Tasmanian breeders up the ante as state’s 2024 catalogue released
A total of 140 lots to go under the hammer as Magic Millions commits to Quercus Park
The collective investment by breeders from the Apple Isle will be on show when the majority of the state’s best-bred horses are offered at next year’s Magic Millions Tasmanian Yearling Sale.
Continuing the rolling out of catalogues for the 2024 sales season by the three auction houses, Magic Millions has unveiled a 140-lot catalogue for its island state offering, a source of horses which has a history of graduates that punch above their weight.
Underlining the commitment to the Tasmanian industry, Magic Millions also confirmed that an agreement between the auction house, Rural Youth, Tasracing, Tasbreeders had been reached to continue to have the sale held at Quercus Park at Carrick, near Launceston, until at least 2027.
Next year’s sale will be held on Monday, February 26, with the Tasmania’s Magic Millions race day to be held earlier than it traditionally has, with the meeting, which includes the Magic Millions Tasmania 2YO Classic (1200m), set to be run on Sunday, February 4.
Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch conceded the demand for spaces in the sale from vendors outstripped supply as a result of Tasmanian breeders’ willingness to buy a better class of mare and a handful of interstate vendors concentrating on the sale.
“We are restricted by room and also by what we think the market can absorb there. We had good strength in our entries for the sale and, therefore, when you have got to restrict your numbers it provides reason for a catalogue that is strong and most horses should appeal to the market that we’re selling into,” Bowditch told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“The investment in stallions over the last few years, in the quality of mares that they’ve got in the state and then also pinhooking some weanlings, it gives a diversification to the catalogue which allows us to be able to market the sale to the interstaters and get a few of those people down there.”
Motree Thoroughbreds’ Mandy Gunn has a draft of 28 yearlings heading to her home-state sale and her cohort has received a boost in recent weeks with progeny of exciting young stallions Tassort (Brazen Beau) and Cosmic Force (Deep Field), both of whom have sired first crop winners early in the new season, among her crop of yearlings.
The diversity in stallions in the Motree draft, which also features yearlings by All Too Hard (Casino Prince), Rubick (Encosta De Lago), Prague (Redoute’s Choice) and Kermadec (Teofilo), was a result of the passionate northern Tasmania’s breeder’s investment in upgrading her stock.
“We bit the bullet a couple of years ago and put a lot more variation into our draft of horses. A lot of the mares are proving themselves and I thought we could try and vary our draft,” Gunn said yesterday.
“It was the first time I’d sent mares to the Hunter Valley and I only sent dry mares there to try and cut the cost a little bit. I also only tried to send mares with some pedigree and ones I could build on the pedigrees with.”
Crediting rival Tasmanian breeders, such as Grenville and Armidale Studs, with also investing in the improvement of the local horse population, Gunn added: “Everybody’s doing the best job they can to try and promote Tasmania and promote our mares and our environment.”
Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Levendi (Pierro) has a first-crop half-sister (Lot 33) to trainer Peter Moody’s now retired three-time Group 1-winning sprinter Moment Of Change (Barely A Moment) who will also be offered by Gunn while she will also put a “lovely bodied” first crop Fierce Impact (Deep Impact) half-brother (Lot 131) to three multiple winners.
Armidale Stud has a sister to Melbourne Listed-winning sprinter Bold Star (Needs Further) (Lot 3), a King’s Legacy (Redoute’s Choice) half-sister to Star Thoroughbreds’ Vamos Stakes (Gr 3, 1400m) winner Deroche (Needs Further) (Lot 15) and a Merchant Navy (Fastnet Rock) half-sister to Vo Rogue Plate (Gr 3, 1400m) winner Tiger Legend (Better Than Ready) (Lot 37).
Grenville Stud, home to the emerging stallion Stratosphere (Snitzel) and the seller of the 2023 sale’s three highest-priced lots, has a Frosted (Tapit) half-sister to Tasmania’s ironhorse Turk Warrior (Outreach) (Lot 29), a Doubtland (Not A Single Doubt) half-sister to the Group 2-placed Mahamedeis (Magnus) (Lot 32) as well as a All Too Hard (Casino Prince) first foal out of I Spy (Zoustar), an unraced half-sister to stakes winners Albumin (Foxwedge) and Holy Empire (Holy Roman Emperor) (Lot 55).
Alva Stud’s draft includes an Earthlight (Shamardal) half-brother to Group 2-winning mare Still A Star (Toronado) (Lot 68) and the promising three-year-old D’Oro Star (Bolt d’Oro), a winner of his first start at Devonport in September, as well as a Ghaiyyath (Dubawi) half-brother to stakes winners Toorak Affair (Toorak Toff) and Hela (Night Of Thunder) (Lot 112).
Cameron Thompson’s Brookview Thoroughbreds draft features a Flying Artie (Artie Schiller) half-brother to the multiple stakes-placed Shinhonka (Capitalist) (Lot 122) and a Castelvecchio (Dundeel) filly out of the stakes-placed Wyuna (Tough Speed) (Lot 139).
Bowditch said: “Whether they’re looking to trade horses or whether they’re looking to put horses in their stable, it’s a sale for the value end of the market.
“It’s a quick, easy sale to attend and facilitate what they’re looking for.”
Click here to view the full catalogue.