Established sires, diverse sources: Star Thoroughbreds’ Gold Coast blueprint

Cover Image courtesy of Star Thoroughbreds

After eight years working alongside Brett Howard of Randwick Bloodstock, Star Thoroughbreds have teamed up with respected bloodstock agent Vin Cox for the 2026 sales season. TTR checked in with Cox and Star Thoroughbreds’ boss Denise Martin on the final day of Book 1 at the Gold Coast to see how everything was working.

“It’s been fantastic. We were unsure how we would approach this year once we received advice that Brett wanted to retire at the end of 2025,” said Martin.

With Randwick Bloodstock, Star Thoroughbreds have purchased elite horses such as lnvincibella (I Am Invincible) and Espiona (Extreme Choice), with Aeliana (Castelveccio) purchased with Guy Mulcaster.

Getting the vibes right

Vin Cox has steadily built a strong reputation as a yearling buyer, having bought G1 Blue Diamond Stakes winner Devil Night (Extreme Choice) when working at Yulong, and G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes and G1 Newmarket Handicap winner In Secret (I Am Invincible) when working for Godolphin.

“I called Vin, having known him for the entire period that I’ve had Star Thoroughbreds, and he was very interested in working with us. I was delighted and it’s worked out absolutely perfectly.

“He’s been amazing. He’s been someone I’ve admired in the industry for a very long time and he’s been most comprehensive in finding and identifying some very different horses for us this year. My brief to Vin was that I was looking to concentrate on established sires, as opposed to new season sires, whilst recognising that horses like Anamoe would be on everyone’s radar.”

And Vin Cox is loving the new working relationship too. “The vibe is great. Denise has a bunch of her clients here and they are all having a great time, and from my perspective, it’s great being part of the team,” said Cox.

Aiming for 12-14 yearlings

Star Thoroughbreds were aiming to purchase 12-14 yearlings at the 2026 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, and when TTR talked to them on Friday morning, they had bought nine on the first three days of the sale.

“To date, we’ve bought nine, we have two or three more that we’ll try and take home by the end of the day, and in summary, I couldn’t be more delighted,” said Martin.

Cox has met the brief set by Star Thoroughbreds. “From my perspective, we are very happy with where we’ve got to. We’ve got nine horses thus far and got a far way to go on the last day. I'm delighted with the cross section of horses and with what we’ve paid for them,” said Cox.

“They are a good cross section across the board in terms of price, size, strength, breeder, and our strategy was to buy great racehorses, primarily.”

The nine yearlings are from nine different vendors and represent nine different stallions. The vendors are Amarina Farm, Coolmore Stud, Emirates Park, Fernrigg Farm, Glenbeigh Farm, Newgate Farm, Sledmere Stud, Twin Hills Stud, and Widden Stud.

“Over the years, I think I’ve bought one horse at least from everybody. We like to find the horse first, and then in almost every case, we are satisfied with the work done by the vendor. That’s why they are here with a quality animal. We’ve bought from major vendors and a couple of smaller sellers too. The quality of the yearlings that we will take home is really satisfying,” said Martin.

Star Thoroughbreds have purchased yearlings by Anamoe, Dundeel (NZ), Home Affairs, Proisir, Satono Aladdin (Jpn), Starspangledbanner, Stay Inside, Supido, and Too Darn Hot (GB), with the group ranging in price from $150,000 to $330,000.

Gallery: Yearlings purchased by Star Thoroughbreds at the 2026 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, images courtesy of Magic Millions

On having a similar taste in horses

When a new buying partnership begins, it can often cause issues if the different parties have different philosophies about what matters when buying a yearling. TTR naturally asked if they’ve discovered a similar taste in horses.

“It’s clear that we do. It’s a team effort so we all discuss (the horses) and have a good yarn about them,” said Cox.

Martin agreed. “It’s interesting because I said to him on day one, I really focus initially on a horse’s attitude, and he said, so do I, and I said, I also focus on a lovely loose walk and he said, so do I. And I said this is going to work famously,” said Martin.

“We spoke about different physical attributes that he also looked to, and we seem to have very much ended up on the same page virtually all the time, and now it’s just a matter of being able to buy the horses at the right price. As is always the case, lovely horses attract more than one or two interested buyers, so it hasn’t been easy, but so far so good.”

The market conditions for 2026

The pair also agreed on the market conditions for the 2026 sales season opener at the Gold Coast. “(The days) ebb and flow. There are periods when there are an abundance of buyers and horses we are interested in have attracted multiple buyers, and sometimes we are surprised at how some attract more money than we thought (the horse) might have been worth,” said Martin.

“At the end of the day, the horses attract their mark, and there are very many educated yearling selectors here. Many. And the quality of horses always find their mark, as they always do each year.”

Vin Cox’s experience at the helm of both Godolphin and Yulong was demonstrated in his answer to the question about the market conditions for this year. “It’s been a strong consistent market, and a very deep market. There’s good participation across the board, there’s wide and varied buyers and no single buyer is dominating the market,” said Cox.

“When a nice horse comes to the ring, it sells very well. From that perspective, it’s hard to buy. When you find a nice horse, so does everyone else.”

An out of the box purchase

One of the nine purchases on the first three days was Lot 353, a Supido colt from Widden Stud. “Vin highlighted a colt by Supido and initially, he wasn’t a stallion on my radar,” said Martin.

“We saw the colt and loved him and bought him. He might end up being our ladies horse this year, he wasn’t expensive and he’s a beautiful physical. We are primarily buying the athlete first, with attitude, walk, whole demeanour.”

Lot 353 cost $160,000 and is out of five-race winner Hollaback Girl (Your Song), whose first foal to race is 4-year-old mare Zoufani (Zousain) who has won twice. It is the family of Chris Waller-trainer triple Group 1 winner Riff Rocket (American Pharoah {USA}).

To become Star Thoroughbreds’ Ladies Syndicate horse means the horse needs to have the capacity to qualify for the Ladies bonuses in the R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic and R. Listed Magic Millions 3YO Guineas, as well as the state based 2 and 3-year-old Magic Millions races.

“The yearling (we choose for the Ladies Syndicate) must have the capacity to run as a 2-year-old. If the person with you says, I don’t think this will be naturally to the track early, then that’s not the one. The Supido is very strong athletic colt who looks like he’ll be reasonably early and he has a great attitude as well.”

On Friday, Star Thoroughbreds added two more purchases. Lot 886 is a filly by The Autumn Sun who was sold by Arrowfield Stud. She cost $460,000 to become Star Thoroughbreds’ most expensive horse of the sale to date. She’s a full sister to progressive 3-year-old filly Autumn Blonde.

Their final lot of the day was Lot 938, a Too Darn Hot (GB) colt from Newgate Farm for $320,000.