Yulong spends $16.48 million, Away Game tops Day 1

Cover image courtesy of Magic Millions

Yulong’s got Game

Away Game (Snitzel) and Tofane (NZ) (Ocean Park {NZ}) were touted to be the stars of an action-packed week and they did not disappoint with Tofane making $3.1 million early on in the day, with Yulong doing the bidding online.

However, the daughter of Ocean Park (NZ) proved to only be the entrée with the main course served an hour later, when Yulong showed their firepower once again, coming out on top of a ferocious bidding battle with Coolmore for the honour to take super fast filly Away Game home for an eye-watering $4 million.

Only minutes after Away Game stepped foot in the ring, the opening bid was already $1.5 million and the stage was set for fireworks.

As the bidding climbed up past $2 million a hush came over the Sales complex, with the auditorium spellbound watching the popular mare calmly make her way round the ring.

As buyers began to fall away, it was left to Yulong and Coolmore’s Tom Magnier to fight it out, with Yulong eventually outlasting Magnier to win the ultimate prize to leave the Sales complex with the exciting daughter of Snitzel.

Fairgray said Away Game would get a few more chances to add that elusive Group 1 to her CV and the first of those will come in Saturday’s G1 Kingsford-Smith Cup at Eagle Farm, while the mare could also line up in the G1 Stradbroke H. or G1 Tattersall’s Tiara later on in the season, before retiring to the Victorian Stud where she will likely be set for a date with their resident sire Written Tycoon.

“She’s been a fantastic racemare and she’s a beautiful-looking specimen so we’re really pleased to take her home,” Fairgray said. “She’ll have a couple more starts and then have a date with Written Tycoon.

“She’s already done enough but if she happened to pick up a Group 1 then that’s a bonus.

“We’ve seen the market is so strong on these fillies that have been very dominant, especially with 2-year-old form the way she did so you’ve got to front up. If she leaves progeny looking like herself then they will definitely do well in the sales ring.”

Tuesday was Away Game’s second visit to the Magic Millions Sales complex with the mare having been purchased by Kerri Radcliffe for $425,000 at the Gold Coast Yearling Sale in 2019 from the draft of her breeders Mill Park Stud.

The daughter of Snitzel has been a headline horse for Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, handing the powerhouse training partnership their first win in the R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic as a juvenile, a year which also saw her land the G3 Widden S. and G2 Percy Sykes S., while she was also runner-up in the G1 Golden Slipper S., leading to her being crowned Australia’s Champion 2-Year-Old Filly.

A winner of $3,727,425 in career prizemoney, Away Game finished in the frame at Group 1 level on four occasions, including most recently in the G1 Robert Sangster S. earlier in the month.

Away Game is out of the stakes-placed Elusive Quality (USA) mare Elusive Wonder, making her a sister to Listed winner Modern Wonder. Further back the mare hails from the same family as Group 3 scorer Freedom Fields (NZ) (Bluebird {USA}).

This was the second investment Yulong have made into Away Game’s family with the operation, under the guise of the Written Tycoon Syndicate, having snapped up her three-quarter sister Pippa Charlotte (Not A Single Doubt) for $375,000 at last year’s National Broodmare Sale.

Plans fluid for high-class Tofane

Tofane, meanwhile, could also race on with Fairgray leaving the door open for the Mike Moroney-trained daughter of Ocean Park (NZ) to carry on her career next season, with Written Tycoon also lying in wait when the mare does eventually retire to the breeding shed.

“I’d say Written Tycoon will be high up on the cards,” said Fairgray. “We might give her a couple of runs through the spring and breed to her. She's no certainty to go to stud this year. She has shown in the last year that she's getting better as she gets older, so if she's still got an interest in racing then we may race her on."

A winner of four Group 1s, Tofane’s most recent elite-level win came when she took out the G1 CF Orr S. in February, having landed her first top-flight race in the 2020 G1 All Aged S., while in 2021 she triumphed in the G1 Stradbroke H., which duly followed up with a win in the G1 Tattersall's Tiara.

Yulong have had past dealings with the mare’s now former owner Rupert Legh, having purchased their resident sire Alabama Express from him in 2020, while Tofane represented the operation in the 2020 edition of The Everest and Fairgray admitted on Tuesday they had tried and failed to buy her previously.

"She's obviously a fantastic race mare and she was on the Yulong slot in The Everest," Fairgray said. "We have really liked her for a few years and we've spoken to Rupert Legh on several occasions to try to buy her, so it's great to finally get her today (Tuesday).

"I'd say Written Tycoon will be high up on the cards (to serve her) but after the Sale we'll sit down and have a look at what we do.”

Great ambassador

Moroney, who was ringside to watch his stablestar sell, said she had been a great ambassador for the stable over the past few years.

“She's been a great winner for our stable and has really carried the banner for our stable for the last couple of years,” said Moroney.

“She has a good brain and handled everything well. Surprising in the early days, I thought she was going to be a bit of a trouble to travel, but when we finally gave her her first trip away she ran really well and she's actually one of those that actually perform better when she's away from home, she didn't mind the travelling which is a bit unusual.

“The attributes she had was that she was no fuss, she would let you know when she’d had enough people. She'd let you know when she was uncertain and you'd just walk away from her. An attribute was that she could gallop. She just got better and better as she got older.”

Continued investment into blue-chip stock

Over the past few years Yulong has continued to make significant investments in broodmares, including purchasing Group 1 winner Unforgotten (Fastnet Rock) for $2.75 million at the 2020 edition of this Sale, while in that year they also paid $2.55 million for Viddora (I Am Invincible).

At the Sale last year, Yulong forked out $2.6 million for multiple Group 1-winning mare Melody Belle (NZ) (Commands) and Greysful Glamour (Stratum) for $1.5 million, having also purchased In Her Time (Time Thief) for $2.2 million at the Inglis Chairman's Sale that same year.

Later on in the evening, Sam Fairgray and his team added another star of the show to their portfolio, when they beat out Widden Stud's Antony Thompson to buy talented 3-year-old Mac ‘N’ Cheese (Sebring) for $1.6 million.

Trained by Tony and Calvin McEvoy and offered as part of the Spendthrift Farm dispersal, Mac ‘N’ Cheese has the respectable record of three wins and three placings from nine lifetime starts to date. She has competed in the Spendthrift silks throughout her young career and, following her win in the Listed Clare Lindop in late March, the filly was third in the G3 Auraria S. before finishing unplaced in Group 1 company last time out.

The 3-year-old is the third surviving foal and first filly from the late broodmare Bonnie Mac (NZ) (Thorn Park), who herself was a stakes winner in South Australia before an extraordinary breeding career.

Bonnie Mac - who died in 2020 - is also the dam of the Vinery Stud resident Exceedance, a winner of the G1 Coolmore Stud S. and G3 San Domenico S., and Exceedance’s brother and dual Group-winner Oxley Road (Exceed And Excel).

Just as with Tofane and Away Game, the daughter of the late Widden sire Sebring will race on for Yulong and the McEvoys.

“She has a strong pedigree behind her and is well-performed herself so this is another nice mare to add into the broodmare band. When you want to get these mares you have to front up and spend up to buy them.

“We are building a strong broodmare band of great quality so that’s what we continue to do. She’ll continue to race on after a spell now and she’s only going to mature more as she gets older so we’ll keep her going. At this stage she will race with the McEvoy team.”

Yulong’s quartet of $1 million mares was completed by three time-winning daughter of Galileo (Ire) Forever You (Ire), who they snapped up for $1.35 million.

The Victorian farm owns the Forever You’s sister You Only You (Ire), who provided them with a memorable result earlier this when they sold her colt by Lope De Vega (Ire) for $340,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

Fairgray said they liked investing in families and the Annabel Neasham-trained Forever You would likely stay in training, before retiring as a broodmare.

“She’s from a fantastic family,” Fairgray said of the Blue Sky Premium-consigned mare. “We actually own her full sister and we sold a Lope De Vega colt for $340,000 here at the Magic Millions Sale.

"With the farm it’s all about trying to build pedigrees so if you can get a few fillies from the same family and put them to nice stallions to build those families you will hopefully see the benefit on the track (of mating plans). We’ll wait and see, we’ll probably keep her in work and give her a couple of starts to see how she goes.”

Fairgray said it was a really exciting time for the farm and they were beginning to reap the benefits for their huge investments over the last few years at the broodmare Sales.

“It’s really exciting. Viddora has a really nice Snitzel filly, In Her Time (Time Thief) ($2.2m) has an I Am Invincible colt and Unforgotten has a beautiful I Am Invincible filly. They’re all starting to come through the system now so I think we’ll see them entering the yearling sales which is exciting,” said Fairgray.

“Plus, obviously we’ve got Melody Belle and Greysful Glamour due to foal down to Written Tycoon this year so in years to come there’s going to be some really nice progeny coming through.”

Farrington swoops for Lighthouse

Dermot Farrington is a familiar face on the Gold Coast and on Tuesday the Irish bloodstock agent made his presence felt at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale dual hemisphere-winning stakes mare Lighthouse (USA) (Mizzen Mast {USA}) for $1.7 million.

The agent said the mare would stay in Australia and would be mated to one of the country’s elite stallions.

Lighthouse, a stakes winner in the United States, has made a significant impression in her 10 starts in Australia for Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, winning five of them, culminating in her victory in the G1 Coolmore Classic at Rosehill last month.

The LNJ Foxwoods-owned mare also tasted stakes success in the Listed Chester Manifold S. while she was second in both the G1 CF Orr S. and the G1 Surround S. and has won $1.4 million in prizemoney.

Farrington made his presence felt earlier in the day, when he purchased Group 2-winning and Group 1-placed mare Swift Witness (Star Witness) for a cool $1 million.

Buying the mare on behalf of an unnamed client, Farrington said he rated her among the best-looking mares on the complex and, while he said he had to fight hard to secure the mare, he believed she was worth every penny.

“She is just one of the best types here and with one of the best race performances here, so she was one of those ones that we thought we’d have to fight hard to get her, and we did, so we’re delighted to get her,” said Farrington.

“Bought for an overseas client. She will stay here and be bred in this country. I’ll leave that up to the client. They will probably ask me (for my opinion) but I will leave that up to the client. She obviously deserves to go to a very good horse.

“She has a very good page and racing career, she’s probably one of the best types here. To me, she’s one of the best types in the Sale.”

When questioned how much he thought the mare would make, Farrington was unwilling to put a figure on it.

“As soon as you start making hard and fast rules for horses, they’ll make you into a liar, but at the end of the day that’s what we buy. Every year we go to a horse sale and try and buy the best type. That is why we keep improving it every year like that. Bad types doing it are a rarity as opposed to the good types. You only have to go to any stallion barn around the world…

“I am not saying you can’t be a bad type and be a good racehorse, but generally the good types are the ones you want. It remains to be seen until the end of the Sale to say whether she was good or bad value, but to me, I thought that was her mark. I couldn’t see her making less, that’s for sure.”

Catalogued as Lot 533 and offered by Glenesk Thoroughbreds, Swift Witness is out of the winning Commands mare Taylor’s Command and she is a sister to Listed-placed Terminology (Star Witness).

Taylor’s Command herself is half-sister to Group 2 winner So Pristine (Zabeel {NZ}) and Listed scorer Restored (NZ) (Red Ransom {USA}) and the dam of New Zealand Group 2 scorer Dijon Bleu (NZ) (Burgundy {NZ}).

Rowsthorn’s Morningside continues to make a big splash

The Rowsthorn family’s continued involvement in the thoroughbred industry went to another level yesterday when the former Woodside Park Stud owners teamed up with James Harron to buy two mares on Tuesday, headed by Group 2-winning Rubick mare Rubisaki who they purchased for $1 million on Tuesday.

The Rowsthorn family rebranded to Morningside after they sold Woodside Park Stud business to Eddie Hirsch last year and Rubisaki and Glistening (Zoustar) - who they purchased later on in the day - will continue their lives at their 1100-acre property on the Goulburn River in Victoria.

The mares will join their burgeoning broodmare band alongside Ludisia (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who they bought in foal to Kingman (GB) for $650,000 from the Twin Hills Stud draft the Inglis Chairman’s Sale earlier this month.

Will Rowsthorn, who was sitting alongside his brother Tom, as Harron was bidding on Rubisaki, said, while no concrete plans had been made for the 5-year-old, she would more than likely head for a date with Yulong Stud-based sire Written Tycoon.

The son of Iglesia is no stranger to the Rowsthorn Family, with the stallion having stood at Woodside Park for a number of seasons, before heading to Arrowfield in 2021 and was then relocated to Yulong for the 2022 season.

“It’s really exciting - the partnership is pretty new with James and this is our second edition. We are really excited to take her home back to Victoria and excited to see what we can breed from her, it’s exciting times ahead. She will probably go to Written Tycoon, but we’ll wait and see,” said Rowsthorn.

Purchased by Prime Thoroughbreds for $85,000 at the 2018 edition of the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale from the draft of her breeders Edinburgh Park, the mare was offered by Yarraman Park as Lot 508 and she is out of dual-winning Danehill Dancer (Ire) mare Senro Kisaki and she has produced a further three winners.

Prime Thoroughbreds' Joe O’Neill said the mare was deserving of that price-tag she made on Tuesday.

“They have supported us right the way through and we are really pleased they have got the result here today (Tuesday). The mare deserved that, she is a beautiful mare and she has a lovely pedigree. She has a great attitude and she’s been perfect up here,” said O’Neill.

“There were a lot of big bidders on her and we thought we might get to $1 million and were hoping we would and in the end it happened and it was fantastic.”

A beautiful mare

Harron described Rubisaki as a beautiful mare and believed she would be a good fit for the Moningside Broodmare band.

“She is a beautiful mare and she is a household name, everyone followed her and watched her on the track. She had such an amazing record and a lovely racing style,” said Harron.

“It is a real honour to get her and she will be going to Morningside Stud and the Rowsthorn Family who are building a beautiful broodmare band and she is the second mare we have bought this year. Rubisaki will be a lovely addition to the band and it’s really exciting.”

Later on in the afternoon, Harron and Morningside teamed up again to purchase G2 Reisling S. winner Glistening, paying Newgate Consignment $775,000 for the mare.

China Horse Club take home Ballistic Lover

Dual Listed winner Ballistic Lover (Smart Missile) looks set for a date with either Extreme Choice, Zoustar or Russian Revolution after Teo Ah Khing’s China Horse Club purchased the daughter of Smart Missile for $1 million.

Consigned by the Newgate Consignment and offered as Lot 587, the mare is out of She’s A Sweetheart (Show A Heart) making her a half-sister to Group 3-placed Swift Sweet (Snitzel).

She’s A Sweetheart herself is out of Listed winner She’s Meaner (Falvelon) and she has also produced Group 2 winner and now Aquis Farm-based sire Lean Mean Machine.

Further back this is the same family as New Zealand Group 1 winner She’s A Meaner (NZ) (Prince Salieri), while this season’s three-time Group 1-winning 3-year-old Hitotsu (Maurice {Jpn} also features on the page.

“I thought she was a great physical, she was a very fast mare from a proper family with a number of stallions on the page,” China Horse Club's Michael Smith said.

“She is a mare that can go to support our stallions such as Extreme Choice, Zoustar, Russian Revolution, she could go to any of those and she is a long-term mare for us.”

China Horse Club purchased a further two lots of day of the Sale and finished the first day with an aggregate of $1,650,000.

Outstanding first day

At the close of trade, Magic Millions reported that 180 mares sold for an aggregate of $44,935,500 at a clearance rate of 87.38 per cent, while the average was reported as $249,642 and the median stood at $120,000 .

Comparisons with last year are unfair given the presence of the Shadwell Dispersal, but the Sale is on track to eclipse the 2020 Magic Millions Sale, which finished with an gross of $57,079,000 and an average of $139,217.

Magic Millions Managing Director Barry Bowditch described the day as ‘a lot of fun’ and was satisfied with the buoyancy of trade throughout the session.

“It was a lot of fun. It was really enjoyable out there. A lot of work goes into pulling a session of race fillies together like this. We’ve been excited for six weeks since we knew what we had to sell and have built on that through a strong supplementary catalogue,” said Bowditch.

“Trade was fantastic, the room was full, there was a lot of electricity in it. Eight $1 million race fillies is a huge start to the session and what was pleasing is a very, very healthy clearance rate, an outstanding average at a quarter of a million dollars ($250,000) and a lot of happy vendors out there.

“There’s plenty of buyers out there who are still looking to spend money which is great. I felt from the first lot, all the way through it just had a great zing about it.

“We try to make this a big day for the industry, there’s a lot of owners in the room with expectations that are selling their pride and joys, horses who have given them so much joy on the racetrack. To share these moments with them is very important.

“I’m grateful to the syndicators, to the owners of these horses and the consignors for trusting Magic Millions to get the results that they’ve got in the ring today.

“The buoyancy in the middle was really pleasing, when you have an average of $250,000, a very strong median, Listed winners making a million dollars and city winners selling for good money it’s just good, healthy trade.

“It was a quality catalogue with good physicals, good pedigrees, good race results. At the start they were very confident but to eclipse what last year’s race fillies session did on gross was probably unexpected but something that we’ll be high-fiving ourselves about.”

Day 2 of the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale will recommence at 10am AEST.

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