Cover image courtesy of Magic Millions
It’s early days with the 2023 $1 million yearlings, having only stepped into the spring of their 3-year-old season. There were 48 horses who sold for more than $1 million across Australia and New Zealand in 2023 (horses born 2021) with four of those making more than $2 million.
Superluminal (I Am Invincible) was bought for $2.7 million by Tom Magnier and the colt won at his second raceday start recently over 1400 metres. He is the first foal of Group 2 winner Anaheed (Fastnet Rock).
Clean Energy (Zoustar), the full sister to Group 1 winner Sunlight, was purchased by Yulong for $2.6 million. She is unbeaten in two starts at two, including the Listed Bill Carter S.
Clean Energy | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
Railway Man (I Am Invincible) is the first foal of Group 1 winner Booker (Written Tycoon) and was purchased by Ciaron Maher Bloodstock for $2.5 million. While she won at two, she was a Group winner at three, and a Group 1 winner at four. He is placed from three starts at two, and it would be expected that he’d improve at three given his pedigree.
Invincible Claire (I Am Invincible) was purchased by Tammy Rigney for $2 million and is currently unraced.
Spend a lot, get an early idea of class
Of those 48 yearlings who sold for seven figures, 26 raced at two (54 per cent) with 13 of them being winners at that age. Compared to the whole population, this is far exceeding the expectations with 12,841 foals born in 2021 and of those, 2364 (18 per cent) raced in 2023/24 as 2-year-olds.
Of the horses who raced at two in 2023/24, there were 519 winners of 649 races (50 at black type level).
The data shows why buyers spend so much on these horses, because the commercial aim is to win at two and train on to become a Group 1 winner who can return to stud, and these horses are statistically far more likely to do that than the rest of the population.
Superluminal as a yearling | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
Across the 2021 born foals, there were 50 stakes-winning juveniles among the 2364 runners (2 per cent), while of the million-dollar horses, there were 3 stakes winners from 26 runners (12 per cent).
When racing is a percentage game, spending more does increase your chances.
Opportunities for Darby Racing with Imperial Force
Imperial Force (Snitzel) was purchased by Coolmore Australia for $1.6 million from Lime Country Thoroughbreds at the 2023 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
Imperial Force | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
Sold on Wednesday at the Inglis Digital September (Late) Sale for $285,000, he was bought by Darby Racing, who have enjoyed success in the past with Caballus (I Am Invincible).
Caballus, a $1 million yearling purchase by Tom Magnier at the 2022 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale from Bhima Thoroughbreds, was purchased by Darby Racing in 2023 for $315,000 and won a Group 3 race for Darby Racing post purchase.
“We’ve had plenty of experience buying off the bigger organisations, both locally and overseas. They are looking for the absolute elite colt, and they are happy to let them go if they think they aren’t going to be Group 1 horses.
“We’ve had plenty of experience buying off the bigger organisations, both locally and overseas. They are looking for the absolute elite colt, and they are happy to let them go if they think they aren’t going to be Group 1 horses.” - Scott Darby
“There are plenty of levels of racing below that, and while horses (like Imperial Force) are still not cheap, they offer opportunities for our owners. Caballus exceeded our expectations, which was to compete in Saturday grade,” said Scott Darby.
Scott Darby | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“Imperial Force has a terrific pedigree and is only lightly raced. There’s plenty to come ahead for him and changing systems might help too. He’s already won a 2-year-old race Canterbury and his previous connections tried him at Group level last start. We had a horse in that race who he beat and we have a really good opinion of that horse. It’s a great option for our owners with plenty of upside for our horse.”
Imperial Force, trained by Chris Waller, was second on debut, then won at Canterbury at his second start as an April 2-year-old. He had one more start at two, then resumed at Gosford as a 3-year-old in August, running fifth first-up. In his most recent start, he ran eighth of 13 in the G3 Ming Dynasty H., won by stablemate Lady Shenandoah (Snitzel) with Darby Racing’s Last Command (Tassort) also in the field.
“Look at Caballus, you can get lucky too. He’s a Group 3-level horse who might compete up to Group 1. He’s improved with time and in different scenery. It’s all a punt.”
Caballus | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
Thanks to Caballus (I Am Invincible), who had a very similar race record to Imperial Force as juvenile, placed on debut and then winning at his second start, Darby Racing are a big fan of the digital sales platforms.
“It’s a lot more open and easier to source horses. Before that we would buy privately and had to do more homework. We can also get good purchasing terms with the sales companies.
“It’s (digital sale platforms) a lot more open and easier to source horses. Before that we would buy privately and had to do more homework. We can also get good purchasing terms with the sales companies.” - Scott Darby
“A lot of these horses we are buying now would’ve been done privately before. Being online opens it up for more people and there is more transparency with videos and vet reports. You still have to do your homework as there are never any guarantees, but this takes a lot of the risk out.
“We are big buyers of yearlings, but tried horses with proven form are good options with less wait time for owners too.”
It's a percentage game
It’s an open secret that many of the buyers of million-dollar horses are playing a percentage game. It only takes one good colt in 20 buys for the whole exercise to pay off. For Coolmore, the seller of Imperial Force, they have exciting colt Switzerland (Snitzel) from their 2023 purchases. Already a Group-winning juvenile, he doesn’t need to improve by much to become the next hottest horse in the market and he’s trained by Chris Waller who has five G1 Coolmore Stud S. winners on his resume, including Home Affairs and Shinzo for a similar ownership group.
Switzerland | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
Buyers at this level understand that not all these horses will make it (and ‘making it’ is different for each owner with different goals). This means some of these horses are on-sold when they don’t meet the lofty expectations they carry.
Australia has 74 Group 1 races (among 19,236 races run last year), and some of those Group 1 races are not races that the big money stallion prospects would want on their resume, so winning – not just a Group 1 but the right Group 1 – is a risky business.
Who gets to train these horses?
For the buyers of a million-dollar yearling, the next biggest decision is who should they entrust their expensive horse to for training.
“Firstly, we are fortunate to be gifted these beautiful horses with deep pedigrees to train. A lot of them have come through the colt syndicates who have been big supporters of the stable since Peter left Darley, based on the success he had there, with Sepoy etc,” said Peter Snowden’s racing manager Colum McCullagh.
Since leaving Darley, Peter Snowden has trained Golden Slipper winner Capitalist, dual Group 1 winners Russian Revolution and King’s Legacy, Wild Ruler, Pride Of Dubai, Invader and Shooting To Win.
Peter Snowden | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“His work there (at Darley) has warranted him getting these regally bred colts to train, and now thanks to his more recent successes, he is getting fillies with breeders and heavy hitting investors and the likes. There are only so many of these top-priced yearlings to go around each year, and Peter feels extremely grateful to be supported with such horses.
“His (Peter Snowden) work there (at Darley) has warranted him getting these regally bred colts to train, and now thanks to his more recent successes, he is getting fillies with breeders and heavy hitting investors and the likes.” - Colum McCullagh
And of the 2023 cohort, Snowden has, in yearling price order, Invincible Claire (I Am Invincible), Bodyguard (I Am Invincible), Media World (Written Tycoon), Everybody Rise (Snitzel), Braveheart (I Am Invincible), I Found You (I Am Invincible), Sakima (Snitzel), Invincible Madison (I Am Invincible), Manos (Snitzel), and High Octane (Deep Field).
“Bodyguard was an outstanding yearling,” added McCullagh. “Honestly he’s the best looking horse we’ve had. If you could paint a picture perfect racehorse it’d be him. He’s in the Heritage on Saturday provided the rain goes away, otherwise the Danehill in Melbourne next week is an option.”
Bodyguard | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Winner on debut in the Listed Maribyrnong Trial S., he came back in the autumn to win the G3 Blue Diamond Prelude (c&g) before running fourth in the G2 Todman S. Yet to run at three, he was purchased by James Harron Bloodstock for $1.6 million.
“Sakima had a great preparation. It was good to get that 2-year-old win on the board (in July). Third in the Atlantic Jewel two starts ago and with more luck in running she could’ve won, then was fourth (in Listed Jim Maloney S.) stuck deep. It would’ve been nice to get a better run in transit, and was a tough run stepping up to the 7 furlongs. We’ve always said she’ll be best in autumn and she’s gone for a break now.”
The stakes-placed winner, Sakima, was purchased by Snowden Racing, William Johnson Bloodstock (FBAA) and Trilogy for $1.25 million.
Sakima as a yearling | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“Media World ran very well in the Ming Dynasty, and he didn’t get much luck the start before in the Up And Coming. Looking at him, he’s a first foal so he will get better when he furnishes. We have some bigger fish for him later in spring.”
Fifth on debut in the Listed Merson Cooper S., Media World was a winner at two and was fifth in both his runs this time at three. Yulong purchased him for $1.4 million.
“High Octane runs in the Heritage. He didn’t really get through conditions in Melbourne two weeks ago, so we are mindful that with the rain, we might not be running him. If not, he will follow same path as Bodyguard through the Danehill or Roman Consul into the Coolmore.”
High Octane | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
High Octane won the Listed Blue Diamond Preview (c&g) on debut, rewarding his purchaser China Horse Club, Newgate Farm, Go Bloodstock and Trilogy, with an instant result on their $1.05 million investment. After two more starts at two, he resumed at three with a third in the Listed Rosebud before heading to Melbourne for the Listed Poseidon S. where he ran fourth.
“I Found You is a really nice filly. It’s a pedigree that we’ve had a bit to do with, regally bred, huge price-tag, and will get to stakes class in the future.” I Found You, a $1.3 million purchase by China Horse Club, won on debut as a June 2-year-old and was second in her only other start since then.
“It’s still early for these 3-year-olds with plenty still to come for these horses.”
