Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Magic Millions on Thursday afternoon hosted another of its online virtual auctions, this time for the 5-year-old mare Seradess. The daughter of Astern was offered by Kavanagh Racing on behalf of her ownership group, and she was sold to Yulong, buying as Highway Farm, for $700,000.
It took just over four minutes for the spectacle to be done and dusted, with a flurry of telephone and online bids pushing the opening bid of $200,000 to its final price. Auctioneer Clinton Donovan, who worked his virtual audience perfectly, said the mare was on the market all the way.
Seradess’ pop-up sale was the third virtual auction hosted in this fashion by Magic Millions.
Auctioneer Clint Donovan | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
The first had occurred in August when the company’s online bidding platform failed when selling Kiku (Zoustar). That afternoon, David Chester had leaped in to host a virtual live sale between the final bidders.
Such was the success of Kiku’s final result (the filly was sold to Japan for $1.46 million) that the ‘virtual’ concept was reused on October 5 to sell the Group 1-winning filly Sheeza Belter (Gold Standard). She too went the way of Yulong for $1.35 million.
Seradess was up for sale on Thursday as a breeding prospect only. Her last race had occurred on October 14 when she ran home last in the G3 Northwood Plume S. It was a surprising result given she had been second in a sprint at Caulfield on September 23.
However, this mare had plenty of accolades to her name, including four stakes races between the start of 2021, when she commenced racing, to a fortnight ago.
Seradess won on debut as a 2-year-old at Bendigo. She followed that up with a victory in the Listed Cinderella S. at Morphettville and then the G3 Champagne S. (Scarborough S.) at Moonee Valley as a 3-year-old. The following year, she won the G2 Tobin Bronze S. and G3 Proud Miss S. back-to-back, and was a close fifth in the Group 1 pair of The Goodwood and Robert Sangster S. in the autumn.
“She showed right from the start that she was a high-quality filly,” said her co-trainer, the Flemington-based Mark Kavanagh. “Her win in the Cindarella S. at just her second start was outstanding. She will let down to be a magnificent broodmare and I can’t wait to see her progeny in the future.”
Levi and Mark Kavanagh | Image courtesy of Kavanagh Racing
A pocket rocket
It was Mark Kavanagh who had the faith in Seradess right from the beginning. Bred by Mill Park Stud in South Australia, the filly was part of that farm’s draft at the 2020 Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale when Kavanagh bought her.
Seradess was from the first crop of Darley’s then new sire Astern, from which fellow stakes winner Danger Strykes (NZ) also emerged.
The filly was a clean type with a big rear-end. She was from the Hidden Dragon mare Obsidian Dragon, who boards at Mill Park Stud and is a half-sister to the stakes winner Danedina (Danehill Dancer {Ire}).
Kavanagh paid $50,000 for Seradess and Mill Park studmaster Chris Watson remembers her well.
Seradess as a yearling | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“She wasn’t a terribly big filly at that stage of her life, but she was really balanced,” he said, speaking to The Thoroughbred Report. “She had a lot of quality. She was a real racy, sprinting sort of filly. She had plenty of strength and width and power to her hindquarter. That’s the one thing I remember about her... she looked like a little pocket rocket.
“You could see that she needed time to develop and, luckily enough, she turned into quite a good filly.”
“She (Seradess) was a real racy, sprinting sort of filly. She had plenty of strength and width and power to her hindquarter. That’s the one thing I remember about her... she looked like a little pocket rocket.” - Chris Watson
Seradess was an early bloomer but Kavanagh didn’t overtax her. Across her career she raced 19 times, returning him over 11 times what he invested in her initially. It’s no surprise to Watson that she was able to do what she did throughout her career.
“Her dam, Obsidian Dragon, is owned by a couple of clients of ours, Harry Perks and Sam Scaffidi,” he said. “The mare is about 16 now. She's not far off foaling to Pinatubo and the idea with her is to go back to Astern to try and get a full sister to Seradess.”
Obsidian Dragon missed to Astern last season, but in 2017 she had a filly by Written Tycoon called Rose Quartz. Rose Quartz has been a considerable asset to Seradess’ sale this week because she was second in the Northwood Plume S. against her half-sister on October 14 and, trained by Grahame Begg, she has also placed in the G3 Standish H. and Listed Christmas S.
Rose Quartz could supply a valuable pedigree upgrade next week when she contests the G3 Furphy Sprint (formerly the Begonia Belle S.) at Flemington over 1100 metres on November 4.
Bought for Diatonic
For some of the ownership in Seradess, her sale on Thursday to Yulong came with mixed emotions, especially for Tom Paine, who was with a number of the other owners in the Seven Stars Hotel in Adelaide, watching the sale on the big screen. They got a shout-out from auctioneer Clinton Donovan.
“She took us all on such a wonderful ride,” Paine told Magic Millions. “She’s heading to a great home and she joins a wonderful broodmare band. We will be excited to learn who she will head to in the future.”
Connections of Seradess celebrate her G3 Proud Miss S. victory | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
Yulong’s Sam Fairgray, speaking after the sale to The Thoroughbred Report, was quick to put those queries to bed. Seradess was likely bought to go to Diatonic (Jpn), Yulong’s newest Japanese sire and a son of Lord Kanaloa (Jpn). Chris Watson had visited Yulong only recently and he liked what he saw of Diatonic.
“That will be really interesting to see,” Watson said. “I was only there looking at their stallions on Tuesday, and I took some nice notes of that horse. I thought he was quite a compact, racy sort of horse himself, so it looks like it might be a like-for-like match.”
“That (a Diatonic-Seradess union) will be really interesting to see... I took some nice notes of that horse (Diatonic). I thought he was quite a compact, racy sort of horse himself, so it looks like it might be a like-for-like match.” - Chris Watson
Sam Fairgray said he was looking forward to the pairing of Seradess and Diatonic. He said the new stallion had been going nicely this first half of the breeding season.
Diatonic (Jpn) when racing | Standing at Yulong
“He’s going really good,” Fairgray said. “He’s been busy. He’s had some really nice mares that we’ve given him, and he’s been supported by some superb outside breeders. He’s an attractive horse and he’s doing really well.”
Seradess is just the latest prolific purchase for the Yulong outfit in Victoria. The farm is also now home to Sheeza Belter after her virtual sale earlier this month. The Yulong broodmare band is sitting at around 740 these days, and the farm has just hit a seasonal foaling figure of 300, with a considerable way to go.
Seradess | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
When it came to the purchase of Seradess, Fairgray said the mare fitted nicely with where the broodmare collection was heading.
“She was a good racehorse with a lot of speed,” he said. “She showed a lot of promise and she’s a half-sister to a very nice filly in Rose Quartz, who has been very consistent in the stakes races. There is all likelihood that the pedigree can improve going forwards. As far as a broodmare for us, Seradess ticked all the boxes.”
“She (Seradess) showed a lot of promise and she’s a half-sister to a very nice filly in Rose Quartz, who has been very consistent in the stakes races. There is all likelihood that the pedigree can improve going forwards.” - Sam Fairgray
In Fairgray’s opinion, Seradess’ final price of $700,000 was about where he valued her. Yulong was bidding for the mare online, and Fairgray said the virtual format suited them well.
“I think it’s working,” he said. “It’s a bit of initiative by Magic Millions and it creates a bit of theatre, doesn’t it?”
Sam Fairgray | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Seradess doesn’t have far to go to get home to Yulong. Throughout her sale on Thursday she had remained in the yard of trainers Mark and Levi Kavanagh at Flemington.
