Lead Story
Coolmore land $2 million Frankel colt as records broken during the Magic Millions opener
James Thomas
ANZ News
Good vibes ahead of the Gold Coast Yearling Sale translated into a lively opening session on Tuesday, with three seven-figure lots capping a decidedly solid and international Magic Millions market.
Auctioneer Grant Burns described Segenhoe Stud’s Segenhoe Stud’s son of Frankel (Galileo) as “a seven-figure colt all day long,” and that prediction proved spot on as the well-related youngster brought the hammer down at $2,000,000. Coolmore’s Tom Magnier delivered the winning bid with a determined nod of the head.
The colt was bred by John Camilleri’s Fairway Thoroughbreds, the brand also carried by wondermare Winx (Street Cry). Camilleri cut a remarkably relaxed figure during the seven-figure bidding showdown, even carrying his grandson Harry around the auditorium as the bid board ticked over in $100,000 increments.
“You’ve got to get your priorities right and my two-year-old grandson is more important than any horse sale!” he said a short while after.
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The colt is out of Antibes, a daughter of Lonhro (Octagonal) who has bred the Listed-placed Chateau Eze. The older sibling was foaled in Britain and is also by Frankel.
Although Antibes did not make the track herself, Camilleri said connections believed she possessed a level of ability that warranted sending her on the 20,000-mile round journey to Juddmonte’s Banstead Manor Stud in Newmarket.
“It’s an expensive exercise and it’s risky, but I send a lot of mares over,” he said. “You normally only get one or two shots at the world’s best stallion and I thought I’d roll the dice. That certainly pays the bills, without a doubt.”
He expanded on Antibes’ backstory, saying: “She had a great pedigree and was a beautiful type, she had a lot of ability but got an injury so we didn’t race her. Anthony Freedman, who’s a good judge, told me she could run and because she was impaired we just put her to stud.
“It’s an expensive exercise and it’s risky, but I send a lot of mares over
“Her first foal is stakes-placed, she ran second in the Jim Moloney at Flemington, so I think the mare is going to do it. She’s by Lonhro and ticks a lot of the boxes, so I thought she deserved a trip on a plane to Frankel.”
Asked about the principles underpinning his high-end international breeding program, Camilleri said: “I’m only interested in having a small broodmare band and breeding elite horses, I don’t want hundreds and thousands of animals. If I think there’s something available like a Frankel, and you’ve got the right mare for them, I simply don’t hesitate. Cost becomes secondary then.”
He added: “It appears to be getting tougher and tougher below [the top end]. It’s a bit like waterfront land, it’s always in demand and tends to stay up, it doesn’t go through the troughs. I only have a small broodmare band because there aren’t that many elite mares, but that’s where I want to play. Others have been very successful playing at different levels but it’s a matter of choice.”
Day 1 statistics
2026 |
2025 |
|
|---|---|---|
Catalogued |
210 |
240 |
Offered |
185 |
217 |
Sold |
145 (78%) |
162 (75%) |
Aggregate |
$41,285,000 (-8.5%) |
$45,125,000 |
Average |
$284,725 (2.2%) |
$278,550 |
Median |
$200,000 |
$200,000 |
Top Lot |
$2,000,000 |
$1,800,000 |
Sponsored by IRT
The colt became the most expensive Frankel yearling to change hands in the southern hemisphere.
Coolmore have enjoyed plenty of success with the stallion in the northern hemisphere, including with last year’s Classic-winning fillies Lake Victoria and Minnie Hauk.
“We’re very happy with the Frankels,” said Magnier. “Obviously we have a lot of them at home and we’ve got some down here. Fair play to Peter O’Brien and John Camilleri, they breed good horses and we’re just delighted to be a part of it. We’ve got a great syndicate and we’ve had a bit of luck before with Home Affairs, Switzerland, Shinzo and Private Life. There’s some lovely horses this week and we’re just hoping we can bring some nice ones home.”
The huddle around Magnier during the bidding included the colt’s new trainer, Chris Waller. Magnier added: “Chris liked the horse all week, all the team did. There’s always a couple of horses you don’t agree on but when everybody agrees it gives you the confidence to go that little bit further.”
The top lot helped Segenhoe’s nine sold yearlings bring a combined $5.54 million and an average price of $615,555. The Coolmore team were also busy on the selling front, with day one’s draft yielding an aggregate of $2.835m and an average price of $354,375.
The top lot helped Segenhoe’s nine sold yearlings bring a combined $5.54 million and an average price of $615,555. The Coolmore team were also busy on the selling front, with day one’s draft yielding an aggregate of $2.835m and an average price of $354,375.
“We’re very happy,” said Magnier. “We’ve got a nice bunch of horses here this week, probably the nicest bunch of horses we’ve brought to the Gold Coast. They’ve been busy and the right judges are on them, so it’s up to Barry Bowditch now if we don’t have a good sale! It’s started very well so we’re happy.”
The session finished with a clearance rate of 78 per cent as 145 yearlings found a new home. In turn, the aggregate reached $41.285m (down 8.5 per cent year-on-year), the average price closed at $284,725 (up 2.2 per cent) while the median was identical to the corresponding session 12 months ago at $200,000.
“It’s been a really pleasing day for Magic Millions,” said the company’s managing director Barry Bowditch. “I thought the vibe, when I got back from the barrier draw this morning, when you walked in the stand was almost full and there was a really good feel about it. I thought the sale got off to a really, really solid start.
“It’s a genuine market, the vendors that are motivated to meet the market are getting their horses sold. I was talking to the auctioneers throughout the day and they were commenting on the amount of horses that reached reserve and then were going on making reserve plus plus. That’s always a great sign that there’s genuine competition out there.”
Momentum behind Mulcaster
No buyer had a stronger second half of the day than the Guy Mulcaster-Chris Waller axis, and they ended the session by snaring a well-bred son of Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) from The Chase at $1.2m.
The colt is the third foal out of Dame Giselle, a four-time Group 2 winner and Group 1 place-getter by I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit). In turn, the dam is out of the similarly Group 2-winning and Group 1-placed Ballet Society (Stravinsky).
This means the dam is a half-sister to The Fairy's Kiss (Elusive Quality), who has in turn bred Ulanova (Santos), who was promoted to first in the Group 1 Sistema Stakes.
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“We were pretty happy with that colt, he looks sharp and comes from a beautiful family,” said Mulcaster. “We looked at him two days ago with Chris and he said ‘They all run out of that family’, so that was good enough for me. I thought we’d be hard enough to beat and we didn’t let on too much about what we were up to, so we probably got him at the right odds. He looks like a beautiful horse so let’s hope he’s back here next year.”
On the subject of Newgate Farm’s subfertile sire sensation Extreme Choice, Mulcaster said: “He doesn’t get many in foal and the less there are, the harder they are to buy. We’re pretty happy to have got him and we’ve got one with one of the best pedigrees, so fingers crossed.”
He added with a wry smile: “We started off really slow but we’ve sort of got the hang of it in the last hour and a half and we’ve got three days to go, so it should be good!”
Mulcaster and Waller signed for five lots that cost a combined $2.47m, while a daughter of Waller’s former stable star Home Affairs (I Am Invincible) was purchased with the Champagne Fillies at $200,000.
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Glentree take Avantage
The second seven-figure lot arrived a short while after the session-topper when Glentree Thoroughbreds and Badgers Bloodstock combined at $1.05m to secure the Coolmore-consigned I Am Invincible filly out of New Zealand champion Avantage (Fastnet Rock).
The nine-time Group 1 winner Avantage joined the Coolmore broodmare band when purchased through New Zealand Bloodstock’s Gavelhouse Plus at NZ$4.1m in 2021.
This filly is the Fastnet Rock (Danehill) mare’s third consecutive seven-figure Magic Millions yearling after John Stewart’s Resolute Bloodstock gave $1.6m for her first I Am Invincible filly 12 months ago, while David Ellis went to $2.1m for the Wootton Bassett filly Avantaggia, winner of a Te Aroha maiden, in 2024.
Those results mean Avantage has now generated $4.75m in Gold Coast Yearling Sale receipts.
“We’re here to buy fillies with residual value, and she’s got as good a residual value as any filly in the whole catalogue,” said Badgers Bloodstock’s Tom Pritchard-Gordon. “She topped the charts on all our pedigree stats. The cross works phenomenally well, there’s something like six stakes performers out of 11 fillies on that cross.
“I’ve seen both sisters, they made $2.1m and $1.6m, and, for me, she was nicer than both of them. Time will tell, but she’s a lovely type. She’s as low-risk a seven-figure investment as you can get!”
The agent added: “She’ll be owned by Glentree Thoroughbreds, who have Lumbini in the Magic Millions 2YO Classic on Saturday; she’s the only horse we bought down here last year. Unfortunately she’s drawn a bad gate. We’ve had bad luck there but hopefully we’ve got good luck here.”
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Maher and Redvers on a roll
David Redvers and the Ciaron Maher team combined on five colts for a cumulative investment of $2.9m.
The most expensive recruit was the $950,000 son of I Am Invincible and Alassio (Foxwedge) from Silverdale Farm. The winning bid consigned Newgate Farm managing director Henry Field to the role of underbidder.
The colt is the second living foal out of the mare. The daughter of Foxwedge (Fastnet Rock) was trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, with the highlight of her racing career coming with victory in the 2019 running of the Guy Walter Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m).
“I love the fact that he was totally unflappable out there in the parade ring, so he seems to have a very good mind
“He’s a horse that Sheikh Fahad particularly liked, and we all loved him as well,” said Redvers, sitting amongst a crew that included Maher and his head of bloodstock Will Bourne, Hannah Wall and Mick Murphy.
“We all know about the stallion and the mare’s a Group 2 winner, so he fits what we’re looking for. We have another very nice I Am Invincible with Ciaron at the moment called Invicto. As it’s nice and early in the sale I thought he was probably a bit of value compared to what the same horse tends to make halfway through day two.
“He’s incredibly athletic and has a huge amount of presence. I love the fact that he was totally unflappable out there in the parade ring, so he seems to have a very good mind. For me, his action and the athletic build of the horse made him a real standout. They make fools of us all but there were some very talented underbidders, so let’s hope we weren’t all wrong.”
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While Sheikh Fahad has scaled back his involvement in Britain, Redvers said the Qatar Racing chairman remains as enthusiastic as ever about his Australian interests.
“He loves it down here,” he said. “He’s been here for nearly a month and he loves the racing out here. He’s had a lot of success with Ciaron and Chris [Waller], and we’ve had a lot of fun recently with the Roaring Lions we bred and sold shares in down here. We have some nice horses to look forward to with Ciaron that are two and three.”
Asked whether he felt the top of the Australian market continued to represent fair value, Redvers said: “It really does, particularly when you consider that a larger percentage of the top horses come to auction here than happens in Europe and America.
“The Aussie dollar is weak, comparatively speaking, and we’re very lucky that we have a phenomenal stallion down here in Zoustar who helps fund it all. It’s great to be here.”
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Fortune favours PR Thoroughbreds
Another colts partnership to land a headline lot was Mark Player and Rob Roulston’s PR Thoroughbreds, with the pair going to $875,000 for the son of I Am Invincible and the Listed-winning Lonhro mare Calaverite.
The Emirates Park-consigned youngster is a sibling to four winners, most notably Group 1 Caulfield Guineas hero Golden Mile (Astern).
“He’s just a beautiful colt,” said Player. “Rob Roulston and myself had independently assessed all the colts in the sale and we both rated him our number one pick, which doesn’t really happen very often. He’s just a magnificent individual. He’ll go into our colts partnership, which is onto its sixth batch now.
“As people in the auditorium will know, there was a bid after the hammer so we were probably very lucky to get him because we were at our limit
“He’s a horse we wanted to have so we stretched beyond our limits. As people in the auditorium will know, there was a bid after the hammer so we were probably very lucky to get him because we were at our limit. We were lucky to have it fall our way. There were good judges on him, which you always love to see when you look around to see who's against you.”
Training plans are still to be decided, with Player saying: “We’ll get together with our partners and have lunch and work out where they want these horses to go. We use Group 1-winning trainers from both Sydney and Melbourne and try to match up where the horse can be best placed.”
The partnership have already unearthed the likes of Grand Larceny (Zoustar), Run Harry Run (Written Tycoon) and Yorkshire (Snitzel), significant talents who have just fallen short of a berth at stud. Player added: “We haven’t had the home run we want yet but hopefully this is the horse.”
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Harron and Fung play the Blame game
James Harron and Tony Fung took home a four-strong haul, with the quartet of colts bringing receipts worth $1.975m. The most expensive member of the bunch was the Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) colt out of the stakes-placed Complicit (Blame) presented by Segenhoe Stud who they secured for $825,000.
“Obviously he’s a beautiful colt, Snitzel needs no introduction and he’s out of a Blame mare,” said Harron. “He’s running at nearly ten per cent stakes winners as a broodmare sire, which is huge. He’s one of the leading broodmare sires in the whole world.
“He’s bred on the same cross as Switzerland, but he’s just a lovely colt in his own right. He showed a great attitude and he’s off one of the greatest nurseries in the country. They’ve gone to a lot of effort to produce this horse and we’re excited to see what he can do on the track.”
On the price tag, Harron added: “You’ve got to be expecting to pay that sort of money for a horse of that class and quality from such a good farm. I think that was a fair price. It’s been a good day.”
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Another Justify for Waterhouse and Bott
Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott have already enjoyed notable success with the offspring of Coolmore’s sire on fire Justify (Scat Daddy), and the pair can look forward to another after they combined with Kestrel Thoroughbreds at $750,000 for the filly out of Group 3 scorer Bella Rosa (Snitzel).
The six-figure youngster was presented by Silverdale Farm.
“For us, if you can get that square Justify with great gaskins, wide hocks and a big action, we just haven’t had one of those that hasn’t galloped,” said Kestrel Thoroughbreds’ Bruce Slade. “Physically she was one of those compact, square types, and she had an awesome power to weight ratio.
“She’s off a great farm too. It’s an unbelievable farm for getting talented horses, but also precocious horses; I thought she was one of those. I love the stallion and obviously the mare was proper too, a Group-winning, Melbourne Carnival-winning Snitzel mare, so that gave us a lot of confidence too.”
Field sees market depth
Newgate supremo Henry Field was among the active participants to remark on the strength of trade, saying: “I think the market has been very strong. There’s good depth at all levels and I don’t think it’ll slow down. There’s so many people here and a huge diverse buying bench. Fair play to Magic Millions for putting it all together.”
Along with China Horse Club and partners, Newgate invested $1.325m on two colts. The Too Darn Hot (Dubawi) colt out of Beloved, a Frankel half-sister to Japanese Group 1 winner Deep Brilliante (Deep Impact), fetched $725,000 when offered by Sledmere Stud, while a son of I Am Invincible out of the Listed-winning Smart Missile (Fastnet Rock) mare Ballistic Lover brought $600,000 when offered by The Chase.
Speaking after signing for the latter youngster, Field said: “We love that horse. He’s very sharp, is by Vinne and is out of a fast mare, so he’ll be an early precocious kind of horse. Really pleased to get him. He’s come off a good farm. He’s got speed written all over him.”
The Gold Coast Yearling Sale continues on Wednesday at 10am local time.
