Waller and Mulcaster make hay
Chris Waller and Guy Mulcaster topped the buyers’ chart with 14 new recruits costing a combined $8.685 million. The two priciest members of the group were picked up during day four, led by the session-topping Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) colt who fetched $1.5m late in the piece.
The Coolmore-consigned youngster is the first foal out of Vangelic, the second-highest earner sired by Vancouver (Medaglia D’Oro). The dam had plenty of talent on the track, winning the Golden Pendant (Gr 2, 1400m) and reaching the podium in the Surround Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) and Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m).
Vangelic joined the Coolmore broodmare band when purchased by Tom Magnier for $1.5m at the 2023 edition of the Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale.
“He looked really sharp and he did really well through the prep,” said Mulcaster. “He looks like an early runner and moves beautifully. I think what we paid for him is pretty well on the mark. It’s a helluva lot of money but that’s what they seem to cost. When you get good colts that return to stud then they look cheap, but if they don’t, well, whatever will be will be. He’s a beautiful horse though. The mare ran in a lot of good stakes races and acquitted herself very well.”
Earlier in the day the team bid $1.25m for a well-bred daughter of I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit), also from the Coolmore draft. The filly is out of Qafila, a daughter of Not A Single Doubt (Redoute’s Choice) who landed the South Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) during her time in training.
The dam was sold as part of Shadwell’s Australasian dispersal at Magic Millions in 2021, where Dean Hawthorne signed the $2m docket on behalf of Jonathan Munz of GSA Bloodstock.
“The thing that really got our attention was the fact mum was so versatile,” said Mulcaster. “She ran in the first two-year-old race of the season and ended up winning an Oaks, so we’ve got a few different paths we can take with her.
“We always thought this filly was just an athlete, she’s beautiful and comes off a great farm. We actually thought we were going to struggle to buy her but it’s ended up alright for us. I don’t think we’ll bustle her too much [once in training], we’ll just let her do the talking and see what transpires.”
The seven-figure filly was the team’s second notable signing during the opening stages of the session, having also paid $700,000 for the Anamoe (Street Boss) colt out of Listed scorer Pretty Fast (Not A Single Doubt) just a few lots earlier. “Two starts, two wins for the morning, it’s not too bad!” joked Mulcaster. “It’s a long day ahead though.”
Snitzel finished the sale as the leading sire by aggregate with 29 of his yearlings selling for a combined aggregate of $19.980m. The late Arrowfield stallion’s average (with three or more sold) of $688,966 was only bettered by Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt), whose eight yearlings sold for an average of $822,500.