) did, I was there when she won at Moonee Valley the night that she won.

"There’s fillies that win the Group 1s and then the special fillies that win in open company. She was a star and she was a star filly of the Sale. What you come and you get compared with what you walk out the door with are generally two different things, so when you get your number one draft pick, put it this way, when you don’t have them it’s the opposition that against you next year."

"Fillies are making colts' prices. But she’s always going to have that pedigree. You can’t buy those fillies. They are the queens, blue hens, call them whatever you want. Mum was winning against the boys and not many fillies actually do that."

Silent Sedition was purchased by Katsumi Yoshida for $1.5 million in 2018 and has now produced Snitzel yearlings priced at $600,000 last year and $2.2 million this year. She has a Snitzel weanling filly and returned to that stallion.

"I thought to my eye there was some very nice fillies in the Sale, but she was as good a filly as you could find. Almost perfect in every way. Let’s hope she proved that on the track," Messara said.

Hawkes Racing also paid the highest-price yet for a yearling for the first crop of Justify (USA), going to $1 million for Lot 267 from the draft of Kia Ora Stud, the half-brother to dual Group 1 winner Loving Gaby (I Am Invincible).

Arrowfield in the ascendancy

Arrowfield's incredible Sale saw it sell over $30 million over the two days, a target Messara had set for his team and one which smashed the previous record for a vendor at the Sale.

"Overall our result was outstanding, we were very pleased with the outcome. We broke our own record, by a huge margin, by $9 million which is ridiculous. We are very proud of that," he said.

"The market is strong, but I keep saying to people that every asset class has been on the rise, boats, stocks, houses and intertest rates are very low. Prizemoney has been rising, that certainly helps. It’s been a combination of things which has brought a bit of confidence in the marketplace.

"It’s very gratifying, because there has been a massive investment to get to where we are today in stallions and mare and capital to get ourselves to a position where we can produce this level of horses."

Arrowfield finished with seven $1 million-plus lots and an average of over $520,000.

"I'm elated and I'm really happy for the team and proud for the team. Without the team, you can’t prepare 60-something horses. I'm feeling very humbled by the quality in the team I have got," Messara said.

Bittersweet moment for Monds with $2 million Vinnie filly

It was with a sense of mixed emotion that Linda Monds of Tyreel Stud parted with her beautiful grey I Am Invincible filly, Lot 348, on Wednesday, but when Mitchell Bloodstock (FBAA) combined with the Yellow Brick Road Company for $2 million, she knew it was the right outcome.

The filly is out of the grand producer Pinnochio (Encosta De Lago), the sister to Group 1 winner Racing To Win and the dam of The Everest winner Classique Legend (Not A Single Doubt) and Group 2 winner Aethero (Sebring).

Monds said she had wanted to retain the filly, but the market convinced her that it was in the best interests of her and husband Laurence's business to let her go.

"I just felt she was such a special filly. I thought she deserved every bit of the sale figure she achieved and it's definitely a bittersweet moment," she said.

"From the time she foaled down, I always said the first filly out of the mare I would keep and all the way through I was going to keep her. I even had a racename in my head for her and right up to the time she walked into the ring, I didn't think she'd reach the value that I thought she was worth. It's blown me away that she has actually sold."

That value was $1.8 million, where she was declared on the market, ensuring she will go and joining the stables of Chris Waller.

"I spent a lifetime dreaming about breeding, but I know she will go on and do us proud, and I have Mum at home and I'll breed another one," Monds said.

"I've never had a yearling that has been so heavily vetted and inspected. What makes me more impressed with that filly is how she handled it. She's going to be a superstar."

Bill and James Mitchell did the bidding, signing for her in partnership with Yellow Brick Road Company, which is owned by local Cabramatta restauranteur, Phillip Vissalli.

"She was the one that we identified early in the Sale and the client was very keen to buy her and she was an expensive filly, but high-quality, with great residual. She's a beautiful filly, and we were very happy," Mitchell said.

"She is a beautiful filly, strong, good-natured and it was pretty plain for everyone to see she was an outstanding filly. It’s just a matter if you can buy her or not.

"She was as good a filly as there was on the grounds, without a doubt."

Pinocchio has a Pierro filly to follow and visited Snitzel last year.

Harron secures pedigree of the rise

Another I Am Invincible to star on the second day was Lot 393, who was secured by James Harron for $1.7 million.

The filly is out of Group 1 winner Ruud Awakening (NZ) (Bernardini {USA}), the champion 2-year-old in New Zealand and dam of recent G3 Pago Pago S. winner Rise Of The Masses (Russian Revolution).

It was a marquee result for Newgate Farm, its best result of the week.

"She was bred by a fantastic client of the farm in Go Bloodstock’s Sir Owen Glenn. He and Steve O’Connor do a great job and it’s an excellent result for the farm," Newgate Stud manager Jim Carey said.

"It is a huge credit to everybody at the farm, from the people who foaled her down and brought her through (to the yearling sale). They’ve always had a huge wrap on her."

“It was a huge result for us (with Rise Of The Masses) and his sire Russian Revolution is absolutely smashing it. He had another winner yesterday (at Hawkesbury). Rise Of The Masses came off the farm, like this filly, and hopefully she progresses as well as he is.

“She has an absolutely fantastic temperament, she has a great action and she’s very straightforward."

Ruud Awakening had a Snitzel filly last year and then visited Extreme Choice.

Harron said a stable for the I Am Invincible filly had yet to be determined.

Records tumble for Inglis

Inglis Bloodstock CEO, Sebastian Hutch, was left almost lost for words be the strength of the market and the record results of the Sale.

“It is unprecedented, genuinely unprecedented," he said.

We have been in the fortunate position whereby circumstance has meant that we set new records at the Classic Yearling Sale, the Premier Yearling Sale, the Ready2Race Sale, so inevitably the mind wonders, ‘what is the record at Easter?’ and so I looked back and it was back in 2008 when there were 630-odd horses in the sale and they turned over $150 million and a bit, so you think, ‘that’s impossible, you can never beat that’.

“To sit here today and to be in position to have horses good enough to allow us to beat it and to have bidders who were committed enough and brave enough to want to go and buy horses to the extent they have is hard to comprehend.”

Top lots

Top buyers

Vendors by aggregate

Vendors by average (3 or more sold)

Sires by aggregate

Sires by average (3 or more sold)

Gus Roland is joined by John Messara of Arrowfield Stud and Craig Rounsefell of Boomer Bloodstock (FBAA) to discuss the second day of selling at the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale, after an enormous day of trade.

Cover image courtesy of Inglis

Along with the likes of Marie Yoshida's Asian Bloodstock Services, Bridle Bloodstock, George Moore Bloodstock, Golden River/All Winners and C H Ngai, Hong Kong Jockey Club, via Craig Rounsefell of Boomer Bloodstock (FBAA), also stepped up, with five purchases, including the equal highest price it has ever paid for an Australian yearling, $1 million for Lot 329, a Zoustar colt out of Emirates Park draft.

Rounsefell also purchased colts by Dundeel (NZ) (Lot 22 for $525,000), Exceed And Excel (Lot 107 for $400,000), Per Incanto (USA) (Lot 299 for $560,000) and Deep Field (Lot 469 for $750,000) across the two days and all are headed toward the Hong Kong International Sale, along with the nine yearlings purchased earlier this year.

Picking your mark in what was a tough market for buyers is crucial especially for those buying for racing markets overseas and Rounsefell was very select with what he targetted at what was a record Easter Sale.

"We are trying to find really top-quality horses that can be re-offered at the (International) Sale for members and that are special horses. We aren’t usually competing with the stallion funds who might be looking to buy 2-year-old horses that’s not our go," Rounsefell said.

"We are looking for horses that will race at three, four, five and six. We want them to be durable and sound.

"The horses we are buying are very clean in terms of vetting as well, the Jockey Club has the highest standards when it comes to their vetting and the ones that do buy, have gone through a lot of hoops to stay on the list."

Buying for the International Sale, which is held in July, is a different experience than most other buyers on the ground at Riverside Stables, with a clear understanding needed of what the market in Hong Kong is interested in, while staying within the setting and x-rays standards.

That includes considering stallion appeal, with the likes of Exceed And Excel, Deep Field and Per Incanto, two stallions the HKJC purchased yearlings by this week, highly successful in Hong Kong. Per Incanto leads the Hong Kong Sires' Championship with 18 winners again this season, while Deep Field is second on 10.

Gallery: Some of the yearlings purchased by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, images courtesy of Inglis

Zoustar has already had five winners in Hong Kong this season, including the Group 3 winner Healthy Happy, while Dundeel has made an impression with three winners from just seven runners.

"We do look at certain stallions and there is a big team that do pedigrees and delve into aspects there. If the horses are sound, they can go through their grades and be competing for many seasons and do well for their owners," he said.

"We are looking for proven stallions off proven farms. Here at Easter, the families are outstanding, and they will be well received at the International Sale."

A $1 million star

The Zoustar colt was purchased off Emirates Park and is out of One More Honey (Onemorenomore), who was a Group 2 winner as a 2-year-old and whose not 2-year-old son by Not A Single Doubt, Man In The Mirror, secured $1.8 million through the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale and was recently placed in the G2 VRC Sires' Produce S.

A little less precocious than both his dam and half-brother, the $1 million colt fell into the perfect profile for Rounsefell and the HKJC.

"He's obviously a beautiful, athletic colt, We thought we might come up a bit short, but he has a bit more scope and might be a horse that improves with age," he said.

"It’s a lovely family, mum had a lot of speed, the first runner has some talent, so hopefully he's a star in Hong Kong in the future.

"He's a later foal (October 22), and the cross has worked before, it’s a similar cross with Sunlight and that Red Ransom line."

The pricetag equalled the prices paid by Hong Kong Jockey Club for two colts by I Am Invincible from this Sale in 2018.

As Per usual

The Per Incanto colt, Lot 299 from the draft of Bhima Thoroughbreds, is the brother to G1 Railway S. winner Santa Monica (NZ).

"I just loved that horse. He just looked rock solid. The stallion is very high on our hitlist, he's a stallion that Hong Kong love," Rounsefell said.

The Hong Kong International Sale has been impacted somewhat by the COVID-19 pandemic in recent years, with numbers of horses offered reduced to just 22 and 23 in 2020 and 2021.

But with borders re-opening and the success of Sale graduate Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) in the Listed Hong Kong Derby, Rounsefell expects a strong rebound at this year's Sale, which takes place on July 9.

"That Derby win was fantastic for the Sale and the team changed down here a couple of years ago, so it’s exciting to see our crops come through," Rounsefell said.

As selling kicked on over at Riverside on Wednesday, Sydney hosted its midweek meeting at a rain-soaked Canterbury Park. A few days of broad sunshine had done little to dry out proceedings, and the track was a testing Heavy 10 for its eight-race card.

The first event was for the 2-year-olds and it drew plenty of cheer from Widden Stud. It was fought out by a pair of Zoustar juveniles in the filly Zougotcha and the colt Zou Tiger.

At the jump, both horses were among the early speed, but it was Zou Tiger with a slight edge on the rails. He sat inside the race favourite, Sweet Baby Boom (Spirit Of Boom), with jockey James McDonald holding Zougotcha fourth with a bit of cover.

Into the straight, the ground found out much of the field, and Sweet Baby Boom fell away quickly. The Zoustar youngsters were left to fight it out, and at one point it looked like a contest.

However, Zougotcha skipped over the heavy going better and she drew away with McDonald by the 100 metres. She put several lengths between herself and Zou Tiger, and this pair spaced the rest of the field.

The final margins were 3.12l to second, with 8.47l to third-placed Sweet Baby Boom. The time for the 1200 metres was 1:17.32, the last 600 metres in 39.57s. It made the race about a furlong slower than the standing track record, a testament to the trying conditions.

Had trial, will travel

The filly Zougotcha is raced by a consortium that includes some big names.

Noel and Maria Greenhalgh are among them, who’ve had ownership highs with the likes of Nature Strip (Nicconi) and Sir Dragonet (Ire) (Camelot {GB}). There’s also Francis and Christine Cook of Mystery Downs among them, along with Widden Stud.

At Rosehill, Zougotcha is trained by Chris Waller, and Wednesday’s race was her debut appearance.

She’d been handy in a trial in late March running second, and Damien Fitton, Waller’s assistant racing manager and trackside representative at Canterbury, said their only concerns were her inexperience.

“She’s a lovely filly and we’ve always had a bit of time for her,” Fitton said. “The only query for us was the one trial heading into a Heavy 10, but she got a perfect ride by James (McDonald) and she was just too good in the end. It’s onwards and upwards from now on.”

Fitton said they were taking their time with Zougotcha, who is nicely actioned but not a huge type.

“She’s been a lovely filly from day one and we’ve just taken our time, letting her tell us when she’s ready to head to the races,” he said. “She’s got a great mind on her and a great attitude, and it will take her a long way in her career.”

McDonald was equally as appraising.

“I hope my Saturday-class horses get through it (the ground) as well as she did,” the jockey said. “She’s very professional and well-educated. The one trial was probably the only query, but she obviously learned plenty from it because she executed that beautifully.”

The Zou stars

The Zoustar quinella couldn’t have come at a better time for Widden Stud. Out at Warwick Farm, on Day 2 of the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, the Zoustar progeny were going gangbusters - including a $3 million colt stealing headlines.

Lot 329, a colt from the Onemorenomore mare One More Honey, sold from Emirates Park to the Hong Kong Jockey Club for an even million-dollars. It was a record-equalling price tag for a Hong Kong purchase.

Among other sales, a Zoustar filly from Jolie Bay (Fastnet Rock) sold to Cambridge Stud for $950,000. She was for breeders Chris and Jane Barham, while a Newhaven Park colt from Vergara (Snippetson) was an early trendsetter, selling as Lot 5 for $900,000 to a consortium of China Horse Club, Newgate Bloodstock and Trilogy Racing.

Gallery: Some of the Zoustar yearlings that were well-received at the Inglis Easter Sale, images courtesy of Inglis

A filly from Comprende (I Am Invincible), Lot 115, fetched the same price when selling from Widden’s draft to Suman Hedge Bloodstock (FBAA).

“Zoustar is going fantastic this week,” said Antony Thompson, the principal of Widden Stud. “He was averaging $520,000 yesterday on Day One, and he’s got the loveliest line of horses you’ve ever seen. They’re selling even better today (Wednesday).

“He’s had a million-dollar colt and then the Solar Charged, so I’m sure by the end of the Sale when the stats are done, there’ll be some phenomenal numbers there.”

The numbers did prove phenomenal, in the end.

The Zoustar colt from Solar Charged (Charge Forward) was Lot 434, a full brother to both Sunlight and Sisstar. There was plenty of attention given to him in the twilight hour of the Easter Sale, and he sold accordingly. He went to Coolmore for a staggering $3 million.

Crystal clear

Zougotcha was an Easter graduate this time last year, selling from Widden’s draft for $500,000 to Chris Waller Racing and Mulcaster Bloodstock.

The filly is a daughter of the Fastnet Rock mare Fast Talker, who was a three-time winner and stakes-placed in the Listed Queen Adelaide S.

Zougotcha is a full sister to the stakes winner Persuader (Zoustar), and a half-sister to the Sebring Listed winner The Actuary. More significantly, however, this is the family of the G1 Golden Slipper-winning, Champion 2-Year-Old filly Crystal Lily (Stratum).

At Riverside, despite being knee-deep in horse trading on Wednesday, Thompson watched the Zoustar quinella at Canterbury with plenty of private thrill.

“It was a nice little part of the day, with everything else that was going on,” the studmaster said. “They were two really nice horses on debut that their trainers and connections think highly of, and, obviously, being involved in the breeding of both of them, it was a lovely thing.”

Thompson co-bred Zougotcha alongside his great friend, Robert Anderson. As they prepared the filly for the Easter Sale last year, Thompson was keen to go back into her, and he said as such to Anderson.

“I said to Robert, who bred her with me, that we should get back in and stay involved,” Thompson said. “Robert loves his racing so he was keen, and I was happy to go along. We don’t have much of a share but we’ve got an interest in her, which is great fun, and they’re a nice group of owners.”

Thompson remembers Zougotcha as a classy yearling.

“She had a lot of quality, as many of the Zoustars do,” he said. “She was a good-moving filly, and she was one of those Zoustars that was much admired.

“At the Sale at the time, I thought she was going to make anything from $500,000 to $800,000, and I think Guy Mulcaster had rated her highly. He’s a great judge, and it was good value for him at that Sale. When a horse goes to someone like Guy and a great trainer like Chris Waller, it’s a great thrill and good to be back in.”

Zougotcha races in the same silks as the Group 2-winning, Group 1-placed Madam Rouge, another of Zoustar’s fillies.

Madam Rouge was bred at Widden in 2015 and sold at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale two years later for $310,000. She went to the same Mulcaster/Waller partnership as Zougotcha.

“We had success with Chris Waller and Zoustar before, being involved in Madam Rouge with him,” Thompson said. “That was a great experience, and some of the same guys went back in to this filly, and she races in the same colours.”