Cover image courtesy of Georgia Young Photography
Scrutiny is the reality for seven-figure yearlings, where patience is scarce and timelines are compressed by price alone. When Hidrix (Extreme Choice) stormed to victory in the G3 Canonbury Stakes on Saturday at Rosehill, he became the second seven-figure yearling to win a 2-year-old stakes race this season, and provided an early reference point for where expectation may be running ahead of evidence.
From a cohort of 42 yearlings who sold for $1 million or more in 2025, nine have raced with Hidrix and Incognito (Stay Inside) both scoring at Group 3 level.
The ratio of Group winners is impressive, especially so early in the racing careers of this group of 42 horses. Add in Empress K (I Am Invincible) who won on debut in Japan recently, and Lady Moscato (Home Affairs) who was second in The Debut at her first start, and the early profile of the million-dollar-baby cohort appears more balanced than some of the harsher commentary would suggest.
B2B splashes out on Hidrix
“The way we named this horse is that I put Extreme Choice and Shadow into ChatGPT. And that's what it spat out. I thought it sounded like a bit of a gladiator sort of name,” said Ricky Surace Jnr of B2B Thoroughbreds.
“The way we named this horse (Hidrix) is that I put Extreme Choice and Shadow into ChatGPT. And that's what it spat out.” - Ricky Surace Jnr
Hidrix was sold by Coolmore Stud at the 2025 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale for $1.7 million to Chris Waller, Guy Mulcaster Bloodstock, and B2B Thoroughbreds. The full brother to G1 Flight Stakes-winning 3-year-old Apocalyptic is out of unraced mare Shadow (Medaglia D’Oro {USA}) who has no yearling this season, and foaled a filly by Pierro during the spring.
“We really put ourselves on the line, buying an expensive horse. It was pretty easy to knock him off his appearances at the trials, but his work was really good in the lead up to that race, and we hoped he'd run well.
“I’m a bit of a negative person in that I don’t like going into a race with those expectations, but it was a very welcome result.”
Hidrix | Image courtesy of Georgia Young Photography
Where to next for Hidrix? “The initial signs show that he's pulled up pretty well, so potentially the Silver Slipper in three weeks time. He’s a late foal and he’s still a very raw horse, so whatever he does now is going to be a bonus to what he’ll do later.”
“The initial signs show that he's (Hidrix) pulled up pretty well, so potentially the Silver Slipper in three weeks time.” - Ricky Surace Jnr
The last G1 Golden Slipper winner to come through the G3 Canonbury Stakes was Vancouver, who won the G2 Todman Stakes on his way to the Slipper. More recently, Best Of Bordeaux took the same path, winning the G2 Silver Slipper in 2022 before running second to Fireburn (Rebel Dane) in the G1 Golden Slipper.
“Chris (Waller) doesn't really push his horses as early 2-year-olds. He just lets them do it naturally. He’s a trainer that is known to look after his horses at two to get the results at three, four, and older, so knowing that makes this win even more exciting.”
Chris Waller | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Hidrix’s full sister Apocalyptic placed in her only start at two, winning the G1 Flight Stakes this season as a spring 3-year-old. If Hidrix follows the same development, there’s plenty to get excited about.
“He was the nicest horse we've ever seen at the sales in the time I've been involved in the industry. He’s by Extreme Choice, so he’s a bit on the smaller side, but he has so much quality. He's got this massive action, a massive hindquarter with great bone under him. He's going to be a very sought after stallion.
“Obviously the goal is to win a Group 1, but even if he can get a few nice wins under his belt, and with his sister adding to his page, he’ll make a nice stallion.”
“He (Hidrix) was the nicest horse we've ever seen at the sales in the time I've been involved in the industry.” - Ricky Surace Jnr
Hidrix as a yearling | Image courtesy of Inglis
With big money comes big expectations
Despite early stakes success from the cohort, seven-figure yearlings remain disproportionately criticised, particularly in the lead-up to their first starts.
“There's that stigma around million-dollar horses, especially around social media, which is an absolute sewer.
“As soon as they don't trial well, everyone knocks them, but at the end of the day, there's such a big difference between a trial and a race.”
“We don't specifically go out there to target the million-dollar horses (at the sales) because it just doesn't make sense to us, but we obviously fell in love with him. And there were a lot of other people on him too, and being a grey, well, everyone falls in love with a grey horse,” said Surace.
“We don't specifically go out there to target the million dollar horses (at the sales) because it just doesn't make sense to us, but we obviously fell in love with him (Hidrix).” - Ricky Surace Jnr
Ricky Surace Jnr (left) | Image courtesy of Georgia Young Photography
Hidrix had three trials leading into his debut, running fourth, seventh and second.
“When you know they have that good base of ability, you entrust your trainer, and Chris is a champion trainer. So if a horse has a bit of ability, he'll certainly get the best out of them. So no, we aren’t really feeling the weight of expectation with Hidrix.
Despite two juvenile stakes winners already from the current group of seven-figure yearlings, there remains a belief among many racing fans that they do not justify the price.
Much of that is to do with the high expectations that come with the price tag.
Among the 42 current 2-year-olds who cost $1 million or more in 2025, 36 have been named, and nine have already raced for three winners.
“At the end of the day, we need buyers to buy these expensive horses to keep the industry ticking along. And regardless of what the social media says, all these big buyers put so much into racing.
“Some of the horses they buy are going to be good, some of them are going to have good amounts of ability, and you plan their futures, and hopefully win a Group 1 and have a future at stud.”
Incognito, Espionage, and Bodyguard
At the top end of the market, the objective often extends beyond immediate racetrack results. For buyers such as James Harron, identifying stallion prospects is central to the strategy.
Harron has purchased nine seven-figure yearlings between 2023 and 2025 through his Colt Syndicates, with three already becoming stakes winners: Incognito (Stay Inside), Espionage (Zoustar) and Bodyguard.
Incognito won the G3 Breeders' Plate on debut but didn't fire on Saturday in Hidrix's G3 Canonbury Stakes.
“He ran at the weekend, and unfortunately displaced his soft palette so he wasn’t able to finish off.
“Michael (Freedman) will put a tongue tie and a tongue control bit on him for his next start, which will be the Silver Slipper. He travelled like the winner until the 300 metres when he pulled up with a gargling sound,” said Harron.
James Harron | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“He's obviously a high profile horse. He's got a lot of ability and he's beautifully bred. He was holding favouritism for the Golden Slipper before Saturday, and there’s always going to be a lot of discussion around horses like him. Tommy (Berry) and Michael were expecting him to win and he was very short in the market.
“He's (Incognito) obviously a high profile horse. He's got a lot of ability and he's beautifully bred. He was holding favouritism for the Golden Slipper before Saturday.” - James Harron
“But he’s a horse and things happen. Fortunately, it's something we feel like we can rectify. I would’ve been disappointed if we’d found nothing wrong, but it was a very legitimate excuse and he’ll be back for another day.”
Espionage is a 4-year-old entire who is now in training with Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson in New Zealand. Costing $1 million from Baramul Stud’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale draft in 2023, Espionage won the G3 Breeders’ Plate on debut. He was twice more Group-placed at two, then added the G3 Kindergarten Stakes to bookend his juvenile season.
He’s had two starts in New Zealand, running third when resuming and then in the G1 Railway Stakes.
“He’s majority owned by Coolmore, as they bought into the horse after the Kindergarten, and they decided to send him over New Zealand to give him an opportunity over there.”
Espionage | Image courtesy of Sportpix
Bodyguard stood his first season at Armidale Stud in Tasmania in 2025. “He was very popular. He's a really nice prospect for Tasmania, and he got a nice book of mares.”
“You’re going in to try and identify stallion prospects, and then how they perform on the track will dictate where they go.
“Some of them don’t reach the heights you might have hoped for, due to different reasons, but at least when they get their opportunity at stud, they can still succeed. We’ve all seen plenty of good stallions come off low fees.
“It's a big deal to show that 2-year-old form and speed. The market gravitates towards that when these horses go to stud. Buyers get to the yearling sales and see these nice forward yearlings by stallions like that, and it goes hand in hand.”
Bodyguard | Standing at Armidale Stud
What time reveals
Looking beyond the current juveniles, recent cohorts underline the longer-term picture.
The current group of 3-year-olds are led by Group 1 winners Return To Conquer and Devil Night (Extreme Choice). Return To Conquer has been retired with a stud deal pending.
Devil Night, winner of last year’s G1 Blue Diamond, is in training with Team Hawkes and most recently ran fourth in the G2 Schillaci Stakes behind Giga Kick (Scissor Kick). Hi Barbie (I Am Invincible) is the other stakes winner from the collection of 41 seven-figure yearlings purchased in 2024 across Australia and New Zealand.
Devil Night | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
All bar one of the 41 current 3-year-olds have been named, 32 have raced, and 25 are winners (as at 1 February 2026). Return To Conquer, who won all of his four starts at two, is one of two unbeaten prospects in his cohort. The other is three from three filly Plaintiff (Zoustar) who is trained by Peter Snowden.
Among the promising group of 3-year-old millionaires are stakes placed Boa Vista (Snitzel), Farcited (Farnan), Fermoy (Zoustar), and Wodeton (Wootton Bassett {GB}) who placed in both the G1 Golden Slipper and G1 Golden Rose.
The 4-year-old stars
The current 4-year-olds who were seven-figure yearlings are headlined by unbeaten Group 1 winner Autumn Glow (The Autumn Sun) as well as G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes winner and young sire Switzerland. From the 47 seven-figure yearlings sold in 2023 across Australia and New Zealand, only four are unraced and three are non-winners.
Autumn Glow | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
As well as the two Group 1 winners, there are nine other stakes winners being Group 2 winners Too Darn Lizzie (Too Darn Hot {GB}), and Eneeza (Exceed And Excel), Group 3 winners Bodyguard, Clean Energy (Zoustar), Media World (Written Tycoon), and Espionage, as well as Listed winners Dawn Service (Justify {USA}), High Octane (Deep Field) and On Display (Fastnet Rock).
Eleven stakes winners from 47 yearlings works out to 23%, a staggering ratio when only around 2% of the whole foal population will win a stakes race, without considering the five stakes placed runners from this cohort too.
They are Imperial Force (Snitzel), Sakima (Snitzel), Kirribilli (Snitzel), Manos (Snitzel), and Altermatum (Zoustar).
At the top end of the market, expectation is unavoidable.
As Hidrix has shown, progress is rarely linear, but it is often quieter than the judgement that surrounds it.
