Lot: 111 - bay colt (Toronado {Ire} x Just A Blur {Dane Shadow}) - $100,000
Buyer: Bevan Smith Bloodstock and Kilgravin Lodge
Vendor: Three Bridges Thoroughbreds
On the hunt for value at the Inglis Great Southern Sale on Friday, Bevan Smith combined with master pinhooker Eion Kemp’s Kilgravin Lodge for a lunchtime pick-up of a Toronado (Ire) colt out of the six-time winner Just A Blur (Dane Shadow), who collected over $400,000 in prize money as a tough sprinter-miler.
The mare’s multiple stakes performances include a fourth in the G3 Dark Jewel Classic by a length and three quarters, and she returned to the Scone Cup carnival a year later to roar home from last to run a narrow sixth by the same margin.
Lot 111 - Toronado (IRE) x Just a Blur | Image courtesy of Inglis
Winner of the $100,000 Wagga Town Plate and the $100,000 Goulburn Cup, Just A Blur had a number of close runs at stakes level that don’t make her pedigree page, including a two-length sixth in the G2 Emancipation Stakes.
Smith was pleased with paying just into six figures for the colt, whose third dam Elizabeth Drake (GB) (Northfields {USA}) was not only a Listed winner in France, but also the dam of G1 Yalumba Handicap winner Northern Drake (Varick {USA}) and the grandam of G3 South Australia Fillies Classic winner Pleasuring (Hard Spun {USA}).
“I thought he physically was as good as any of the Toronados here, so I was very happy with the price,” Smith said. “Particularly as, to me, the mare is a little bit exposed, but they sell really well out of her.”
“The mare is a little bit exposed, but they sell really well out of ” - Bevan Smith
Just A Blur has yet to have a runner from three foals of racing age; Proven Thoroughbreds and O'Dea Hoysted Racing paid $200,000 for her now 3-year-old daughter Smudged (Written Tycoon), who has to date only trialled.
“She's got a chance coming through, there’s young stock there in good stables, so there's a chance for a pedigree upgrade,” Smith continued.
Nonetheless, the quality of her stock has still attracted plenty of attention at the sales, with her now 2-year-old colt by Toronado selling as a weanling for $100,000 to World Wide Bloodstock in 2023, and Sheamus Mills Bloodstock (FBAA) snapping up the now yearling full brother the following year for $200,000.
Just A Blur | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
The pedigree and performance gives Smith hope that one of Just A Blur’s offspring will fire before the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale next year - even so, Kiwi buyers have long proven to be more forgiving of a slow maturer who promises to deliver the goods later in life. A winner as a spring 3-year-old, Just A Blur’s performance only improved with age, with her most successful season for prize money coming as a 5-year-old.
“She was a pretty quick mare,” Smith said. “She’s a multiple stakes performer - but first and foremost, he’s a lovely type. And that’s what we buy, ones that we believe in type-wise and we think he’ll be a really nice yearling.”
Swettenham Stud’s flagship stallion has enjoyed a successful year across the yearling sales, with 57 yearlings sold for over $13.5 million, bettering his 2024 figure of 78 Southern Hemisphere yearlings sold for just shy of $11.9 million. This colt would have been conceived off an $88,000 (inc GST) service fee, which the rising 16-year-old retains in 2025 for a fourth consecutive season.
Toronado scored his first $1 million dollar yearling at the Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale where Andrew Williams Bloodstock (FBAA) and Hong Kong Bloodstock purchased the son of Hardly Surprising (All Too Hard) from Gilgai Farm. The Group-placed Hardly Surprising is out of a half-sister to the dam of G1 Toorak Handicap winner Tuvalu (Kermadec {NZ}).
Toronado (IRE) | Standing at Swettenham Stud
Smith hopes that Hong Kong buyers return in 2026 with a thirst for more of Toronado’s progeny.
“They sell really well, particularly the colts,” he said. “There’s a big appeal in Hong Kong for the stallion. He’s a sire that we definitely came here trying to buy, so we’re very pleased to pick one up.
“He’s (Toronado) a sire that we definitely came here trying to buy, so we’re very pleased to pick one up.” - Bevan Smith
“He’ll most likely go through to Karaka, that’s most likely the plan. There’s always the back-up with Eion (Kemp) to Ready To Run these horses, but I think he’ll make a really nice yearling and he’ll stand out at Karaka. We came here to supplement the draft and probably found the headline horse.”
Bevan Smith | Image courtesy of Bevan Smith Bloodstock
Smith, who bought four weanlings in total on Friday, has seen the same pattern of selling at the Oaklands Complex as has been a theme throughout the 2025 sales season.
“It’s been a good sale. The nice horses are always hard to buy. They’ve done a good job getting a decent catalogue together here, and we’re very happy with what we have bought.
“The top end is very strong, they make a bit of a premium and we try to find a bit of value outside of that.”
