Standout fillies to hold court at Magic Millions weanling sale
Daughters of boom sires with big pedigrees set to shine on the Gold Coast as buyers and vendors gather for National series
Headline fillies could hold their own at the top end of the market at this week’s Magic Millions National Weanling Sale, which gets underway at 10am tomorrow on the Gold Coast.
Colts are often seen as the most sought after commodities at foal sales due to their broad appeal upon the likely return to a yearling auction the following year, but such is the lure of the numerous well bred fillies by prominent sires on offer, this year’s sale could see a buck to that trend.
Some vendors with quality select sale fillies have chosen to chance their arm in the Gold Coast marketplace during a period of immense demand for bloodstock and it could pay off handsomely as pinhookers, owners, trainers and breeders enjoy the added option of being able to take a long-term view with their prospective purchases.
Newhaven Park has five among the 188 fillies catalogued across the 423-lot two-day sale including the half-sister to this season’s Golden Rose Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) winner In The Congo (Snitzel) from the second crop of Arrowfield Stud stallion The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice).
Catalogued as Lot 107, the impressive The Autumn Sun filly is the fourth foal out of three-time Grade 1-winning South African mare Via Africa (Var), a champion sprinter in 2013-14, who will appeal to buyers of many persuasions, in part due to the deeds of her three-year-old half-brother, a colt who is likely to join the Newgate Farm stallion roster in 2023.
Newhaven Park’s John Kelly said the standout filly was one of four weanlings being offered on behalf of clients who had chosen to sell their foals now rather than wait until the yearling sales next year.
“The first foal (Pleasant Endeavour) has won a couple of races in Hong Kong and the next one is In The Congo, so she’s got a magnificent pedigree and she’s a special looking filly,” said Kelly, who arrived on the Gold Coast yesterday afternoon.
“She’s a bit unique, you don’t get many weanlings offered like her. I don’t think I’d be selling her if I owned her, she’s a beautiful filly and from what I’ve heard, she’s been very well admired.
“I would think she’ll be purchased by an end user, but we may be wrong. She would be as good a weanling we’d have at Newhaven Park, so to get the opportunity to buy her as a weanling is something a little bit different.”
Kelly will also offer a Capitalist (Written Tycoon) daughter of the unraced Enuff Effort (Reward For Effort), herself a half-sister to Group 2-winning stallion Rich Enuff (Written Tycoon), while a Segenhoe Stud-consigned Zoustar (Northern Meteor) half-sister to dual Group 2 winner Pure Elation (I Am Invincible), the sixth foal out of stakes winner Members Joy (Hussonet), is also tipped to be highly sought after by the end user market given her credentials and residual value.
A Pierro (Lonhro) filly, the half-sister to Group 2 winner Fiesta (I Am Invincible), sold for $400,000 nearly a fortnight ago at the Inglis Australian Weanling Sale to top the two-session auction while a $250,000 Deep Field (Northern Meteor) filly rounded out the top five lots in Sydney.
On the Gold Coast, Taghadoe Stud, on behalf of burgeoning Riverina breeder Doug Walker, will also offer a select sale quality filly by last season’s champion first season stallion Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) as Lot 322.
She is the third foal out of Walker’s mare Majestueux (Snitzel) whose yearling filly by Xtravagant (Pentire) Walker elected to retain after passing her in at the Inglis HTBA May Yearling Sale earlier this month.
“The Extreme Choice is obviously the pin-up girl of our draft,” Taghadoe Stud’s Peter Burke said yesterday.
“She possesses a two-year-old (physique). She’s well put together, she’s strong, good bone, good head and she has good, wide nostrils on her, so she just looks very precocious at this stage.
“She is a filly that you would be happy to pay a bit of money for and bring her back in six or seven months’ time to the Gold Coast. Her breeders’, Doug and Lucy Walker, we hope are going to be pretty happy with the outcome and we’re privileged to be selling her for them.”
Taghadoe Stud has a draft of seven weanlings on offer, including sons of Toronado (High Chaparral), Harry Angel (Dark Angel) and Yes Yes Yes (Rubick), and Burke hopes buyers will strongly consider the Scone farm’s horses.
“We don’t have any culls as we really wanted to bring a nice horse here that we believe will sell strongly enough, but we’re not going to be too greedy,” he said.
“We believe the Magic Millions sale is a good place to turn them over. If you have the right stock to bring to a weanling sale, you can do well and it makes it a lot easier next year for everybody not having to prep as many yearlings.”
For almost two decades, Rothwell Park’s Scott Irwin has been selling his foal crop as weanlings and he is again doing so on the Gold Coast this year, a draft which includes first crop fillies by sires Yes Yes Yes, Castelvecchio (Dundeel) and Cosmic Force (Deep Field).
The Cosmic Force filly, the fifth foal out of five-time winner Misshiraz (Secret Savings), Irwin says has a tremendous temperament, a trait he believes the Newgate Farm stallion is quickly becoming known for.
“She is an absolute queen. She is unbelievable from every angle that you look at her. She is a lovely coloured horse, strong but she is still athletic. You couldn’t wish for a better foal, really, to represent the stallion,” Irwin said.
Of the Castelvecchio filly, the seventh foal out of the stakes-winning Queensland Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m)-placed Becerra (Al Maher), Irwin said: “She is in the typical mould of the mare. I haven’t seen too many Castelvecchios … but she has got a wonderful girth, a beautiful stride, a quality head and she’s all there.”
The Rothwell draft is “going to represent some form of value” with Irwin predicting his horses to be well bought at around the average of the sale.
“Selling all our stock as weanlings was a business plan we adopted some 17 years ago and we’ve had great success with it,” he said.
“A lot of people have prospered from what they’ve bought from us both on the racetrack and in the sale ring.”
Fillies to watch
Lot 43 Divine Prophet-She Goes Pop (Ekraar) Grandview
Lot 107 The Autumn Sun-Via Africa (Var) Newhaven Park
Lot 158 Castelvecchio-Becerra (Al Maher) Rothwell Park
Lot 224 Capitalist-Enuff Effort (Reward For Effort) Newhaven Park
Lot 322 Extreme Choice-Majestueux (Snitzel) Taghadoe Stud
Lot 333 Zoustar-Members Joy (Hussonet) Segenhoe Stud
Lot 344 Cosmic Force-Misshiraz (Secret Savings) Rothwell Park