Gollan far from Dubious after striking for colt by Aquis sire

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Colt by Aquis Farm freshman tops Magic Millions March Yearling Sale at $170,000

Queensland’s premier trainer Tony Gollan has backed up his opinion of freshman sire Dubious (Not A Single Doubt) by taking home the highest-priced yearling sold at the 2023 QTIS auction yesterday.

Agent John Foote and Gollan – the Magic Millions March sale’s leading buyer – paid a sale-topping $170,000 for the colt offered by Waylon J Stud. Gollan likened the yearling to a $500,000 standout by Aquis Farm stallion Dubious, which was sold at the Gold Coast at the start of the sales season.

The son of Dubious, himself a tough, stakes-winning two-year-old who was trained by Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, was one of 14 six-figure lots sold at the sale reserved for Queensland-bred yearlings.

This year’s QTIS auction turned over $10 million, with 279 horses traded over the two days at an average of $36,053 and a median of $26,000.

“We thought he was the nicest colt here at the sale,” Gollan said. 

“He’s a really good type of horse with a lot of quality. He reminded John and myself of the good Dubious that sold so well here in January.

“He was a real standout in the sale on type – we didn’t know how much we’d have to pay to get him, but we’re glad we were able to secure him.” 

The Dubious yearling to which Gollan refers was sold by Noralla Stud for $500,000 to Aquis Farm’s Justin Fung and trainer Annabel Neasham at the Magic Millions sale nine weeks ago.

The March sale topper is an October 2-born colt and is the second foal out of the unraced Care To Elaborate (Rubick), herself a half-sister to juvenile winner and Silver Slipper Stakes (Gr 2, 1100m) runner-up Voilier (Beneteau).

Tony Fung Investments was believed to be the underbidder.

Waylon J Stud’s Brian Smith has been a supporter of Dubious since the ATC Breeders’ Plate (Gr 3, 1000m) and BRC Champagne Classic (Gr 2, 1200m) winner retired to stud in 2020 and he was delighted that the colt will be trained in Brisbane.

“She (Elaborate) is a fairly young mare – she’s only had one foal – so going to Tony Gollan is a bonus,” Smith told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.

“A lot of the Dubious’ aren’t overly big and as a foal he probably wasn’t overly big, but he was always a nice, strong, correct colt and March was better for him than January and he came together at the right time.

“I looked at quite a few of the Dubious’ in this sale and I thought he was, in my eyes, the best of them anyway.”

Waylon J Stud sold nine of the ten yearlings it consigned for a total of $305,000.

“I think it was a bit tough in the middle to lower end. We had some quite nice horses who probably in other years might have made $20,000 to $30,000 and they were making $10,000 to $15,000.

“The top end was probably strong enough if you had the horses that they wanted.”

Gollan signed for 11 yearlings across the two days, eight of them with his long-time agent Foote, two in conjunction with Australian Bloodstock and another with Dream Thoroughbreds.

Agents Paul Moroney and Catheryne Bruggeman were also active, purchasing seven yearlings for Toowoomba trainers Tony and Maddy Sears and two with Rockhampton-based Clinton Taylor.

The couple also purchased two more yearlings at the Gold Coast this week.

 

Morgan finds Love again with March sale filly 

Ontrack Thoroughbreds’ Grant Morgan is hoping lightning can strike twice after buying a filly by Love Conquers All (Mossman) on the second day of the QTIS sale.

Trainer David Vandyke and Morgan outlaid $140,000 to buy the Lucas Bloodstock-consigned filly, whose brother Defence Missile is a stakes placegetter who has won five races and $421,000 for trainer Les Ross. Their dam Zekeza (Civic Hope) has also produced the juvenile-winning, stakes-placed sprinter Grey Defence (Instinction).

“She looks very similar in type to Savanna Amour and the mare’s done a good job producing two very good horses including a full relation,” Morgan told ANZ Bloodstock News. 

“David Vandyke and I both thought she was the best filly here on the ground and we arrived at that opinion independent of each other, so we joined forces to buy the filly for a group of clients.

“We went a little bit above what we thought she was going to make, but you’ve got to pay that sort of money for these very nice QTIS fillies because they’re racing for enormous money here on a Saturday.”

Morgan bought and raced Love Conquers All’s Group 2 winner Savanna Amour, who was later purchased by Coolmore’s Tom Magnier for $1.25 million from the 2021 Inglis Chairman’s Sale in foal to Fastnet Rock (Danehill). The resulting colt is being offered by Coolmore at the upcoming Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.

The Gold Coast has been hot and extremely humid over the past week, conditions that impacted the horses, but the Morgan said his and Vandyke’s purchase handled them with aplomb.

“She hasn’t missed a beat at this sale and it’s been a very challenging sale for horses. It’s been some of the most oppressive, humid conditions I’ve seen on the Gold Coast in my 20 years here, so she has coped with it very well,” Morgan said.

“During inspections there were a lot out on their feet, so there’s probably going to be a lot of tired horses coming out of this sale, but that filly in particular, she never missed a beat the whole time, which is a good argument to say that she’s got a good constitution.”

Morgan also purchased two Dubious colts on day one, the first for $31,000 in conjunction with trainer Annabel Neasham and another for $77,000 on his own.

“There are some very nice horses here, but as usual you’ve got to do your work and go through them,” the syndicator said. 

“You’ve got to have a bit of an open mind on sire and pedigree and work more on type, but I think we were able to get together a nice short list and there’s certainly some nice horses to compete on. 

“The market looks like it’s come off a fraction, so it’s a nice market to be buying in.”

Veteran trainer Bevan Laming also bought a colt by Better Than Ready (More Than Ready) from the draft of Tipuana Farms for $130,000 earlier on day two, while a filly by Spirit Of Boom (Sequalo) sold for $120,000 to Eagle Farm trainer Chris Anderson, agent Steve Morley and connections, in the second session.

A Written By (Written Tycoon) colt fetched $120,000 yesterday, while two colts by Spirit Of Boom made $140,000 and $130,000 respectively during the opening session.

Lyndhurst Stud Farm was just the leading vendor by aggregate, selling 32 yearlings for  $1,461,500, while Eureka Stud sold 30 lots for $1,445,000. Lucas Bloodstock topped the vendor by average table (three or more lots sold), selling ten horses at an average of $68,600.

Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch admitted the sale was at times difficult for vendors, but he was pleased with the way it picked up into the second session.

“The sale in general today started a bit slowly in the morning, but once we got into it, it was buoyant and the good horses sold particularly well today,” Bowditch said. 

“The horses (deemed to be) well above sale average were highly sought after and, as the day went on, the clearance rate increased (to 80 per cent) and the average held up from Monday, if not increased, so all in all it was a good day’s trade.

“Overall, we’re very happy with the two-day sale.”