Bumper Magic Millions catalogue set to be revealed
Strong representation from the big guns and boom first season sires as preparation under way for season-opening Gold Coast sale
Magic Millions will this morning officially release the catalogue for the 2022 Gold Coast Yearling Sale in what the company promises will be another incomparable line-up of horses capable of delivering on the big stage.
The seven-session sale, which will run from Tuesday, January 11, through to Monday, January 17, has a Book 1 offering of 933 lots, 30 fewer than in 2021, and another 297 yearlings catalogued in Book 2.
The lucrative Magic Millions race day, highlighted by the $2 million 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) and 3YO Guineas (RL, 1400m), will again be held at the adjacent Gold Coast racecourse on January 15, which precedes the final Book 1 session starting at 6pm.
Barry Bowditch, the Magic Millions managing director, said the success of the sale’s graduates such as Stay Inside (Extreme Choice), Profondo (Deep Impact) and Hitotsu (Maurice) over the past year indicated that the January auction was in a league of its own.
“What our catalogue continues to give buyers is a huge cross-section of horses. There is no one sale that competes with this sale,” Bowditch told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“It is the only sale where you can get a Slipper-winning colt (Stay Inside), it throws you a Spring Champion winner (Profondo) and a Derby winner (Hitotsu).
“If you go and reflect on the 2020 catalogue, I think we’ve had six Group 1-winning colts out of it and a huge number of stakes winners as well.
“No sale, if you’re looking for blue chip investment, can compete with it.”
Highlights of the catalogue include:
- A Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) half-sister to Group 1 winner Prompt Response (Beneteau), a three-quarter brother to Snitzerland (Snitzel) and a brother in blood to Menari (Snitzel).
- A three-quarter sister to Capitalist by Written Tycoon (Iglesia) from the Newgate Farm draft while Ashleigh Thoroughbreds will offer a Hellbent (I Am Invincible) half-brother to Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Captivant (Capitalist).
- A three-quarter brother by Deep Field (Northern Meteor) to Newgate’s Group 2-winning sire Cosmic Force as well as the first foal by the same sire out of Matthew Sandblom’s Group 1-winning mare I Am A Star (I Am Invincible).
- A Russian Revolution (Snitzel) half-sister to reigning Golden Slipper winner Stay Inside offered by Kingstar Farm.
- Ten of just 28 live foals by Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) will be offered at the Gold Coast in January.
- A sister to this season’s Group 2-winning three-year-old Swift Witness (Star Witness) from the Widden Stud draft.
- A brother to Group 2-winning filly Victoria Quay by Dundeel (High Chaparral) from the Three Bridges Thoroughbreds draft.
First southern hemisphere-bred Justifys on show from Lot 1
Coolmore will not have to wait long to test the market with the first southern hemisphere crop of yearlings by unbeaten US Triple Crown champion Justify (Scat Daddy) as Lot 1 is a colt out of Eckstein (I Am Invincible), the Group 3 winner who Tom Magnier and Colm Santry purchased in 2019 for $750,000 among a swag of high-class mares acquired to support the shuttle sire.
Coolmore will also offer a Justify colt out of high-priced mare purchase in dual Group 1 winner Global Glamour (Star Witness) and Kia Ora Stud has the fourth foal out of the Magnier co-owned Maastricht (Mastercraftsman), the dam of two-time Group 1-winning sprinter Loving Gaby (I Am Invincible).
“We have been looking forward to the 2022 Magic Millions for a long time now. It is the culmination of three years of hard work from everyone at Coolmore Australia and we look forward to presenting them to the market,” Magnier said yesterday.
“We have such great belief in this horse and the impact that he can have on the Australian industry, and it is well documented that we have supported him with the best mares all the way through.
“It is so exciting for us to offer his first crop yearlings at the sales next year and we have some outstanding individuals being prepared for the Gold Coast in January including progeny of the likes of Global Glamour, Savvy Coup, The Party Stand, Eckstein and Lake Geneva, as well as siblings to Pohutukawa and Lumosty.”
Other first season sires represented include Arrowfield Stud’s The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice), who has a three-quarter brother to Group 1-winning sprinter Sweet Idea (Snitzel) in the sale, and Widden’s Trapeze Artist (Snitzel) who will be represented by a strong draft including a half-brother to Quick Thinker (So You Think).
Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Written By (Written Tycoon) also has his first crop yearlings at next year’s sales with Newhaven Park offering a half-brother to dual Group 3 winner Jamaican Rain (Manhattan Rain) by the Widden-based stallion, while Darley’s first season sire Harry Angel (Dark Angel), Yulong’s Grunt (O’Reilly), Eureka Stud’s Encryption (Lonhro) and Aquis Farm’s Brave Smash (Tosen Phantom) and Lean Mean Machine (Zoustar) are also among the 20 freshman stallions with progeny catalogued.
Bowditch said: “Like any other year, the studs bring their very best (first crop yearlings) to this sale to expose them to the market and certainly we are excited by those horses that we saw at the weanling sales and through to (on-farm) inspections in the spring. We have a great feel for this crop of first season horses.”
Champion sires Snitzel (44) and Written Tycoon (37) are also strongly represented at the Gold Coast while among Zoustar’s (Northern Meteor) Magic Millions haul of 50 yearlings includes the Kitchwin Hills-consigned half-brother to Everest (1200m) winner and Coolmore sire Yes Yes Yes (Rubick).
Veteran champions Exceed And Excel (26) and Fastnet Rock (Danehill) (nine) are also represented.
It is unlikely the value of I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) fillies, who sold to $1.95 million in the 2021 sales, will be decreasing any time soon and Victoria-based Yulong has one almost all commercial breeders would be after, the half-sister to dual Group 1-winning sprinter Extreme Choice, heading north.
In total, I Am Invincible has 54 yearlings in the catalogue. Among his representation of colts are the half-brother to champion sprinter Santa Ana Lane (Lope De Vega), who is in the Vinery Stud draft, and the Baramul Stud-consigned son of Lipari (Redoute’s Choice), making him a half-brother to Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Levendi (Pierro).
Vinery Stud has a draft of 30 yearlings heading to the Gold Coast including a half-sister to Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Sofia Rosa (Makfi) by the Arrowfield Stud four-time champion sire Snitzel and a three-quarter sister to multiple Listed winner Outback Barbie by Spirit Of Boom (Sequalo).
The diversified Vinery draft also has yearlings by former resident shuttler More Than Ready (Southern Halo), the consistent All Too Hard (Casino Prince) and promising young sire Star Turn (Star Witness) and horses by Zoustar, The Autumn Sun, Dundeel, Russian Revolution and Vancouver (Medaglia D’Oro).
Vinery Stud bloodstock manager Adam White has already been taking bookings from people wishing to inspect yearlings on-farm, a practise seen as increasingly important by agents and trainers.
“Generally we would have anywhere from 60 to 100 people in total through the farm prior to going to Magic Millions and I’d like to think that’ll be the same again this year,” White said.
“We have some big groups coming through, so you cover a lot of people. I think people like to come to the Hunter and all around the country, really, to look at the yearlings at the farms before they go on to the sale.
“It helps with their workload before they get there and then they can concentrate on their shorter lists. I certainly enjoy it when people come to look at the yearlings here.
“It’s a little more relaxed environment and it’s good for the horses to parade prior to getting to the complex.
“Everyone will be looking forward to getting there … and I think the sales series should start off really well in January.”
The Magic Millions catalogue also features four yearlings bred to southern hemisphere time by Juddmonte’s Kingman (Invincible Spirit) and five by fellow European sire and former Patinack Farm shuttler Lope De Vega (Shamardal), while Rosemont Stud has the only yearling by Frankel (Galileo) in the sale. He is a three-quarter brother to The Metropolitan (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Mirage Dancer while Queensland vendor Alexia Fraser Bloodstock will offer the only yearling by Siyouni (Pivotal), a colt who is the first foal out of juvenile stakes-placed mare Vanilla Gold (No Nay Never).
“As I keep saying, the Gold Coast is about coming here and having a fantastic time,” Bowditch said.
“This will be the first real racing event with very few restrictions that Australians have been able to attend since the start of the pandemic.
“We’re looking forward to having all our events back up and running with full gusto and an outstanding line of yearlings and one of the largest race days that the country sees each year.”
Inspections in the lead-up to the sale will start on Wednesday, January 5.
Magic Millions sales schedule
Book 1
Tuesday, January 11 – Lots 1 to 180 – 12pm
Wednesday, January 12 – Lots 181 to 400 – 10am
Thursday, January 13 – Lots 401 to 620 – 10am
Friday, January 14 – Lots 621 to 840 – 10am
Saturday, January 15 – Lots 841 to 933 – 6pm
Book 2
Sunday, January 16 – Lots 934 to 1033 – 2pm
Monday, January 17 – Lots 1034 to 1230 – 10am
*Book 1 inspections from 8am Wednesday, January 5. Book 2 inspections from 8am Friday, January 14