Sons of Darley’s Microphone and Blue Point make a splash on the Coast

Listen

For all the million-dollar action at the Gold Coast it is perhaps the team at Darley that will be celebrating most with a pair of $750,000 lots, as two of their three first–season sires landed significant blows in yesterday’s second session at the Magic Millions sale. 

Shuttler Blue Point (Shamardal) is now the leading first–season sire by average as, propelled by the ingenuity of a regally bred Dorrington Farm-offered colt, the stallion ended yesterday’s session with nine yearlings sold at an average of $306,111. 

The three-time Royal Ascot Group 1 winner has been well received by the breeders and buyers alike, and it was Ciaron Maher, Victoria’s champion trainer, who took a liking to the Bhima Thoroughbreds-offered half-brother to Kindergarten Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) and Inglis Banner (RL, 1000m) winner Semillion (Shalaa). 

“Just an athlete, really. Very athletic and covered the ground really well and got under himself,” said Will Bourne, Maher’s bloodstock manager. “Ciaron loves it when they move their hind hocks and one leg is right under themselves. Just quality.”

The colt traces back to the family of Black Caviar (Bel Esprit) and All Too Hard (Casino Prince), deriving from third dam Scandinavia (Snippets), the dam of Dorrington Farm’s Group 1-winning stallion Magnus (Flying Spur). 

The colt is the most expensive yearling by Blue Point, anywhere in the world, with his most expensive northern hemisphere yearling having been knocked down to Coolmore for €420,000 at last year’s Goffs Orby Sale. 

Not to be outdone by his northern hemisphere counterpart, homegrown Group 1 winner Microphone (Exceed And Excel) made a statement of his own, when his son – the first foal out of the US Stakes race winner South Of France (Quality Road) – matched the $750,000 benchmark set just 16 lots earlier. 

Catalogued as Lot 409, the Newhaven Park-offered colt was snapped up by the Newgate Farm-China Horse Club colts syndicate, who have previously purchased Group 1 winner In The Congo (Snitzel) and Magic Millions 3YO Guineas (RL, 1400m) winner Aim (Star Witness) from the vendor. 

“He’s out of a very good Quality Road mare and he was an absolute weapon of a physical specimen,” said Newgate’s Henry Field. 

“When I saw this horse for the first time at Newhaven Park last month I drove out of the farm and I couldn’t stop thinking about him and when I got here and saw him, he’d only improved.

“There weren’t many better animals on the complex than that colt.”

Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) winner Microphone has had seven yearlings sell this week at an average of $255,714. 

“We like the stallion, we’ve got breeding rights in the stallion and we think he’s a really good chance,” Field said. 

“He was a very good two-year-old and Godolphin were kind enough to sell us some breeding rights in him when he went to stud.”

Exceedance filly catches Lizzie’s eye

It was a fellow son of champion sire Exceed And Excel (Danehill) that attracted the attention of one of the most highly regarded judges in racing when it comes to selecting horses on physical type. 

TV personality Lizzie Jelfs established herself as one of the most influential tipsters in racing with her successful ‘Pick of the Yard’ selections and, turning her hand, or eye, to yearling selection last year, Jelfs picked out a daughter of Vinery Stud’s Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Exceedance for $250,000, as the 2023 yearling sales ramped up at Magic Millions. 

The filly, who is out of the British-bred Oasis Dream (Green Desert) mare Pussycat Dream, will be raced in conjunction with Peter Tighe’s Magic Bloodstock Racing Syndicate. 

“I saw a lot of Exceedance when he was a racehorse. I went out to Vinery and did the farm inspections and, to me, she really stood out as a type that was very similar to what he was. She’s a more feminine type, but she’s got everything in all the right places and is a real athlete,” Jelfs said. 

“She has a lot of his traits. Exceedance had a bit of length about him and a great walk, and grew a lot from his two-year-old year to his three-year-old year. He also had this amazing turn of foot. 

“I wouldn’t say I identified Exceedance as a target stallion beforehand, but going around, you pick up traits and types and in going around I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to see all of these first season sires at the races, time and time again. So, it’s great to have an idea of what I’m going to be looking at [in their progeny]. 

“I just try and look at the whole picture. It’s all about identifying an athlete and using my experience that I’ve seen, not only in the mounting yard, but from the years in the stable seeing young horses grow and develop.”

The filly is a half-sister to Singapore stakes winner What’s New (Casino Prince) and out of a half-sister to Listed winner Tavy (Tavistock). 

Exceedance also had a $360,000 colt sell on day two, which was purchased by Satomi Oka on behalf of Japanese clients. 

The stallion averages $150,000 from seven lots sold so far on the Gold Coast. 

Jelfs, in conjunction with Annabel Neasham for her Race with Lizzie syndication venture, also purchased fillies by Pride Of Dubai (Street Cry) and So You Think (High Chaparral) for $250,000 and $200,000 respectively. 

Yulong partner with Waterhouse for daughter of Zousain

Yulong may make the front pages with their purchase of $2.6 million daughter of Zoustar (Northern Meteor), but the titan breeding and racing operation also targeted the stallion’s first–season sire son Zousain, when going to $650,000 in partnership with Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott and Kestrel Thoroughbreds to purchase Lot 374. 

The Rosemont Stud-offered filly is a three-quarter sister to the Waterhouse and Bott-trained Furious Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) winner North Star Lass (Zoustar). 

“She was a fantastic physical and being a three-quarter-sister to North Star Lass she’s got a lot of residual there, so with a great physique like that, it’s great to get a filly like her,” said Yulong’s Sam Fairgray. 

Zousain, who stands alongside his sought-after sire Zoustar at Widden, is averaging $228,214 from 14 yearlings sold so far. 

“They’re very nice from what we’re seeing,” Fairgray added of Zousain’s first-crop yearlings. “They’re good types and they look like they’ll be precocious types.”

Pierata continues to attract

Having sired yesterday’s $800,000 top lot among first season sires, the progeny of Pierata (Pierro) again impressed buyers yesterday, including Mornington-based trainer Matt Laurie, who in conjunction with Justin Bahen purchased a colt for $550,000. 

Offered by Kulani Park, the colt is a half-brother to Listed-winning WA filly Liwa (Mulaazem) and out of a half-sister to Group 2 winner and sire Rothesay (Fastnet Rock). 

“Looked a really forward colt, a really attractive colt. A potential stallion – he had that look about him,” Laurie said. 

“Very forward, powerful and clean. A good attitude – all the usual typical things. There are some nice horses on this complex, but this bloke really stood out. I thought he would be going between $500,000 and $600,000, so we were right.”

Pierata also had a filly out of Group 2 winner Oregon’s Day (Domesday) sell for $480,000 yesterday to Kia Ora Stud and TFI. He sits second on the leading sires by average standings among first season sires, averaging $292,083 from 12 lots sold. 

Waikato Stud’s Super Seth (Dundeel) had his second yearling sell yesterday, the Sledmere-offered colt making $450,000 to the bid of Chris Waller and Guy Mulcaster, while Yes Yes Yes (Rubick) continued to catch the eye, with a filly by the Everest (1200m) winner fetching $420,000 to the same buyer, one of two daughters of Yes Yes Yes bought by the stable. 

Waller and Mulcaster also added a filly by Zousain for $180,000.