Cover image courtesy of Magic Millions
Every champion sire has to start somewhere, and for many, the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale provides the ideal platform to showcase their first crop on an international stage. With buyers drawn from across Australasia, as well as Hong Kong and further afield, a number of highly anticipated yearlings will go under the hammer in mid-January, as purchasers look to secure the next racetrack star and future breeding prospect.
There are 15 first-season sires represented on the Gold Coast next month, and here in part two, we progress to another group of five stallions who stood at notable service fees on the back of their Group racetrack success.
Collectively, this high-quality group of five captured some of the sport’s most coveted prizes, including the G1 Australian Guineas, G1 Australian Derby, G1 Victorian Derby, G1 Blue Diamond Stakes and G1 Cox Plate, as well as Group 1 victories in Great Britain, France and the United States, alongside Group success in Japan and Australia.
Hitotsu (Maurice (Jpn) x Love Is Fickle {Redoute’s Choice})
2023 service fee was: $22,000 inc GST
The triple Group 1 Classic winner and the best son of Arrowfield Stud’s sire sensation Maurice (Jpn), Hitotsu is also a grandson of Arrowfield legend Redoute’s Choice.
In 1994, he became the first horse since champion Mahogany (Last Tycoon {Ire}) to complete the challenging G1 Victoria Derby, G1 Australian Guineas and G1 Australian Derby treble. Retiring in 2023, Hitotsu bowed out as one of Australian racing’s biggest stars.
Even more remarkably, he won all three Group 1 Classics in succession and became the only horse in history to win the 1600-metre Australian Guineas fresh, four months after his Flemington triumph. Past winners of the Australian Guineas include Champion Sires Zabeel (NZ) and Flying Spur.
Hitotsu | Standing at Arrowfield Stud
Hitotsu has attracted excellent support from Australasian breeders, covering 274 mares across his first two seasons. 11 weanlings from his first crop have averaged three times his service fee through the Inglis and Magic Millions sale rings. A top price of $140,000 was achieved twice, first by Davali Thoroughbreds’ colt out of Zhaojun (Choisir) at the Inglis Australian Weanling Sale, and again by Amarina Farm’s filly out of Evening Star (Rubick) at the Magic Millions National Weanling Sale.
Hitotsu has 16 yearlings catalogued at the Gold Coast, with a couple that could be worth watching including two very early in the sale, in Lot 2 and Lot 8.
Lot 2 is a bay colt out of the unraced Choisir mare Yours But Mine, offered by Attunga Stud. This is the family of the G1 Victorian Oaks winner Bulla Borghese (Belong To Me {USA}), her Group 2-winning daughter Bound For Earth (Northern Meteor), and the outstanding 3-year-old filly of this season, Tempted (Street Boss {USA}).
Tempted is now a three-time Group 2 winner and has placed in the G1 The Everest, G1 Golden Slipper and G1 Golden Rose Stakes.
Lot 8 is a brown filly offered by Arrowfield Stud. She is the fourth foal of Zelrosa (Snitzel), a winner over 1100 metres who is a full sister to the G1 Lightning Stakes winner Snitzerland (Snitzel) and a half-sister to the G3 Maribyrnong Plate winner Hard Landing (All Too Hard), as well as the Malaysian Listed winner Himalaism – Filial Dragon (Sing.) (I Am Invincible).
State Of Rest (Ire) (Starspangledbanner x Repose (USA) {Quiet American {USA}})
2023 service fee was: $44,000 inc GST
State Of Rest (Ire) has been well supported at Newgate Stud, serving 148 mares in his first season before backing up with a solid number of 111 mares in season two.
A four-time Group 1 winner across four different countries, his victories include the G1 Cox Plate, G1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes, G1 Prix Ganay and the G1 Saratoga Derby. He is the only horse in history to have won three consecutive Group or Grade 1 races on three different continents.
He claimed the stallion-making G1 Cox Plate, defeating arguably the Southern Hemisphere’s best racehorse Anamoe, who carried seven kilograms less, as well as Horse of the Year Verry Elleegant (NZ) (Zed {NZ}). A Cox Plate-winning 3-year-old, even though Irish-bred, he joins the elite company of Savabeel, So You Think (NZ) and Shamus Award. He covered a strong first book, with one in four mares being either stakes performers or producers.
State Of Rest (Ire) | Standing at Newgate Farm
He also became only the second horse in history to win the G1 Cox Plate and G1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes double, the first being So You Think.
The international globetrotter has 14 yearlings catalogued to sell on the Gold Coast, with two that look particularly interesting on paper being Lot 115 and Lot 829.
Lot 829 is a bay filly out of Snitzel’s Glow (Snitzel), offered by Gooree Park Stud. She was unraced but comes from the extended family nurtured so well by Gooree Park Stud, which features the stallions Northern Meteor and Smart Missile, as well as classy Group winners Queen Of The Hill (Danehill {USA}), Sure Knee (Snitzel), Palaisipan (So You Think {NZ}), and the Group 3 winner and potential R. Listed Magic Millions Gold Coast 2YO Classic candidate Tornado Valley (Too Darn Hot {GB}).
Diatonic (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa (Jpn) x To Harmony (Jpn) {Sunday Silence {USA}})
2023 service fee was: $13,750 inc GST
The Yulong-based stallion Diatonic (Jpn) has his first Southern Hemisphere-bred Yearlings sell at the Gold Coast in January, uniquely he served 32 mares in early 2023 to Northern Hemisphere time in Australia, before covering 131 mares in the spring of 2023 and a further 107 mares in 2024. He has nine yearlings catalogued in the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
Bred and campaigned in the high-quality racing nation of Japan, Diatonic is a three-time Group 2 winner over 1400 metres and Group 1-placed. With career earnings equivalent to AU$5.2 million, he consistently demonstrated his class against the elite of Japanese racing.
Diatonic (Jpn) | Standing at Yulong Investments
A son of Lord Kanaloa (Jpn), Diatonic shares the same sire as Yulong’s G1 Blue Diamond Stakes winner Tagaloa. He is bred on the same cross as Japanese superstar Almond Eye (Jpn) and is out of a mare by Sunday Silence (USA), the sire of Deep Impact (Jpn), Heart’s Cry (Jpn) and Sunday Joy. Diatonic was a five-time Group winner in Japan and Group 1-placed over 1200 metres.
His pedigree carries enormous depth, descending from the direct female line of Cosmah (USA) (Cosmic Bomb {USA}), the dam of Halo (USA) and a half-sister to Natalma (USA) (Native Dancer {USA}), the dam of Northern Dancer (Can).
Naturally, there will be significant interest in Lot 826, a bay or brown filly out of the dual Group 1 winner Snapdancer (Choisir), who was purchased by Yulong for $3.2 million from the Sullivan Bloodstock draft at the 2023 Magic Millions Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale.
Snapdancer is out of the Galileo (Ire) mare Snapdragon (Ire), and is a three-quarter sister to Drago (Danehill Dancer {Ire}), who was Group 3-placed twice and finished fourth in both the G1 Sires’ Produce Stakes and G1 Champagne Stakes.
Yulong’s Chief Operating Officer, Sam Fairgray, recently spoke highly of the Snapdancer yearling filly to The Thoroughbred Report, “She is a very strong first foal, and she is powerfully built in a similar way to the mare herself.
“She very much looks a sharp and fast filly, and should be an up-and-running type. She has great natural strength. We wanted to support Diatonic with quality mares, and Snapdancer was one of them. It’s a nice cross and this filly will be very well inspected.”
Best Of Bordeaux (Snitzel x Chateau Cheval {High Chaparral {Ire]})
2023 service fee was: $27,500 inc GST
Best Of Bordeaux was well patronised at Coolmore Stud, serving 124 mares in his first season and a respectable 78 mares in his second.
He was a dual Group-winning 2-year-old and the first colt home in the G1 Golden Slipper. At three, he was a Group 2 winner and a Group 1-placed sprinter. Notably, he was a higher rated 2-year-old than his sire Snitzel, the four-time Champion Sire and three-time Champion 2-Year-Old Sire, so hopefully he can continue the line of his late sire.
Snitzel has proven himself as a sire of sires, with eight individual sons already producing stakes winners, including Shamus Award and Russian Revolution. Best Of Bordeaux’s dam is a half-sister to Casino Prince, winner of the G1 Chipping Norton Stakes and sire of Group 1 sire All Too Hard, as well as a half-sister to the dam of Group 1-winning 2-year-old Prince Fawaz.
Best Of Bordeaux | Standing at Coolmore
His granddam was stakes-placed and is a full sister to Palia (Last Tycoon {Ire}), a Group 3 winner and dam of a Group 1 winner, further reinforcing the strength of his female family.
Best Of Bordeaux has 11 yearlings catalogued at the Gold Coast, with two of interest being well-bred colts Lot 70 and Lot 73.
Lot 70 is a grey colt offered by Lime Country Thoroughbreds. He is the fourth foal out of the dual Listed-winning mare Astara (NZ) (Dalghar {Fr}), who has already produced two winners, including the stakes-placed Bolshoi Star (Russian Revolution). Astara is also a half-sister to the Listed Ascot 1000 Guineas winner Brave Angel (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}).
Newhaven Park offers Lot 73, a bay colt who is the first foal out of Audio (Zoustar). Although unraced, she is very well bred as a half-sister to the G1 1000 Guineas winner Odeum (Written Tycoon) and the Listed winner and million-dollar earner Goodfella (Snitzel).
Daumier (Epaulette x Illustrate {Street Cry {Ire]})
2023 service fee was: $16,500 inc GST
Based at Twin Hills Stud, Daumier served 88 mares in his first book and followed up with 74 mares in his second season.
He showed exceptional speed and determination to win the G1 Blue Diamond Stakes as a juvenile, defeating Jacquinot in all three of their meetings at two. He also finished on the board in both the G1 Golden Slipper and G1 Sires’ Produce Stakes.
A 26 November foal, Daumier won the Blue Diamond Preview on debut and went on to become the only 2-year-old Group 1 winner from his foal crop of 6450 colts. He also holds the distinction of being the only November foal ever to win the G1 Blue Diamond.
Daumier | Standing at Twin Hills Stud
Daumier is regarded as the best 2-year-old to emerge from a notably tough branch of the Danehill sire line and hails from a deep Woodlands family that first came to Australia in 1892.
Twin Hills Stud offers five Daumier yearlings out of the seven offered throughout the sale, with two of particular interest on paper being Lot 223 and Lot 918.
Lot 223 is a brown filly out of the two-time winning I Am Invincible mare Dominant Lady. Her granddam, Sensible Lady (USA) (Street Sense {USA}), was a nine-time winner up to 1100 metres, including six victories at Listed level. The filly holds an interesting double-up of the great sire Street Cry (Ire), with Daumier being out of a Street Cry mare and Sensible Lady being by a son of Street Cry in Street Sense (USA).
Lot 918 is a brown colt and the first foal of the unraced Written Tycoon mare Toowoomba Tycoon. This colt’s granddam, Crucial (Nadeem), was a talented performer who won the G3 Auraria Stakes among her five wins.
This is also the extended family of Desert King (GB), famously the sire of Champion three-time G1 Melbourne Cup winner Makybe Diva (GB), and the damsire of this year’s G1 Caulfield Cup and G1 Melbourne Cup winner Half Yours (St Jean {Ire}).
