Freedman extends his Extreme shopping spree
Michael Freedman continued his Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) spending spree on the final day of the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Yearling Sale when the trainer partnered with Darby Racing and Andrew Williams Bloodstock to purchase the Newgate sensation’s bay colt for $400,000.
Fresh from his Group 2 success with Berzelius over the weekend, Freedman was determined to add another speedy son of Extreme Choice to his stable and after a protracted battle in the auditorium for Lot 1077, the renowned horseman and his purchasing partners eventually got what they came for.
His $400,000 acquisition – which topped the sale on day two – took Freedman’s outlay on the progeny of Extreme Choice close to the $1 million mark, having joined forces with Williams to purchase one of his fillies for $580,000 in the opening session on the Gold Coast.
Like most trainers across the country, Freedman is a fully paid-up member of the Extreme Choice fan club and his confidence in the product would only have increased after scouring the colt’s pedigree page. His dam Coco As In Chanel (Awesome Again) was a stakes winner in her native America and she has since made a highly promising start to her stud career, with her three foals to race having all won – including the colt’s full-brother Pimlico who was a recent city winner for Tom Charlton.
Freedman’s confidence in the colt’s capabilities is readily shared by Darby Racing’s sales manager & bloodstock consultant Mark Holland, who believes that one of Australia’s leading syndicators may just have unearthed a “unicorn”.
Indeed, in a revealing admission Holland indicated that the team at Darby Racing – whose Royal Ascot contender Overpass (Vancouver) will leave for Royal Ascot on Wednesday evening – were willing and able to go a fair bit higher than $400,000 to secure the only Extreme Choice colt on offer at Bundall.
“Like everyone else we absolutely love the Extreme Choices, the only problem is that we usually can’t get anywhere near them,” Holland told ANZ News.
“But I think we’ve found a unicorn here. This year we decided to team up with some of our best trainers to try to buy Extreme Choice yearlings, because there’s no way we could afford them ourselves. So we’ve been drawing up a shortlist and then approaching the trainer we think might be most interested in teaming up with us.
“The stallion is a freak, Michael Freedman is a freak of a trainer, [bloodstock agent] Andy Williams is one of the best in the business, Newgate is one of the most respected farms in the country and the dam is a stakes winner, so we’ve basically ticked every box. To be honest we would have gone further with the bidding if we’d needed to, you can’t usually get Extreme Choice colts for $400,000 so we couldn’t be more excited.
“He’s a December foal so maybe that has put some people off, but you wouldn’t know it looking at him. When he came into the ring the auctioneer reminded everyone that Lonhro was also a December foal, so that’s good enough for me. This colt covers the ground so well, he’s got a bit of swagger about him and he’s got a brilliant attitude on him. All in all he’s just an outstanding physical specimen, so we were absolutely delighted to buy him – especially at that price.”
Earlier in the day, bloodstock agent Kevin Walls swooped on another classy colt from the Glenbeigh Farm draft when he went to $275,000 for Lot 1063.
As with the opening day’s sale-topping colt by Lope De Vega (Shamardal), the son of Zoustar (Northern Meteor) will race in Ron and Judi Wanless’ distinctive navy tartan silks after their trusted bloodstock agent saw off his ringside rivals.
“We thought this colt was great value for money,” said Walls, the KPW Bloodstock principal.
“We paid less for him than Zoustar’s service fee, so you can’t really complain. We missed out on a few yearlings at previous sales that we probably should have bought, so we really targeted the well-bred horses here this week and hopefully it pays off for us.”
As the sale came to a close with a quieter day of trading, the only other yearlings to fetch at least $200,000 were Lots 1040 and 1150, both fillies sired by – you’ve guessed it – Extreme Choice.
Linsheng Zhang placed a successful bid of $200,000 online from China to secure Lot 1040, a bay filly out of Artemis Rose (Lonhro) whose half-sister Regrowth (Unbridled’s Song) won a pair of Listed contests during her juvenile campaign for Tony McEvoy.
And Lot 1150, the fourth living foal produced by stakes-winning American mare Iron Mizz (Mizzen Mast), was picked up for $250,000 by the intriguingly named Own A Hair syndicate.
“Barry [Bowditch] and all the team at Magic Millions have done a fantastic job to bring a strong buying bench to this sale,” said Newgate Stud farm manager, Jim Carey.
“We bought some lovely Extreme Choice yearlings up here, and have been well rewarded with some very good results. All the horses we’ve sold have gone to really good homes, so I’m sure they’ll get every chance to prove themselves on the racetrack.
“Statisically the Extreme Choice yearlings will have a better chance of making it than any others, so we wish our buyers the very best of luck with them.”
The two-day National Yearling Sale (Book 1) grossed over $11.9 million for 212 lots sold at an average price of $56,231. The clearance rate sat at 75 per cent as of Tuesday evening.
“The results show that when you target this sale specifically with the right sort of horse you will be well paid and well supported,” Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch said.
“There was plenty of the right people here to buy these horses and when they vetted out well were highly competitive in the sale ring.
“We sold 35 horses for above $100,000 which was a strong increase on last year. I think 90 horses went to overseas parties – and that’s big numbers.
“I think this sale has a real future. It’s a genuine alternative for horses that need time or they’re late foals.
“To have a clearance rate over 75 per cent, a gross up over $1.6 million on last year and an average of $56,000, which is up over $10,000 on last year – these are strong numbers and it’s a pleasing result for our vendors who have worked really hard to get these horses ready for the sale.
“The results over the past couple of days has really seen the whole National Sale, through weanlings, racefillies, broodmares and yearlings, end on a positive note.
“To gross some $97 million across the three sales is a big number. It was a good, strong and competitive market right from the start to finish – everyone got involved.”