By Kelsey Riley
The prices dropped a tempo for Book 2 of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale Sunday, but the vibrant trade seen throughout the week for Book 1 continued apace. A total of 199 yearlings were sold Sunday for A$12,333,500, compared to 180 sold for A$9,805,000 on the same day last year. The average was up 13.8% to A$61,977, and the median climbed 11% to A$50,000. The clearance rate was down to 81.2% from 87.8% 12 months ago. A colt and filly each commanded a A$230,000 price tag to be co-toppers for the session.
Sire Written Tycoon (Aus) had his name in the headlines Saturday when his son Capitalist (Aus) ran out an impressive winner of the Magic Millions 2YO Classic, and Mornington trainer Mark Riley will certainly be hoping the sire can make it a double next year after he went to A$230,000 for lot 824, a colt by Written Tycoon, Sunday. Lot 824 is out of Rate The Choice (Aus) (Redoute's Choice {Aus}), and his third dam is also the third dam of Group 1 winner Murtajill (Aus) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) and Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner Bradbury's Luck (Aus) (Redoute's Choice {Aus}), who are both now at stud, as well as Skates (Aus) (Danehill), the dam of G1 Golden Slipper winner Vancouver who was also represented this week as the dam of the A$1.5 million Pierro (Aus) colt bought by Coolmore Friday. The bay was consigned by Woodside Park, which also stands Written Tycoon.
“He's a very, very nice horse,” Riley enthused. “He's a well-grown, well-developed horse for a Nov. 15 foal. He's very precocious, and has a lot of Bradbury's Luck and Redoute's Choice about him and a lot of the stallion about him as well.”
Riley also paid praise to the sire, one he said had been on his radar for a while.
“Written Tycoon, you couldn't be happier with him,” he said. “We have another five mares in foal to him as well so we've got a lot banking on Written Tycoon, but he's a precocious horse. If he doesn't run it'll be a criminal shame.”
Riley said he didn't think yesterday's result inflated the price of the colt. Written Tycoon stood the 2015 season for A$19,800, a hike of A$6,050 from his 2014 fee on the back of the success of Rich Enuff (Aus), his winner of the G2 Danehill S. and G3 Caulfield Guineas Prelude in September of 2014. Rich Enuff went on to finish second in the G1 Caulfield Guineas. Written Tycoon currently sits seventh on the general sire table and has 73 winners this season, putting him third to only Not A Single Doubt (Aus) and Fastnet Rock (Aus) in that category.
“I think everyone's known about the Written Tycoons, that they're going to be good horses,” Riley said. “He's a stallion to be really reckoned with because he hasn't had the opportunity until now. He'll keep getting very good winners.”
Lot 824 was Riley's first buy of the week, and his first from this sale since he bought the ill-fated Group 3-winning juvenile Of The Brave (Aus) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) here for A$170,000 in 2014.
“The last horse I bought here was Of The Brave, we paid A$170,000 for him,” Riley said. “He was a little cheaper than this horse but it's a hard thing to come to this sale and get exactly what you want. It's an old saying to always go home with the one you want, not the one you thought you wanted, and he's the horse I've waited four days for.”
Riley said the few remaining shares in the colt would likely go to former owners of Of The Brave.
“There's still a bit left in him at this stage but I've had a lot of owners that lost Of The Brave that are interested in coming in on the next one and this is him, so onwards and upwards.”
Jamie Walter's Proven Thoroughbreds–a syndicate that races in three States across Australia–grabbed a slice of the Magic Millions 2YO Classic Saturday when its Candika (Aus) (Sebring {Aus}) took the A$180,000 third prize. Walter was out at Magic Millions Sunday reinvesting those winnings, and he picked up a A$200,000 Snitzel (Aus) colt (lot 829) to go into training, like Candika, with Steven O'Dea, as well as a colt by Choisir (Aus) for A$120,000.
Another owner to pick up a check on Saturday's raceday and reinvest Sunday was Sylvana Surace, whose husband Ricky Surace operates B2B Bloodstock. Surace picked up a A$100,000 bonus for Zelady's Night Out (Aus) (Myboycharlie {Ire}), the second all-female-owned horse across the line as part of the Racing Women's bonus, and B2B Bloodstock signed for Sunday's most expensive filly, lot 888, at A$230,000. The Newhaven Park offering is by Sebring (Aus) out of G1 Queensland Oaks winner Allow (Aus) (Rahy), whose three foals to race are all winners. The family traces back to European Group 1 winners Fragrant Mix and Alpina Rose.
Magic Millions's Barry Bowditch conducted the bidding and signed the ticket on behalf of B2B, and he said, “She was nearly a main-sale filly, being a Sebring out of a Group 1 winner, so he's pretty happy to have her. I'm assuming she'll go to [trainer Tony] Gollan, but I can't confirm that. He had the Myboycharlie filly in the race yesterday and he's been pretty active here at the sale.”
A Sebring For Singapore…
International participation on the buying bench continued Sunday, with lot 809, a Sebring (Aus) colt from Rothwell Park, headed to New Zealand–and likely later Singapore–after being bought by St. George Stable for A$220,000. Agent Gary Carvill signed the ticket on behalf of Paul Hickman of St. George Stable. Hickman is a British businessman based in Singapore and a client of trainer Stephen Gray. St. George has around 15 horses in training.
“He'll go back to New Zealand and he'll go through the process and we'll see how he measures up, then we'll make a decision whether he goes to Singapore and if he's good enough he might even race in Australia,” Carvill explained. “He'll tell us what's going to happen. The horse will probably end up in Singapore but we'll let him tell us.”
Lot 809 is out of the 2-year-old stakes winner Permissive (Aus) (Snippets {Aus}), who has produced two winners and is herself out of a half-sister to Group 1 winner and sire Danzero (Aus).
Internationals Spend Big…
The Gold Coast yearling sale proved a truly international event, with buyers from 13 different countries signing for horses. American investment included the A$1.4 million top-priced filly bought by John Sikura through agents Hubie de Burgh and James Harron. Spendthrift bought four for A$2.085 million; Stonestreet bought a Sebring (Aus) filly (lot 423) for A$470,000; Stone Farm and Speedway Stable made their first investments in the country, each buying one lot; and WinStar Farm bought a handful of horses in partnership with the China Horse Club.
European spend included Shadwell's eight bought for A$2.765 million. Dermot Farrington bought seven with various partners; McKeever Bloodstock bought two for A$355,000; and David Redvers bought a Harbour Watch (Ire) colt for A$145,000.
There will be a break in action on the Gold Coast Monday, with the sale set to wrap up Tuesday with Book 3 of the Gold Coast Yearling Sale and the Summer Racehorse Sale.
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