Zoustar filly hands Seymour Bloodstock a result to remember

The 9000gns (AU$15,600) Seymour Bloodstock’s Mark Pilkington and Hubie de Burgh paid for Dice Game (GB) - an unraced daughter of Shamardal (USA) - at the 2018 edition of the Tattersalls Mares Sale has continued to prove a shrewd investment for Pilkington.

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On Thursday, the mare repaid him once again when her filly by Zoustar was purchased by Karl and Kelly Burke for 325,000gns (AU$565,600), the most paid for a son or daughter of the stallion during Book 1.

When Pilkington bought the mare, she was offered in foal to Brazen Beau and that colt would go on to be known as Boonie (Ire), who finished third in the G3 Molecomb S. She has since produced a filly by Starspanngledbanner and most recently a filly by Frankel (GB). The mare and her Frankel filly are back in Australia at John Kelly’s Newhaven Park Stud.

Pilkington told TDN AusNZ that the mare had originally been purchased to support Coolmore stallion Merchant Navy, when he was planned to shuttle to the operation’s Irish base.

“She’s been a beauty for us. We bought her with a view to her being for the first season of the Northern Hemisphere covering of Merchant Navy, so that was the philosophy. He unfortunately never went up there, but we bought her in foal to Brazen Beau, which we raced (Boonie).

“He took us to York, Goodwood, Royal Ascot, all the big festivals, which was great,” Pilkington said.

Catalogued as Lot 442, the filly was offered by Chasemore Farm, who Seymour Bloodstock purchased Uncle Bryn (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) from and they now race in partnership. The son of Sea The Stars (Ire) will look to add a Group 1 to his CV this weekend when he tackles the G1 Toorak H. at Caulfield.

“During this time we became associated with Chasemore Farm who sold the filly for us on Thursday and we bought Uncle Bryn off them, who now races down here. I thought I would take the punt to Zoustar with the mare and we got a lovely model. We then put her in foal, Southern time to Frankel and brought her down to Australia and she’s a beautiful filly as well,” Pilkington explained.

“The reserve was 150,000gns and she was well-liked. She was a big, strong girl, possibly more in the Australian mould, rather than a more refined European type. It was a great sale for us.”

As for Dice Game, Pilkington said there are no concrete plans as to which the stallion the mare will visit this season, but given the strength of Thursday's sale all options are open.

The intention when we bought her home was to go to Brazen Beau, but I am not really sure and we will have to think about it. It was always our intention to race the Frankel filly, so we will do that,” he said.

Brummitt hoping lightning can strike twice

Jeremy Brummitt has enjoyed some very good results when buying a Park Paddocks and he will be hoping lightning can strike twice after he teamed up with Russian Camelot’s (GB) owner John Wheeler to purchase a filly by Wootton Bassett (GB) for 400,000gns (AU$696,000).

It was at this same sale in 2018 that Brummitt purchased Russian Camelot himself, when paying Camas Park 120,000gns (AU$208,800) for the colt, who would go on to win two Group 1s, earning himself a spot on the Widden Stud roster.

Brummitt said Wheeler had been specifically sourcing mares to support Russian Camelot, and while a lot of water had to cross under the bridge, this filly would ultimately be covered by the stallion at the conclusion of her racing career.

“I bought her for John Wheeler who is a massive shareholder in Russian Camelot. He came up here looking for a superior filly to try and establish a good family down there. The first cover will be Russian Camelot, I realise she has got a racing career ahead of her first, but I particularly like this filly,” said Brummitt.

Catalogued as Lot 503, the filly is out of the unplaced Raven’s Pass (USA) mare Gloryette (GB) and she is herself a half-sister to Group 3-winning pair Elusive Pimpernel (USA) (Elusive Quality {USA}) and Palavinchi (USA) (Giant’s Causeway {USA}).

Brummitt said he had always been an admirer of Gloryette during her racing days and was keen to secure her when she was sold as a broodmare prospect, but that his budget did not reach to the 180,000gns (AU$313,200) she realised at Tattersalls December Mares in 2017 and has since gone on to produce a pair of winners, including stakes-placed Show Of Stars (GB) (Showcasing {GB}).

“I was actually at the races when her dam, Gloryette, made her debut and then I saw a few times subsequently and I always thought she was a very good-looking filly and I was baffled why she had regressive form," said Brummitt.

"When she came up at the end of her training days, I actually tried to buy her, but she went remarkably beyond my means. I thought I was being clever because I had seen her and I thought I would be able to pick her up relatively easily. The first three foals are okay with how I assessed them as individuals.

“I thought this filly was an absolute knock-out, physically and particularly mentally. She was a very smooth, easy mover and we are very excited. I have had a frustrating week and we had everything very much pinned on her and I was very relieved when the hammer came down.”

The filly will be shipped immediately to Australia.

Hedge buys a Zoustar

Suman Hedge Bloodstock’s (FBAA) association with dual hemisphere stallion Zoustar is well known and on Thursday the Victorian-based agent forked out 85,000gns (AU$147,900) for a son from the second Northern Hemisphere crop of the sire.

Catalogued as Lot 470, the colt is out of Italian Listed winner Evil Spell (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) and she has produced Listed-placed filly Harmony Rose (GB) (Hot Streak {Ire}).

Hedge said the colt would be trained in Europe and while longer term plans for the yearling have yet to be decided he could end up in Australia down the line.

“Over the last 12 months, I have been working closely with David Redvers because we are both involved with the Victorian Alliance and I’ve got to know him and Hannah (Wall) very well and I have a lot of respect for them and the way they go about things,” said Hedge.

“Both being involved in the stallion, we have a fair degree of what works and what doesn't. Earlier in the year I was speaking to him and I could just see there was a real difference in the market valuation of Zoustar from Australia to Europe, and this was prior to Lezoo coming out and winning the Group 1.

“Initially, it was about potentially buying a filly and racing it in England for 12 months and seeing how it went and then bringing it out to Australia a bit later on. We tried on some horses at Goffs, but were outgunned on the horses that we liked and then he called me a couple of days ago to tell me there was a really nice group of Zoustars at Tattersalls.”

In the Northern Hemisphere, Zoustar has sired 11 winners headed by Group 1-winning filly Lezoo (GB) and Hedge said despite his success with his first crop he said he still believed there was value to be found at Newmarket this week.

“I didn’t want to be too bullish with the price point, because I would be speccing the horse and then he gave me some estimates of what he thought and this colt appealed to me. Physically, he looks great and I liked his pedigree, in that he is out of a Listed winner, who has already left a stakes horse,” said Hedge.

“We won’t bring him straight back because I think that would be a little bit counter-productive for this type of horse. I think with a sharper horse like this, you would be a bit daft to lose your 2-year-old year by doing that. So we will pick a trainer there and if the horse then justifies coming to Australia we will.

“We are very pragmatic about future plans for the colt. We spoke to our potential clients about the plans, racing first in Europe and then maybe Australia, which is important because I didn’t want to sell them this dream of definitely bringing to Australia, because if the horse isn’t performing you don’t want to spend money on transport to bring the horse to Australia.”