Which of the ‘Big Three’ will stand tall in the market’s eyes at the Magic Millions sale?
High-profile freshman stallions Trapeze Artist, The Autumn Sun and Justify under the microscope
The fail-safe commercial mating plan for breeders is to turn to first season sires as, inevitably, the yearling market gravitates towards what’s new and the respective stallions’ racetrack deeds are still fresh in the memory of prospective owners.
In the breeding season of 2019, Australian breeders certainly were spoiled for choice, but the freshman sire roster still provided them with a conundrum as how to best maximise their returns given three high-profile stallions, who would be ranked as clearly number one in most other years, all went to stud in the same year and, as such, commanded service fees to match their impressive records.
Trapeze Artist, the son of a champion sire in Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) and a four-time Group 1 winner on the track, stood at Widden for $88,000 (all fees inc GST), while The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice), whose racecourse exploits saw him retired as a five-time Group 1 winner from just nine starts.
Arrowfield Stud was The Autumn Sun’s obvious home, being a son of the great breed-shaper in Redoute’s Choice, and John Messara ensured that was the case by fending off huge offers from rival farms to see him stand at the farm where he was born.
His service fee was $77,000 while Coolmore had purchased the unbeaten US Triple Crown winner Justify (Scat Daddy) for an almost unthinkable sum and they were doing everything they could to ensure he “makes it”. He also stood for $77,000, although his fee was kept private in his first year, mainly to avoid upsetting his northern hemisphere legion of breeders and fans who were captivated by the stunning colt.
Then the gap in first season service fees in that year fell dramatically to the likes of Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Written By (Written Tycoon) ($24,750), fellow Group 1-winning sprinter Brave Smash (Tosen Phantom) ($22,000), Darley shuttler Harry Angel (Dark Angel) ($16,500) and Showtime (Snitzel) ($11,000), among others.
This week’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale presents the first major opportunity for buyers to lay their eyes on a large cross-section of progeny by the freshman sires and, as expected, the opinions are diverse.
Justify received an unprecedented number of quality mares for an unproven stallion, with dual Group 1 winner Global Glamour (Star Witness) and fellow stakes winner Eckstein (I Am Invincible) represented with first crop yearlings by the son of Scat Daddy (Johannesburg).
Newly independent agent Michael Wallace, who enjoyed the remarkable ride courtesy of Justify during his eight-year stint at China Horse Club, is one man well-placed to judge the prospects of the Triple Crown winner’s southern hemisphere-bred yearlings.
“Having been involved with him in purchasing Justify (as a yearling), I am really interested to see them down here and comparing them to what I have seen (of them) in America,” Wallace told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“There’s a lovely line of horses, a lot of size, a lot of bone, a lot of strength. They’re very similar to himself. Even though he’s a very big horse, he was very fast and Bob (Baffert, trainer) always felt that we could have run him over six furlongs or even on the grass, if we wanted to. He was an extremely fast horse but he had that ability to carry it into a mile, ten furlongs with ease.”
Sheamus Mills is another agent with experience in both hemisphere yearling markets.
“I get over to the American sales a little bit and there’s some that look to be that more American style yearling, a bit of leg under them with plenty of stretch and scope and then there’s a few that have been mated to these Australian speed mares where the mare’s been a little bit more dominant.
“I think the best example of that is the Global Glamour (filly, Lot 78) who certainly looks (to be) an Australian type.”
Avesta Bloodstock’s Jimmy Unwala believes Justify can make his mark Down Under.
“I believe a lot of American stallions do (work in Australia) if you bring the right American stallion with a lot of speed in them,” Unwala said.
“Street Cry worked here, Medaglia D’Oro’s worked here and More Than Ready has worked here. You, of course, need the right support and I think the mare quality makes a big difference, so I can see that here (with Justify).”
Trapeze Artist’s owner-breeder Bert Vieira had so much belief in his star sprinter’s chances at stud that he rejected huge offers to sell the multiple Group 1 winner and instead struck a deal for the horse to stand at Widden in the Hunter Valley.
The $88,000 service fee did not turn breeders away, with Trapeze Artist covering 180 mares in his first year.
The consensus of opinion among agents canvassed by ANZ Bloodstock News is that Trapeze Artist’s stock may be inclined to mirror himself: be talented enough to be a good two-year-old but excel as three- and four-year-olds.
“Trapeze Artist was obviously a fantastic racehorse, he’s a very big strong horse himself, his yearlings are very big and very strong,” agent Jim Clarke said.
“He obviously raced well as a two-year-old, winning the Black Opal, and he improved as an older horse.
“I think they’ll be precocious, I think they’ll be forward, but they do have scope to keep on improving as they get older as well.”
Of the Trapeze Artists, Unwala said: “Again, I think they might be horses who will take slightly longer to come to hand, but one thing I’ve seen about the Trapeze Artists is that they have a lovely action on them and a lot of substance.
“The top three (Trapeze Artist, The Autumn Sun and Justify) I reckon might not be your typical Magic Millions nippy two-year-olds, but they have a lot of quality, good pedigrees behind them and a lot of class, so it’s (just) a matter of time.”
Agent Bill Mitchell, with his matter-of-fact demeanour, said: “I have seen plenty of nice Trapeze Artists, there’s a bit of speed there. I think they’re going to cost a bit, but there’s enough good looking ones around, that’s for sure.”
Messara is convinced that The Autumn Sun, who is out of Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) mare Azmiyna, herself a half-sister to European Group 1 winner and stallion Azamour (Night Shift), has the credentials to become an elite stallion and the agents are certainly not dismissing the suggestion just yet.
“I think he actually defies his pedigree a little bit on looks,” Mills said.
“I am big on broodmare sires and being out of a Galileo mare I expected them to look like they’re going to take a little bit more time, but I think there’s a few here that look like they’re going to be sharper, so he’s probably one who I think might surprise people a little bit by getting a few two-year-olds.”
Wallace was also intrigued by the impact of broodmare sire Galileo on The Autumn Sun’s stock.
“He’s from a Galileo mare, so I was wondering how precocious they’d be, but I’m pleasantly surprised to see some of them with a lot of natural strength and muscle,” Wallace said.
“I have been kind of taken by a few of them as we make our second looks.”
Clarke believes that The Autumn Sun yearlings on offer at the Gold Coast could look like good value by the time the yearling sales season is completed.
He said: “I guess this sale is really tailored towards the two-year-old speed, as we know, so both those horses, Justify and The Autumn Sun, even though I wouldn’t say you’re going to be buying them cheaply, that’s never the case with first season stallions, but you might get reasonable value in a sale like this compared to some of the later sales just because there’s a bit of an emphasis of trying to get back here for that two-year-old race next year.”
The agents on …
Written By (Written Tycoon)
SHEAMUS MILLS: “I haven’t seen a first season sire stamp their stock as much as Written By. I did not see a single bay until my last day of inspections. I have heard of plenty bay-dominant stallions, but I have never heard of a chestnut-dominant stallion. I thought I had found one until Musk Creek pulled out a bay. Certainly shape and type, he would be the one who has stamped them the most.”
JIM CLARKE: “I love Written By. Of all the first season stallions, on type, he would be my pick. He’s a real cookie cutter Written Tycoon. He very much stamps them. Most of them of them are chestnut, a very strong hip and hindquarter and they look like they will get up and run early and he’s obviously been bred to a lot of fast mares, so he’s probably the horse that I would be most confident that we’ll be getting two-year-olds back here for the race next year.”
BILL MITCHELL: “There’s some speedy types there, for sure. They’re trainers’ horses who will get up and run.”
Grunt (O’Reilly)
MICHAEL WALLACE: “I can see, coming from the homeland of New Zealand, (that there is) a lot of O’Reilly there. They’re probably not going to be the earliest types, but they’re very good moving horses. They should look to excel as later three-year-olds, as O’Reilly did himself. You see a lot of the natural O’Reilly look about them.”
SHEAMUS MILLS: “He is an interesting horse. There’s a couple of examples here of really nice horses. I think (Yulong has) done a good job of picking out the right types to bring to this sale. I think you can get it wrong with a first season sire. With people’s first impressions, you want to be bringing the sort of horse that is going to set the trend for the rest of the year and I think they’ve done that with Grunt.”
Harry Angel (Dark Angel)
BILL MITCHELL: “They’re very attractive horses. Strong, sprinting types. I like Harry Angel and I’d definitely be on the lookout to buy one of them.”
SHEAMUS MILLS: “He is a horse I really like in the flesh physically. I think he looks like the Australian sprinter. Some of those European sprinters come over here and they look like three-year-old, seven furlong horses to me, even though they were early sprinters over there. With Harry Angel, there’s a few that look like him and those are the horses that I’d like to buy, the horses who have been stamped by him.”
Encryption (Lonhro)
JIM CLARKE: “He’s obviously got a fantastic pedigree and a very, very good race record as well. I was at Eureka Stud the other day with Harry (McAlpine) and he showed me Encryption himself. He’s a very strong, powerful, close-coupled horse. There’s a lot of races for those early two-year-olds up here in Queensland. It’s the ideal place for him and he’s covered a lot of fast Queensland mares and I’d expect that they’re going to fire before Christmas this year.”
JIMMY UNWALA: “His types are outstanding. They look like they are going to be two-year-olds and every year a Queensland sire surprises us, so I think there’s some really good types here, absolutely.”
Brave Smash (Tosen Phantom)
MICHAEL WALLACE: “I have seen a couple of the Brave Smashs in my travels and he probably, to be fair, wasn’t initially on the top of my radar but we actually had a chat about him last night and we’re pleasantly surprised. There are a couple of really good types here by him. We obviously know how good those Japanese bloodlines are and they work. He was a fast horse himself and there’s a couple here with a lot of strength and a lot of precocity.”
JIMMY UNWALA: “Brave Smash I think was one of the most consistent first season sires that I have seen. There are a few nice ones here, colts and fillies alike. They look like they will jump and run, and that’s what I like to see in a horse. They have got good constitutions. Most of them look like their father.”