'Pants down that was the best sale I’ve ever been involved with': Magic sale results for Segenhoe and Coolmore

Cover image courtesy of Magic Millions

“Pants down that was the best sale I’ve ever been involved with!” said Segenhoe’s delighted Peter O’Brien in the wake of a stunning Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale which saw the famed Hunter Valley nursery send seven seven-figure yearlings through the ring.

“I knew they were seven lovely horses,” O’Brien said, “but you would just never envisage that they would all make what they did.”

Six of the seven big sellers for Segenhoe were colts which, O’Brien said “really played into our hands.”

“The general consensus amongst the colt buyers I spoke to was that there was not a high number of premium colts in the sale and as it turned out we had a group of them.”

Segenhoe struck early success in the sale with the first of their million-dollar yearlings being Lot 84, a Zoustar colt out of a full sister to the G1 Queensland Derby winner Eagle Way (More Than Ready {USA}) who caught the eye of Te Akau’s David Ellis who put in the winning bid of $1.1 million.

Another popular Zoustar was Lot 339 out of the Listed winner Villami (Foxwedge), secured by the James Harron Bloodstock Colt Partnership for $1 million. That group also purchased by Zoustar, for $1.3 million, Lot 838 out of the Group 3 mare Lady Cosmology (Universal Ruler).

Meanwhile Tom Magnier also had his hand up for a couple of Segenhoe colts - for $1.75 million taking home Lot 350, a Snitzel colt out of the stakes-placed Warranty (All Too Hard) from the family of Snitzel’s sire Redoute’s Choice. And for $1.6 million Lot 666 by Wootton Bassett (GB) out of the Listed winner Fiery Vista (Exceed And Excel).

Gallery: Segenhoe's seven-figure selling yearlings, images courtesy of Magic Millions

“I was delighted for Wootton Bassett,” O’Brien said, “as I am such a big fan of his. We have got a lot of foals by him, so his good results are most encouraging for us.”

The other big Segenhoe colt was Lot 392, a Too Darn Hot (GB) half-brother to the 2023 stakes winner As Time Goes By (Deep Impact {Jpn}) purchased by Ciaron Maher Bloodstock and David Redvers Bloodstock for $1.9 million.

And one of Segenhoe’s fillies also brought out the big guns, Lot 623, an I Am Invincible full sister to the dual Group 1 winner In Secret, purchased by Damon Gabbedy's Belmont Bloodstock Agency (FBAA) for $1.15 million.

“The stars aligned for us,” said O’Brien who will be on a high for a while, laughing as he said, “well at least until the (Inglis) Classic (Yearling) Sale!”

O’Brien was also mostly happy with how the rest of the Segenhoe draft was received - “even with our lesser horses it was not as hard as I expected it would be.”

But one aspect of the sale did have him baffled, the reception to his favourite horse So You Think (NZ).

“I am his biggest fan,” he enthused, “I absolutely love him and have from day one - and nothing will ever detract from that!”

Not even with Segenhoe’s So You Thinks not attracting the attention O’Brien thought they deserved.

“The market is stronger for earlier types, but I really thought that with So You Think’s achievements - siring last year’s The Everest winner Think About It being one of them - that they would be in greater demand, it is bewildering to me that they were not.”

O’Brien was particularly disappointed with one result - Lot 474 purchased for $230,000 by Kurrinda Bloodstock, David Pfieffer Racing and Olly Koolman.

“She was my favourite yearling, just a divine filly! I thought she’d make $500,000 to $600,000 but we did get to keep a leg in her - and we would’ve been happy if we’d been able to keep even more!”

And the results for the So You Think yearlings won’t deter Segenhoe from continuing to utilise him - “you have a long-term view,” O’Brien said, “and I think that So You Think gives mares as good a chance if not better of improving their progeny.”

Record numbers

O’Brien was excited by the sheer numbers of people attending this year’s sales - “I have been going since 1988 and I have never seen such big crowds there. There was ‘doom and gloom’ talk before the sales regarding mortgages and interest rates, but it was still a great sale which the Magic Millions team deserve great credit for.”

Sentiments echoed by Coolmore’s Colm Santry… “I’ve been going to the Magic Millions sales for 35 years and I have never seen anything like it; you could hardly move on the Friday!”

“All credit goes to Gerry Harvey, Katie Page, Barry Bowditch and the team - they just keep raising the bar with this sale and I can see it being even better next year.”

Santry was also keen to praise the Magic Millions race day with the newly renovated Gold Coast track proving to be one which allowed the best horses to win - “it played fairly, the winners came from everywhere.”

Coolmore sires to the fore

And of course, Coolmore were particularly happy with the main event - Storm Boy being a member of the second crop of the stud’s US Triple Crown hero Justify (USA) whose third crop were well-received - including Coolmore’s $1.3 million colt out of the dual Group 3 winner Invincible Star (I Am Invincible).

“We were already delighted with how Justify has been going and Storm Boy’s win was the icing on the cake,” Santry said.

“He is as good a winner of that race as we’ve seen, he really stamped his authority on that field and everyone who saw him was in awe.”

As those who saw Justify race also were, including John Magnier who Santry said “showed considerable foresight buying him from the China Horse Club, SF Bloodstock and WinStar Farm.”

Popular in both hemispheres, Justify is a horse who Santry thinks may well be on a Danehill (USA)-type track of success, his progeny racing well on different surfaces around the world, Coolmore determined in their continual support of him, sourcing high-quality mares for him both here and in the north.

And Santry is happily noting Justify’s emerging affinity with a Coolmore stalwart - Storm Boy being one of the 12 winners (from 16 runners) by him out of mares by Fastnet Rock; a cross which has produced another three stakes winners.

And it was a Fastnet Rock who provided Coolmore with another success at the sales - their $2.1 million colt out of the multiple Group 1-winning mare Avantage being a great result for Wootton Bassett.

Gallery: Coolmore stallions who enjoyed a successful Magic Millions Carnival

“He was an unbeaten 2-year-old with plenty of speed,” Santry said, noting that the horse who is already proven in the Northern Hemisphere is a good fit for Australia - delighted that those who have been supporting him - and Justify - are “being richly rewarded.

“They are two stallions who are going to prove very commercial in coming years and it is great to see the breeders who’ve sent mares to them getting their due.”

The first crop of King’s Legacy also sold well - for up to $775,000 - and he is another horse Santry is optimistic about - “we are really looking forward to seeing his 2-year-olds later in the year; they look to be precocious types as he - as Redoute’s Choice’s only dual Group 1-winning 2-year-old - was.”

Santry is proud of the Coolmore client base and of the horses they sent to the sale - “it was the sort of sale where there was good money for the right horses, and our clients had those horses.”

Of particular note is that Coolmore took only one horse from Book 1 and 2 home - “we had an amazing strike rate re selling and we had a variety of buyers from around the Southern Hemisphere. Magic Millions have done a great job attracting an international buying bench to this sale.”