Where are they now? An update on 2025's million dollar yearlings

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

With the 2026 sales season in the rear view mirror and the last juvenile Group 1 of the year ticked off, it’s the perfect moment to reflect on how the 2025 sales crop have performed, with a view to estimating what we can expect from this year’s graduates.

Forty two yearlings sold for seven figures at Australasian sales in 2025 - the exact same number as in 2026 - and 23 have hit the racetrack so far this season. What have the top performers been up to?

Four colts with big futures

Four stakes winners have emerged from the best-selling yearlings of 2025, and all four are colts. Incognito (Stay Inside), the cheapest of the group when selling for $1 million on the dot, got the party started early by taking out the G3 Breeders’ Plate in October.

Sold by Eureka Stud, Incognito became the highest priced offspring from his sire’s first crop when selling to James Harron Bloodstock Colt Partnership and Tony Fung Colts for $1 million at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. The Michael Freedman-trained colt recorded three fourth placings in his autumn preparation, most recently finishing fourth by a length and a half to Blue Door (Stay Inside) in the G3 Kindergarten Stakes.

Hidrix (Extreme Choice) was also off the blocks on debut in the G3 Canonbury Stakes early in the autumn. The $1.7 million colt was purchased from Coolmore Stud by Chris Waller Racing, Mulcaster Bloodstock, and B2B Thoroughbreds at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale. He added a third placing in the G2 Silver Slipper Stakes at his next start.

Hidrix’s price tag makes all the more sense now, given the scarcity of his sire’s stock and the performance of his full sister Apocalyptic in the spring - she swept the Princess Series and won the G1 Flight Stakes at just her fourth start.

St Gotthard (Snitzel) always had big expectations on his shoulders, being a full brother to the 2024 G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes winner Switzerland - and the same connections paid $2.7 million to acquire him at last year’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale. He debuted at Warwick Farm in April and never looked anything but the winner.

The best of him is yet to come next season though, if his performance in the G3 Ken Russell Memorial Classic is anything to go by. Sent to Queensland for his second start by Chris Waller, the colt kept his unbeaten record intact when winning the 1200-metre race by a shade under four lengths.

The most expensive of the black-type cohort, The Next Episode (Snitzel), was the most recent to deliver his top performances. A $2.8 million Gold Coast purchase, his debut in the $1 million Golden Gift went slightly awry, but he redeemed himself on resumption at Warwick Farm in March, before running second in the Kindergarten.

Another who travelled north to break through into black-type, he took out the Listed Dalrello Stakes by nearly three lengths at the beginning of May, which saw him start the short-priced favourite in the $1 million Magic Millions National 2YO Classic. The celebrations were dual hemisphere when he cruised home to victory by a length and a half, with big goals looming for the spring.

Winners are grinners

The cohort has thrown out a further three winners, all of whom are fillies, and intriguingly one has scored overseas. Empress K (I Am Invincible), the $1.4 million daughter of dual Group 1-winning sprinter Pippie (Written Tycoon), was an Inglis Easter purchase for Champions Farm and Satomi Oka Bloodstock (FBAA) out of Cressfield’s draft.

The filly debuted in January in a 3-year-old field at Kokura, against horses that would be six months her senior, and came home the winner in the 1200-metre event by a length and a half against 17 rivals. She is trained by Yuki Uehara, one of the youngest people to pass the JRA’s licensing specifications.

Moscatel (Snitzel) has been a winner closer to home. Purchased at the Gold Coast by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott Racing, Kestrel Thoroughbreds, and Resolute Bloodstock for $1.6 million, she was a debut winner at Kensington in the Resolute Racing colours in April.

It was a strong enough win - with a four and a half-length margin back to second place - that connections set her for the Listed Woodlands Stakes at the Scone Cup carnival in May. The filly finished off sixth, but with the suggestion that she could improve in the future.

Third in the Woodlands wearing the same colours was Lady Catalina (Written Tycoon), a $1.8 million purchase for Resolute Bloodstock and Ciaron Maher Bloodstock at the Gold Coast. She had already ticked off her maiden win at Newcastle back in March by a cool length and a half before being set for black-type targets.

Best of the rest

Of the remaining 16 to race so far, six have recorded a placing to date. Lady Moscato (Home Affairs), a $1.05 million Gold Coast graduate, had three starts this autumn without success, but showing plenty of promise. She was second in the $500,000 Magic Millions The Debut back in January, before just missing out on black-type when fourth in the Listed Lonhro Plate - beaten just a head by third place.

At her third and final appearance this autumn, she took a run at the G1 Blue Diamond Stakes and was not disgraced when finishing ninth, having been at the head of the pack at the 800-metre and 400-metre marks.

Defensemen (Wootton Bassett {GB}) and Nations League (Snitzel), $1.4 million and $1.7 million purchases for Tom Magnier respectively, both chalked up placings in some of Sydney’s non-black-type juvenile features.

Defensemen debuted in the time-honoured $160,000 Kirkham Plate where he was third to Thrill Hunter (Ole Kirk), before running fifth in the Golden Gift. He resumed on Wednesday at the midweek Canterbury meeting with another third placing behind By Napolean Hill (Written By).

Nations League had a less auspicious debut in December, but has been a stronger contender in the autumn. The colt was third on resumption at Warwick Farm behind the aforementioned St Gotthard, before running second by less than half a length in the $160,000 Clarendon Stakes at Hawkesbury’s standalone metropolitan meeting. The winner of that race, Stormy Marco (Wootton Bassett {GB}), went on to run third in the G1 JJ Atkins Plate.

The remaining three placegetters were all almost the exact same price; Aryaam (Snitzel) and Rocket Girl (I Am Invincible) were both $1.2 million graduates of Inglis Easter, while Starlume (Zoustar) was $1.15 million from the same catalogue. Starlume was third on debut in the Yulong silks in a high quality Ballarat maiden back in April, behind subsequent G3 Ottawa Stakes winner Medicinal (Brazen Beau) and $1 million VOBIS Showdown winner Big Wigs (Gold Standard).

Aryaam debuted with a second placing at Warwick Farm, beaten half a length by Satono Glow (NZ) (Satono Aladdin {Jpn}) who would win the G3 Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes at her next start. Rocket Girl was third at her Hawkesbury debut, beaten by Listed Bill Carter Stakes placegetter Katoto (Wootton Bassett {GB}) and city-performed Extremely Tempted (Extreme Choice).

Of the 19 yet to appear on raceday, a number have trialed and only four have yet to be named.

Worth the investment or waste of money?

Every racing season we see similar stories of high-priced yearlings who appear to not deliver on their price tag, but the statistics against the whole 2-year-old population see things a little differently.

A foal crop of 12,799 was born on Australian shores in 2023, and - give or take horses being exported out of or imported into the country - so far only 12.5% of that number have had at least one start in Australia. By comparison, over 50% of last year’s seven-figure yearlings have had a race start and of those runners, 30.4% have won a race, as opposed to the whole crop figure of 20.7%.

Table: Whole 2023 crop performance versus 2025 seven-figure yearling performance on the track as 2-year-old

There have been 59 individual juvenile stakes winners so far this season, creating a ratio of 3.7% stakes winners to runners. Amongst the top lots, the stake winner strike rate is 17.4%. On every level, yearlings purchased for $1 million or more are outperforming the general 2-year-old population.

It always pays to remember that this is just their first season, and there are both lucrative purses and promises of stud careers to come. The stud deal negotiated for G1 Golden Slipper Stakes winner Guest House (Home Affairs) has been reported as in the region of $30 million, more than 111 times his initial purchase price of $270,000. Those who invest at the highest level are capable of taking the risk, because the payoff when you get it right can be extraordinary.