Well-related Justify colt joins Waller fold
The powerful buying combination of Guy Mulcaster and Chris Waller were active over the two days of Book 1 trade at Karaka, combining to purchase ten yearlings for $3,715,000 and the most expensive of the cohort was a well-related Justify (Scat Daddy) colt who they bought for $950,000.
Bred by Coolmore, the colt boasts an elite international pedigree. He is out of the Zoffany (Dansili) mare Heart To Heart, a juvenile winner in Ireland and a half-sister to Camille Pissarro (Wootton Bassett), France’s champion two-year-old of 2024 who has since joined the Coolmore Stud stallion roster in Ireland.
Bred by Cn Farm, Heart To Heart is out of Entreat, a winning Pivotal mare, and alongside Camille Pissarro she is also a half-sister to Group 1-winning sprinter and stallion Golden Horde (Lethal Force), as well as stakes winners Exhort (Dutch Art) and Line Of Departure (Mehmas).
The Justify youngster is the second foal out of the mare, with her first, a colt by Frankel (Galileo), having sold to Busuttin Racing for $100,000 at the last year’s Inglis Easter Yearling Sale.
Bidding opened at $400,000 before accelerating rapidly in $50,000 increments, with Mulcaster, positioned in his customary spot, ultimately outlasting bloodstock agent Peter Twomey and the Waterhouse and Bott axis to land the prized colt.
“He’s a lovely colt, a real typical get up and run sort of Justify,” Mulcaster said. “The dam is a half to a current stallion who was a champion two-year-old in France. Fingers crossed, he can be another Learning To Fly or Storm Boy. We thought he was a beautiful horse and stretched a little bit, but we bought him for a lot of good clients, and fingers crossed, he turns out to be a good one for us.”
The colt will join the Chris Waller stable, with Mulcaster confident the Justify youngster profiles as a sharp, early type.
“Justify is an international sensation and it’s only a matter of time when we get another Storm Boy or something like that,” Mulcaster added. “He looked like the type to get up and run for us. He’s going to be trained by a great trainer, and we’re going to have a lovely group of owners.”
Landsdowne Park owners Dave Duley and Jude Latimer said they had long held high expectations for the colt, whose popularity was evident well before he entered the Karaka ring.
“We knew something was up when we started parading him at the farm,” Duley told ANZ News. “He was the most popular and that carried over to here where he has thrived. He never took a backward step.
“It was as if he owned the joint. He just handled everything like a professional and he is certainly among the best yearlings I have prepped and presented.
“His x-ray hits were huge and all the internationals were keen, on type, plus he has a stallion’s pedigree. In the ring we knew he was going to sell well.”