Mulcaster raises stakes for Japanese Emperor’s sister
Guy Mulcaster might have missed out of the session-topping filly, but he was still active on day one, buying four horses inside the two hours of day one, before putting his disappointment aside to purchase the sister to Group 1-placed Japanese Emperor (Satono Aladdin) for $900,000.
The Kiwi agent’s tally in partnership with premier Sydney trainer Chris Waller totalled $2.765 million at the end of the opening session, including a Justify (Scat Daddy) sister to Group 3 winner Star Of Justice for $550,000 and a $500,000 Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) filly, but it was the Rich Hill Stud-consigned filly who was the prized addition.
Prominent New Zealand owner Gary Harding was the underbidder, his attempted investment also creating a new record price for the yearling’s sire Satono Aladdin (Deep Impact) and Rich Hill for a Karaka-sold filly.
“We had a real good go at the sister to Prowess and making $1.6 million just stretched us too far, so we’re delighted to secure this filly,” Mulcaster said.
“Her full brother [Japanese Emperor] is obviously a decent horse, his run in the Guineas was good and this filly looks a very good type and we are happy to have got her.
“It was a solid sort of day today although we take it step by step as we are type buyers rather than pedigree as we just want to buy the best horses with Karaka being very good to us.”
Bred by Hayden Dillon and Trevor Luke, the latter, who raced trans-Tasman Group 1-winning sire Alamosa (O’Reilly), the filly is the fourth foal out of Inthespotlight (O’Reilly), an unraced sister to the dam of Newgate Farm’s Group 3-winning sire North Pacific (Brazen Beau) and a three-quarter sister to the dams of Group 1 winner Amarelinha (Savabeel) and Group 3 winner Missybeel (Savabeel).
Dillon quipped that the high-priced result was “not bad for a mare we became involved with for free”.
“My wife Leith and I joined Trevor Luke to go halves in Trevor’s mare Inthespotlight who was on our property,” Dillon said.
“She had an El Roca foal when we got involved and since then North Pacific improved the family, so did Amarelinha, and then we bred Japanese Emperor.”
Given the appeal and interest in the filly – she was inspected 144 times on the complex up until Sunday morning – Rich Hill Stud principal John Thompson, Dillon and Luke set a conservative reserve of $200,000.
She is from the return crop of the Japanese shuttler who missed the 2020 southern hemisphere breeding season due to the pandemic.
“She never turned a hair the whole time, people just loved her and kept coming back. They all say that [about the temperaments] of the Satono Aladdins. She has a beautiful conformation and looks like a racehorse,” Thompson said.
“It was a little bit tough when Satono didn’t come back and then the next year he was out of sight, out of mind, so this crop certainly isn’t his biggest but he’s got two really big crops coming through, having served 170 mares the past two seasons.
“His fee has gone up and it’ll probably continue to go up.”
Rich Hill Stud averaged $292,857 after day one and Thompson was pleased with the overall appetite from the buying bench yesterday.
“It’s a very good sale for the industry. People have met the market and our service fee structure over here is a little bit different. From our perspective, Proisir and Satono Aladdin were standing for $12,500 when these yearlings were conceived.
“You only have to look at Hallmark, who are shareholders in Proisir, that’s life-changing [money] and they’ve got the mare on the farm with a sister at foot and back in foal to Proisir.
“It’s the same with Inthespotlight, she has a Satono Aladdin colt and she is back in foal to him.”