From Autumn Glow to juvenile success, the Magic Millions Weanling Sale booms

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

The most high profile pinhook from the Magic Millions Weanling Sale in recent times would have to be Autumn Glow (The Autumn Sun) who was sold by Newhaven Park Stud in 2022 for $600,000, the third top lot at the sale, to Silverdale Farm, who took her to Inglis Easter and sold her for the sale-topping amount of $1.8 million to Arrowfield Stud and Hermitage Thoroughbreds. Now unbeaten in four starts, the 3-year-old filly has won three stakes races and over $500,000. As a Group 2-winning filly, her value far exceeds her prizemoney earnings.

Autumn Glow glowed from the start

Silverdale Farm’s Rob Petith took time out of his busy day at the Scone Horse Festival to chat to TTR about Autumn Glow.

“At every stage, everyone has had a good experience.

“Newhaven were happy with the price they got, they felt it was a good result, and we were obviously delighted with how much we got (as a yearling).

“I’d guess that Arrowfield and Hermitage also think it was money well spent,” said Petith.

Silverdale Farm will be action again next week at the Magic Millions Weanling Sale, hoping to find a few horses for their 2026 yearling drafts.

“We’ll be there buying again, if we can. It’s a sign of the times that quality is in demand and everyone is thinking critically on the horses they are taking chances on.

“We do the groundwork with inspections and put our own values on, then try and buy within that. Every now then you step out of your comfort zone. We pushed the boundaries with Autumn Glow, she was $75,000 above our mark, but she was something very special.

“I remember looking at her after we bought her and not having an ounce of regret. She was just a standout physical with a beautiful temperament, and those qualities carried through as a yearling.

“We paid a lot for her, she was the third most expensive horse that year, and we had to very strong against Henry Field at Newgate who was underbidder. If you watch the rerun of the auction, it was in the death of the sale that we put in our final bid, and I had to be pushed to do it, but thank God I did.”

Not every horse can be Autumn Glow, so what does Silverdale Farm look for when inspecting weanlings with a view to on-selling them?

“We are looking for a quality animal. We are not looking for that diamond in the rough. We want a horse that will continue to develop but has the quality already there.

“I love to see a sire that is about to announce himself, and we were fortunate we got it right with The Autumn Sun who had a few flying the flag for him when we took Autumn Glow through (as a yearling).

“We don’t go to that level very often. It’s a lot of money. (When buying) we need to have a strong fallback position, and we felt she was such a superior type, that if the worst was to happen and we couldn’t offer her for sale, she’d always have demand, especially with her pedigree.

“If everything lines up, then we can offer at sale, and with her, we had tremendous result. It reinforces our brand when she goes on and performs. The two million-dollar horses we sold that year both went on with it on track. Eneeza actually won her purchase price back as a 2-year-old. There is a lot of attention on those expensive yearlings and to see them perform is very satisfying.”

Eneeza (Exceed And Excel) was sold by Silverdale Farm at the 2023 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale for $1.1 million to Kia Ora Farm and TFI. Winner of the G3 Ottawa Stakes on debut, she added the G2 Percy Sykes Stakes later in the season with earnings over $1.16 million.

“(The results) reinforces what we do. It’s certainly been a process to develop the farm with the attention to detail and all the effort to turn out these handcrafted horses, it takes a lot, but certainly when they perform, it’s the greatest advertisement we can have for our brand.

“For us, buying fillies they need to have those fallback positions and then we can stretch for them, but we have got to be more controlled when buying colts. And most of all, we need a bucket of good luck.”

It’s not all about the pinhook

But the sale isn’t just the story on one horse with seven stakes winning 2-year-olds from this season alone coming through the Magic Millions Weanling Sale of 2023; Icarian Dream (Blue Point {Ire}), King Kirk (Ole Kirk), Tycoon Star (Written Tycoon), Bonza Sforza (Written By), Scenic Point (Written Tycoon), and Shining Smile (Spirit Of Boom). Steel Trap (King’s Legacy) was passed in at this sale, and The Playwright (Written By) was catalogued but withdrawn.

Not everyone who is buying at a weanling sale is looking to on-sell those horses as weanlings or as 2-year-olds. Craig Rounsefell of Boomer Bloodstock purchased dual Listed winning 2-year-old colt Shining Smile for $160,000 at the 2023 Magic Millions Weanling Sale.

“I think more and more people are looking at it (weanling buys), especially with the strong yearling market. Most of the time you are bidding against pinhookers, and generally as an end user you can beat them as they need the margin that you don’t,” said Rounsefell.

“Shining Smile has been a great result for Victor Lee. Hopefully he can win some big races in the spring and become a stallion. He’s shaping up nicely for his 3-year-old campaign and will be ready to go early in Melbourne. The Hayes boys have done a great job so far.”

Rounsefell emphasized the benefits of buying weanlings over yearlings.

“You can grow them out on a farm that you choose and get them into your system earlier. When people think about weanlings, they often think about pinhooking, but there’s more vendors selling decent stock as weanlings now. They aren’t just the lessor stock off the farm. I have several breeding clients who sell as weanlings to get their money early and not carry the risk through to yearlings.”

The results of the 2023 Magic Millions Weanling Sale would suggest that the idea of quality being available at this type of sale is true with Shining Smile one of seven stakes winners already for that sale and they aren’t even three yet.

“For end users, buying as weanlings is a good option. Some might worry that it’s a long time to wait, but it’s not really on the scale of things. The benefits of getting those horses into your own system early is huge. When you get them as weanlings you can get them going early, and you can tailor them from early on to be racehorses.”

It’s certainly worked for Shining Smile.

Experience and being aware of type

Lime Country Thoroughbreds usually have a few pinhooked weanlings in their yearling drafts and this year, they did particularly well with two of them bought at the Magic Millions Weanling Sale and on-sold back at the Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

“We bought two good pinhooks from Magic Millions last year. Generally at Lime Country, we only pinhook with clients of the farm, very rarely do we go all in on one on our own,” said Jo Griffin.

“Last year’s results were very successful with the Home Affairs Miss Iano colt that we purchased as a weanling for $280,000, then sold back through the Gold Coast for $475,000. Obviously as a type he was outstanding plus his half-brother Tycoon Star won a Group 3 during Cup week and he looks like a stallion prospect for Yulong.”

Tycoon Star was sold by Milburn Creek at the 2023 Magic Millions Weanling Sale for $350,000 to Yulong who on-sold him to Lindsay Park Racing for $400,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale with Yulong and Lindsay Park both sharing in the ownership with nine other parties. Tycoon Star won the G3 Maribyrnong Plate on debut this season at two.

“We also had a lovely Nicconi filly from No Crying who was a well bred filly, and we paid $120,000 for her. We sold her back through Magic Millions at the Gold Coast for $425,000. She has a beautiful big deep page, it’s the Ozzmosis family, with a big action and a very straightforward type. She only needs a small amount of black type to be worth a fortune.”

No Crying (Exceed And Excel) is a city winning half-sister to Group 3 winner No More Tears (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}) who is the dam of G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes winner and young sire Ozzmosis.

“We had another one that we couldn’t sell, but we own her with partners, it’s a lovely page and we are happy to take her through and race her.”

When asked what Lime Country looks for when selecting potential weanlings as pinhooking prospects, Griffin noted that it’s about the market that the horse is being sold into.

“We look for a good athletic type first and foremost. It’s about buying a racehorse, so they need to look like athletes and look like they will grab the attention of trainers who will buy them as yearlings. They need physical strength and depth as well as a good action.

“It’s different to buying mares. We buy a mare for her page first, then type second, and won’t buy a broodmare without a deep pedigree, but a foal you can buy on type over pedigree because it’s a different buying proposition.

“You can also buy cheaper if you are willing to take a punt on x-rays improving. We’ve purchased two so far this year, a Justify and an Anamoe, both fillies. And we’ve got clients looking at Magic Millions for a few. We generally take 10 to 25 per cent of a horse along with our clients. It’s important that we like them enough to invest in them and it gives clients peace of mind too that we have skin in them.

“If anyone wants to buy a foal and send it to us for a (yearling) preparation, we recommend getting us involved early. We see weanlings all the time, ours and others, and can see how each type stacks up against what we’ve seen.”

Building knowledge of type through experience is a key factor mentioned by Griffin, and the question of a stallion stamping his stock wasn’t a simple yes or no.

“When you look at a stallion like Frankel, he doesn’t stamp his stock but he throws that inherent performance. Snitzel will throw anything from Trapeze Artist to smaller neater horses, while Wootton Bassett has a definite look.

“If a stallion always stamps his stock, you want that look first, but if it’s a good stallion who throws a variety of types it doesn’t matter as much and you judge the horse on its own.”

Another factor for pinhooking weanlings is judging how much they will improve as they grow into yearlings.

“We paddock prepped our weanlings this year, and when we are going to look at weanlings to buy, I like it if a horse hasn’t been over-prepped and we can see improvement coming. We want them to keep going forward after the sale. We don’t want a show pony who is at their peak and might go backwards once we get them home.”

All about the sire for Sullivan

At Sullivan Bloodstock, the decision to buy a weanling is firstly about the stallion, then choosing a good type by stallions on the rise. “The biggest thing we do is identify stallions that we think will end up as the next rising horse.

“We really liked the Ole Kirks as yearlings and thought they’d go on and race early, so we bought three (second season weanlings) and landed on the right horse. Bivouac was a bit quiet in the market and so we took a punt on him and made reasonable money on the one we bought,” said Sherah Sullivan.

The Ole Kirk colt from Singing Sand (Poet's Voice {GB}) was a $75,000 purchase at the Magic Millions Weanling Sale, and Sullivan Bloodstock on-sold him at the Gold Coast for $260,000.

“A horse needs to be an athlete, not just a sales horses. Everyone can identify a nice horse, the obvious ones stand out but are often too expensive, so we try and buy ones with the structure but are a bit backward. We try to find ones we can improve, and who will go the right way for us.

“We also want the mare’s pedigree not to be too exposed, meaning that she’s had an opportunity but hasn’t delivered. Trainers look badly at that come yearling time. It may not be the mares fault, but if she’s left five or six foals without a decent one, she’s too exposed.

“We look at all her upcoming progeny as part of our background checks. Has the 2-year-old been named, what is at the trials, how much others have sold for? But the physical is the number one thing that matters.

“We were fortunate with Bivouac last year, I don’t think anyone picked him. We’ve found that quite often stallions will undersell in their first year if they leave a mixed bag, but that doesn’t mean they won’t gallop. As a stallion gets older, there are traits that people forgive, oh that’s a typical Tavistock.

“Ole Kirk left a type early, and obviously he’s going really well. It’s very much about what’s in fashion (the decision to punt on upcoming sires), as this is only our fourth year, and we don’t have the funds to compete at the top end or with the service fees, or to buy the mares you need to compete.

“You’ve got to have a decent mare and put up the service fee and wait for the results. It’s a bit easier to predict what way things are going to go from a weanling on.

“Down the track, we’d like to buy mares and breed more, but when starting out you have to back your eye without the budget. You select what you think are good types and go from there. We’ve got a lot of support now with people wanting to buy into our pinhooks, based on our results.”

And in the end, it’s results that matter, either in the ring with a profit, or on the track with black type, or as with Autumn Glow. Both.