Balius Farm prepare for first ever Magic Millions draft
There’s a new face on the block at Magic Millions Gold Coast this year, with Victorian boutique stud Balius Farm stepping up to present their own draft at the sale for the first time.
Founded in 2014 by Tam Dieu and his wife Jacqui Sushames, Balius has been a familiar name for several years at a yearling auction closer to home in Inglis Premier.
But while the west Gippsland operation has also previously sold horses at the Gold Coast through the drafts of their good friends at another boutique farm, the Hunter Valley’s Meredith Park, this year they’ve bitten the bullet to present a draft under their own steam.
“We’re a small, boutique place. We initially bred to race but in the last five or so years we thought we’d take it more seriously, try to be more commercial, and hopefully it can pay its own way,” Dieu told ANZ News.
“We’ve got about 20 mares, and we’re slowly upgrading or reducing numbers – because they eat too much. But whenever we can afford it, we’ll pick up a good broodmare and try to send it to a good stallion, and that’s the recipe for longevity.
“This year, we thought we’d try to get our brand out there a bit more, and get a bit more recognised and more exposed, so we’d have our own draft at Magics.
“Jacqui thought she’d been doing it long enough to do a yearling prep herself and be a bit more hands on. It’s harder work having your own draft, but also, as a smaller farm, we don’t have the logistics to do a big yearling prep at the one time.
“We’ve got a draft going to the Premier sale in March, so we thought we’d prep a few to take the Gold Coast now. Our Gold Coast yearlings are the most precocious ones we have, so they go to the earlier sale.
“It’s a big logistics challenge. We need staff at the sale and some staff to stay at the farm and run things, but I think it’s worth doing. We get to look after our own horses – though I should say Meredith Park always did a fantastic job for us – but also it was just a case of us growing up as a farm and having enough horses to make our own draft.”
Balius – named with fitting aspiration after one of the two immortal horses of Greek mythology hero Achilles – will offer three fillies bred by the farm. They were driven from the stud, near Pakenham, by Sushames, in the couple’s six-horse float, with an overnight stopover at Meredith Park.
While their filly by Farnan (Not A Single Doubt) had to be redirected to Melbourne Premier’s supplementary list after striking herself while running, Dieu and Sushames are effusive about the remaining trio who, evenly spaced in the catalogue, will go on offer on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
The first, Lot 363, is from the second crop of Coolmore sire Acrobat (Fastnet Rock), who’s had a winner among his first six runners in Acrodance, a filly who scored on debut at the Sunshine Coast in November as a $1.55 favourite.
Lot 363 is out of I Am Gypsy (I Am Invincible), a city winner of six races up to 1050 metres, who Balius bought at the 2020 Inglis Chairman’s Sale for $130,000, and who’s had three winners from four runners.
Five months after her purchase, I Am Gypsy threw Andouillette (Russian Revolution), who won four of his first five starts for Balius under Anthony and Sam Freedman, including at Moonee Valley. He then went, as Candlelight Dinner, to Hong Kong, where he’s won twice more so far.
“She’s good-sized, athletic and correct,” Dieu said of the filly, who has Stravinsky (Nureyev) doubled as the damsire of her father and mother.
“The mare has done a good job. She was a fast and precocious mare when she was racing, mostly in city class.
“The cross is Fastnet Rock over I Am Invincible and Stravinsky, which should work really well, and we think Acrobat will make a good stallion.”
Lot 646 is the product of some concerted investment, a filly by Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) out of two-time winner Our Fraulein (Snitzel). She’s a daughter of dual stakes victor Miss Stellabelle (Dehere), who in turn is a three-quarter sister to six-time stakes-winning sprinter Here De Angels (Dehere).
Balius bought the mare, in-foal to Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon), through bloodstock agent Sheamus Mills from the Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale for $210,000, with the resultant Ole Kirk filly fetching $150,000 at Premier last year. They sent Our Fraulein to Coolmore’s much vaunted – and now deceased – shuttler Wootton Bassett, then standing his third Australian season at $93,500 (inc GST).
“She’s very well bred,” Dieu said of Lot 646. “Miss Stellabelle was a very good mare, and Our Fraulein was a young, gorgeous Snitzel mare picked out for us by Sheamus Mills, who’s a very good judge.
“Everyone knows Wootton Bassett as a well-proven sire, and I think the cross with Snitzel should work well. The filly should be a fast, early goer.
“She’s nice, compact and correct. She’s not as big as the other two in our draft, but she’s a good mover, with a big long stride on her.
“She’ll certainly be precocious. We like her. We’d certainly like to race her but we can’t race them all.”
Lot 768 taps into the valuable blood of Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) without the rarified service fee, being from the second crop of one of his few sons at stud in Extreme Warrior.
Rosemont Stud’s imposing-looking $13,200 (inc GST) stallion, a winner at Group 3 and Listed level, has made a promising start with his first progeny hitting the track, with two winners from six runners. One is a stakes victor in Eternal Warrior, winner of the MRC Merson Cooper Stakes (Listed, 1000m) at his only start to date, the other an Adelaide city winner in Blandford Baron.
Furthermore, this filly’s female family brings in one of Extreme Choice’s finest in the similarly bred Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) hero Knight’s Choice. He’s out of a granddaughter of this filly’s third dam.
There’s also class from the filly’s New Zealand mother Sardaaj (Iffraaj), a dual winner boasting an elite-level second in the Levin Classic (Gr 1, 1600m), and in a Group 2.
“Sardaaj was a good racetrack performer, and Iffraaj is an exceptional broodmare sire,” Dieu said.
“Extreme Warrior is going great. He’ll hopefully end up like Extreme Choice. He’s got a stakes winner and a city winner, so they’re precocious and fast.
“Hopefully this filly will be the same. She’s a very good size for an Extreme Choice line horse, and moves well for a big horse. She’s got all the attributes to sell well – a hot stallion, a good page, and she’s even got Knight’s Choice on her page, who’s similarly bred.
“Plus there’s the rarity factor. There’s only a few Extreme Warriors for sale, and only two at the Magics.”
Sushames reports early interest has been encouraging for Balius Farm’s first Magic Millions draft in their own name.
“Things are going well,” she said. “It was a long trip, but the horses travelled really well. And we’ve had a good amount of interest in our three, so we’re looking forward to it.”
“We’re quietly confident,” said Dieu, who’ll join his wife on the Gold Coast on Monday. “Our three fillies are healthy and well prepared, they’re looking good, so hopefully they’ll sell well.”