Curtain comes down on buoyant Broodmare Sale on the Gold Coast

Rouge returning to Widden

Widden sold the mare to Chris Waller and Guy Mulcaster for $310,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in 2017 and Widden Stud retained a 10 per cent share in the mare. Antony Thompson said he was pleased Madame Rouge - who was offered in foal to Yarraman Park’s I Am Invincible - was returning to the New South Wales-based nursery to embark on her life as a broodmare.

“We are thrilled, we obviously bred her and we were involved in racing her and we know her intimately and it has been a great ride with Chris Waller and the group of the owners, so to be able to buy her back and bring her back to Widden we are really excited about that,” said Thompson.

Longwood Farm’s Micheal Christian opened the bidding at $1.6 million and ferociously battled with Thompson, but eventually came out second best when the gavel came down in favour of the Widden Stud owner.

Thompson said he was relieved to be able to secure a daughter of their resident stallion with the stud having missed out on some of the sire’s other high-profile mares offered in this ring, such as Mizzy (Zoustar), who was sold to Tom Magnier for $2.2 million at this Sale last year, while they were also beaten by Magnier when attempting to buy Sunlight (Zoustar), with the Coolmore boss eventually paying $4.2 million.

“We were a bit lucky, maybe that she was later in the Sale so there was a bit of an opportunity and we are very excited to get her. We obviously bred and raced Sunlight and we were unable to get her and last year we underbid Mizzy at a couple of million.

“These Zoustar mares are the most gorgeous mares and they are going to be fabulous broodmares and you can just see the quality of mares he gets when you walk around the Sales.

“Glistening was an absolute stunner, but I had so many people remark that Madam Rouge was the best looking in-foal mare at the Sale and for me she was the best mare at the Sale. I’m glad we were able to build an army and win that battle,” said Thompson.

Catalogued as Lot 1191, Madam Rouge won six starts spearheaded by a win in the G2 Tristarc S., while she also finished second in the G1 Stradbroke H. and she is out of Listed winner Cabernet (Al Maher), who has produced one other winner. Cabernet herself is out of Listed winner Golden Weekend (Nine Carat {USA}).

Thompson admitted he had tried to buy the mare privately prior to her sale but the big ownership group decided to offer her for public auction.

“I had tried to buy her privately, to be fair to the owners they wanted to put her through the ring. They are racing people not breeding people, so they had the opportunity to come here and enjoy the day and watch that chapter come to a close,” he said.

“Myself and some of our farm clients and a couple of the guys who raced her have stayed - it is a great group going forward and we are really, really excited to see what the future brings. She is the sort of mare we hope to get a lot of foals out of her and she is a sort of foundation mare.

“The I Am Invincible mating is a pretty good mating and I had a bit to say about that last time. We only had a 10 per cent share in her and Chris was very good to look to us for guidance on what to breed her to.”

Mares in foal to Frankel attract Yulong

Yulong has been the story of the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale and when trade closed on Thursday, the auction house reported the Victorian Farm had bought 63 mares for an aggregate of $29.275 million and on the final day they added three more seven-figure lots to their collection, who were all offered in foal to Juddmonte’s star stallion Frankel (GB).

Of all the mares the operation has purchased all week, there would be few better bred than Group 3-placed mare Fantasy (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and because of her enviable pedigree Yulong were prepared to dig deep to secure her, eventually paying Coolmore Stud $1.7 million for the daughter of Invincible Spirit (Ire).

Catalogued as Lot 1084, Fantasy is herself out of dual Group 2 scorer Cassandra Go (Indian Ridge {Ire}), who has proved herself to be something of a blue-hen.

Cassandra Go has produced 10 winners, headed by Halfway To Heaven (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) and she, like her dam, has proved to be a top-producer, being the dam of multiple Group 1 winners Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Rhododendron (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), as well as Group 3 winner Flying The Flag (Ire).

Fantasy herself is a sister to Group 3 winner Tickled Pink (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and Theaan (Ire) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) - the dam of dual Grade 1 winner Photo Call (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Group 2 winner Land Force (Ire).

Yulong’s Chief Operating Officer Sam Fairgray said mares with a pedigree like Fantasy’s are highly sought-after and he believed she would be a good addition to their broodmare band.

“It’s one just one pedigree page and she was a beauty,” said Fairgray. “She has an early service date to Frankel and she was a beauty. She is a fantastic mare to add to the broodmare band if you keep getting fillies out of her, you keep building families. That’s what we want to do is build the families and strengthen our broodmare band.

“If she had a lovely colt and it won a Group 1 race, it would have serious stallion potential. She is just another fantastic mare to have and obviously you’ve got to pay up if you want to get in families like this."

Despite being knocked down to Yulong’s Lucky Vega Syndicate, Fairgray said the mare would most likely be covered by their resident Champion Sire Written Tycoon.

“It’s undecided yet, but I would think she will go to Written Tycoon. We will be supporting our own stallions, but that’s the idea with these quality mares. Obviously, Written Tycoon is proven, so they will go to him, but we will be spreading our mares across all our stallions. We are heading up over 350 broodmares, but want to keep building and we want to get more stallions, so will be out there keeping an eye on everything that moves.

Written Tycoon is rising 20 and Fairgray said, because of his age they have to meticulously manage the stallion.

“We just have to manage him because at his age it is just very important to look after them and we will be doing that. He has fantastic fertility and he is very fit and well,” he said.

Easton Angel to continue life at Yulong

Very early on in the session, Yulong purchased another mare in foal to Frankel when they snapped up the Glenesk Thoroughbreds-consigned Easton Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) for $1.35 million.

A dual Listed winner as a juvenile, Easton Angel is out of winning sprint mare Staceymac (Ire) (Elnadim {USA}) and she is herself a half-sister to Kalahari Gold (Ire) (Trans Island {GB}).

It was no surprise to see the mare offered in foal to Frankel, given her success when mated to his now late sire Galileo (Ire) with the mare being the dam of multiple Group 3-placed Lough Derg (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and her resulting foal will be a three-quarter sibling to the son of Galileo.

The mare was knocked down to the Written Tycoon Syndicate, but Fairgray said their G1 Blue Diamond S.-winning stallion Tagaloa (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) would also be considered for the mare.

“She’s a lovely physical and a good performer on the track herself and she’s produced a Group 3-placed horse with her first foal and is in foal to Frankel, so she’s another really nice mare to add to the broodmare band,” said Fairgray.

“What we’ve done in previous years is we’ve bought some nice quality mares and he’s seen those good quality mares produce nice stock and sell well as yearlings, so we’re just continuing that model.

“Obviously, with our younger stallions of Tagaloa, Lucky Vega and so forth, we want to give them every opportunity, so we’re adding some nice mares that will give them a good opportunity at stud.

“It’s not definite but it will be either Written Tycoon or Tagaloa, probably leaning towards Tagaloa at this stage.

“Obviously, Frankel is flying. We saw those weanlings last week sell extremely well and our love for Frankel with Hungry Heart and now My Whisper and we’ve got another couple of Frankels who are untested. He just wants to keep building the quality and giving our stallions a great chance.

Glenesk’s Brett Howard said the mare's reserve was $600,000, which he knew was under her value but he was pleased with what she made.

“She was on the market for $600,000 - I thought she would make more, but you just don’t know, but I love clients that are happy to put them below what they think they are worth, because you have to engage bidders to get them on the market - it is a risk, but they have been rewarded,” said Howard.

“She was a very good, fast race filly and has good 2-year-old form. She won a few Listed races over five furlongs. If you look at her she looks like she would have easily been born here in Australia, she looks like a five furlong Australian sprinting mare and I think that’s what people thought when people had her out, she was extremely popular.

“It is a good mating for Frankel as well and she just has the best temperament, I will be very disappointed for Yulong if they don’t get a good foal out of her and it will be a three-quarter to Lough Derg who was Group-placed. The page is already made. She has a great hip on her and was just lovely.”

A few lots later, Yulong handed Glenesk Thoroughbreds another fine result when they paid $1.05 million for US stakes-placed mare Excellent Sunset (Ire) (Exceed And Excel) and she was also offered in foal to Frankel.

Catalogued as Lot 1078, Excellent Sunset is out of the winning Street Cry (Ire) mare Sunset Avenue (USA) and she is herself a daughter of Group 3 winner Dearly (GB) (Rahy {USA}).

Strawberry Hill and Grimley hold the Key

Having missed out on a few mares this week, John Singleton’s Strawberry Hill and Duncan Grimley finally got their names on the buyers' sheet when they purchased New Zealand Group 3 winner Key (Exceed And Excel) for $1.1 million, with Bevan Smith Bloodstock/Andrew Williams Bloodstock (FBAA) signing for the mare on behalf of buyers.

Grimley said they had tried to get their hands on Easton Angel earlier in the day, but missed out when she sold to Yulong for $1.3 million, but he was happy to be leaving the complex with Key, who, like Easton Angel, was offered in foal to Frankel.

“I’ve had a crack at a number of them and been half a million light on a few of them. I have purchased the best mare in foal to Frankel in the Sale. She was a good race filly,” said Grimley.

Grimley said if the foal was a filly they would most likely race her, while if it was a colt they would sell him as a yearling.

Strawberry Hill has had success with the both selling and racing the progeny of Frankel, with the New South Wales-based farm having bred and raced Group 2 winner Miss Fabulass, while they sold stakes-placed Merovee (Frankel {GB}) to Chris Waller for $1.6 million at the 2016 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.

“We have been keen on Frankel for a number of years, we sent him his first mare from the Southern Hemisphere and we’ve sent mares to him most years and I just think he is a superstar.

“We have great results through Frankel, both through the sale ring and racing them, Miss Fabulass was a great filly for us. If she has a filly we will be racing her and if she is a colt we’ll be selling him, that’s the way we operate. I’m keener to have Frankels out of Southern Hemisphere-raced mares than Northern Hemisphere-raced mares, so she fits the bill.”

Of the strength of the market, Grimley said: “You have one big player at the moment and he is a really big fish, so when you come up against him it’s difficult and that is just the way it is. Coolmore has been blown away a few times this week and that hasn’t happened anywhere in the world.”

Catalogued as Lot 1145, Key is out of winning mare Vanilla Princess (Lonhro) and she is a daughter of multiple Group 1 winner Princess Coup (NZ) (Encosta De Lago), making her a half-sister to Hong Kong Group 3 winner Thewizardofoz (Redoute’s Choice) and fellow Group 3 winner Argentia (Frankel {GB}).

Mares in foal to Frankel proved popular throughout the week, with the 10 selling carrying progeny of the sire and they realised an aggregate of $8.8 million at an average of $880,000.

Trilogy falls for Nettoyer

Dual Group 1 winner Nettoyer (Sebring), who Newgate picked up for $900,000 at last year’s Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, was reoffered at the Sale on Thursday and she was purchased by Trilogy Racing’s Sean Dingwall for $1.3 million. The daughter of Sebring was offered in-foal to Newgate's Group 1-producing stallion Capitalist.

Henry Field’s Newgate has a knack of buying race fillies out of the ring and turning them around for a profit in the space of 12 months has been a very lucrative one for Newgate in the past.

At the Inglis Chairman’s Sale in 2020, Newgate purchased New Zealand Group 1 winner Volpe Veloce (Foxwedge) for $675,000 and Group 2-placed Diddles (Snitzel) for $300,000 and subsequently sold the daughter of Foxwedge for $1.9 million in foal to I Am Invincible the following year at the National Broodmare Sale, while Diddles, who was offered in foal to Deep Field was snapped-up for $1 million.

Nettoyer was purchased for $20,000 at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale in 2015 and she would go on to win two Group 1s; G1 Doncaster H. and Queen of the Turf S.

“She is obviously a lovely mare and we were quite taken with her,” said Dingwall. “She was a dual Group 1 winner and they are hard to find and hard to buy and when we thought if we could buy her around that money she was well bought, so we were happy to take her at that.

“We saw her last year and I think she has let down into a beautiful mare so we were happy to take the punt. We haven’t really thought about mating, but obviously she will go to a good quality stallion and probably go back to Newgate and go from there."

Of the strength of the Sale, Dingwall said: “It has been extremely strong, but at the end of the day that is to be expected with the way yearlings and weanlings have been sold, the good ones are making incredible money and you’ve got to be patient and pick your way through them.”

Nettoyer is out dual-winning mare Cleanup (Dehere {USA}), who has produced four further winners and she is herself a half-sister to Group 3 scorer She’s Clean (Redoute’s Choice). Nettoyer derives from the further family of dual Group 1-winning pair Abbey Marie (Redoute’s Choice) and Absolutely (Redoute’s Choice).

Gandharvi make their first plunge into Australian market

Having purchased horses in America and France, Gandharvi purchased their first horse in Australia when they went to $1.1 million for dual Listed-winning juvenile Nomothaj (Snitzel) on Thursday, who was offered in foal to Darley’s flagship sire Exceed And Excel.

Purchased by Angus Gold of Shadwell Australia for $420,000 at the 2017 edition for the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale from the Newgate Farm draft and she was due to sell at last year’s Shadwell Dispersal, but after slipping to Exceed And Excel before the Sale she was forced to be scratched.

Catalogued as Lot 1235, Nomothaj was is out of the winning mare Real Stolle (Elusive Quality {USA}) and she hails from the same family as Listed winner and Group 1-placed Chattanooga (Scenic {GB}) and 2019 G1 VRC Derby winner Warning (Declaration Of War {USA}).

“She was a very sharp early running stakes-winning 2-year-old and exactly what we are after and she was in foal to Exceed And Excel, who is an exceptional stallion,” said Caitlin Smith, who was representing Gandharvi.

“The family is very prolific because there are a lot of young females still producing on the page, she’ll get every chance. She’s been bought for Gandharvi Racing and Breeding and she will obviously foal down this Exceed And Excel and make a plan as to where she goes next.

Smith said Gandharvi were trying to expand their presence in Australia and believed she was a good mare to kick them off with.

“Gandharvi is trying to expand our bloodstock presence here in Australia and opportunities like this mare will certainly be hitting the mark. It has been very strong this week and we thought that mare was the right sort of value for her and we are thrilled to get her,” she continued.

Bowditch hails best Sale ever

At the close of trade on Thursday, Magic Millions reported that 542 lots sold at a clearance rate of 84 per cent for an aggregate of $123,744,500 at an average of $228,311, while the median was $140,000.

Excluding the Shadwell Dispersal, the 2021 Sale sold 574 lots at a clearance rate of 86 per cent and a gross of $117,324 million and an average of $204,397, while the median was recorded at $120,000. If one includes the Shadwell horses, 611 lots sold for an aggregate of $142,459 at an average of $233,147 at a median of $120,000.

Meanwhile, in the Covid-stricken 2020 the Magic Millions sold 410 mares for an aggregate of $57,079,000 at an average of $139,217.

The Shadwell Dispersal aside, in 2021 a total of 14 mares sold - 25 including Shadwell - sold for $1 million or more, compared with this year when 18 realised the magical seven figures.

Yulong were crowned the leading buyers, with the Victorian Farm buying 63 mares for an aggregate of $29.275 million and on the final day they added three more seven-figure lots to their collection, who were all offered in foal to Juddmonte’s star stallion Frankel.

Arrowfield Stud finished the Sale as the leading vendors by average (with three or more sold) when they sold eight mares for an average of $525,250, while Henry Field’s Newgate Consignment finished the Sale as the leading vendor by aggregate, selling 49 mares for a total receipts of $20.044 million.

“I am absolutely delighted. I think it’s been one of the great breeding stock sales we’ve ever held. Last year was a huge benchmark to meet, it was an incredible sale which obviously included the Shadwell Dispersal, so to increase our gross, taking out Shadwell, to sell 18 million-dollar horses in the past three days is an extraordinary effort.

"I want thank vendors for entrusting us with these mares and race fillies and the buyers for supporting the product that we have a lot of confidence in with great gusto,” said Bowditch.

“The yearling sale market’s been quite extraordinary, racing here in Australia is going from strength to strength and there’s a huge amount of confidence in our game and internationals are paying attention, so it’s the perfect recipe for a great sale. I think we had an outstanding lineup of mares, especially young mares, it was a very, very young catalogue, and the market took to it in an emphatic way.

“The way the numbers fell, there looked to be a lot more key mares-in-foal selling than what there was on Wednesday and in saying that it still exceeded our lofty expectations.”

Bowditch said it was particularly good to see internationals back in force on the Gold Coast in 2022.

“Not only that, the borders are open, the world’s back going again and our job for the next six months is to engage with as many internationals as possible and push forward to what will be an outstanding January Sale,” said Bowditch.

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Vendors by average (3 or more sold)

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Sires by average (3 or more sold)