Its All Relative On The Gold Coast

If you thought the pedigree of lot 672 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale looked familiar, you'd be on the right page. Ten Carat Rock (Aus) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}), the dam of Saturday evening's session-topping A$1 million Fastnet Rock (Aus) filly from Newgate Farm, is a half-sister to Monsoon Wedding (Aus) (Danehill), whose Pierro (Aus) filly was bought by Coolmore for A$1.4 million Friday. The “cousins” were the only fillies to break the seven-figure barrier this week. Lot 672 was bought by up-and-coming Victorian trainer Brent Stanley.

The session concluded Book 1 of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale which, with A$115,646,000 brought in over three and a half days of selling, became the highest-grossing yearling sale in the Southern Hemisphere since 2008. The six seven-figure lots was also a record for the sale.

The gross–for 591 sold–was up 26% from last year, when 539 were sold for A$92,022,500. The average was up 15% to A$195,679, while the median climbed 15.4% to A$150,000. The clearance rate was up to 88.5% from 86%.

“It's the highest-grossing yearling sale conducted in the Southern Hemisphere since 2008, which is a very good result by any measure,” said Magic Millions Managing Director Vin Cox. “The fact that we've had six million-dollar yearlings is first a testament to the breeders who put them in there, and the fact that we can get well into seven figures for yearlings and have multiple million-dollar yearlings tells the world that the sale has moved to another level, and it's onwards and upwards from here.”

Cox said the success of the sale was also a testament to the health of the country's industry.

“We're always the first [yearling sale of the year] and set the tone, but I'd say the Thoroughbred industry in Australia is in a pretty good space at the moment,” he said. “There's a massive appetite for horses and the international investment was fantastic. Most of the horses are to be left here in Australia, which is great for our industry and shows our industry is very well promoted and highly regarded.”

New Horizons For Newgate…

The sale of the million-dollar Fastnet Rock filly capped a memorable day for Henry Field's Newgate Farm, which is a part-owner of Capitalist (Aus) (Written Tycoon {Aus}), a graduate of this sale who Saturday afternoon confirmed his status as one of the best juveniles in the land with a win in the Magic Millions 2YO Classic.

“It's been a dream day to have won a Magic Millions with Capitalist, a future stallion for Newgate, and to have sold this magnificent filly for a million dollars tonight,” said Field.

It wasn't the first good day of the week for Newgate. The farm's 16 sold through Book 1 made a total of A$4,410,000, and also included a A$550,000 Fastnet Rock filly and a A$400,000 Sebring (Aus) colt on day one, and a A$380,000 Pierro colt on Friday.

“We brought a very select draft here and we really focused on the quality,” Field explained. “She's one of the rarest fillies to go on the market this year; she's a queen of a physical and has an unbelievable pedigree.”

That pedigree, to reiterate from Friday, is that of three-time champion sire Redoute's Choice (Aus). Ten Carat Rock is a half-sister to him, as well as Group 1 winners Platinum Scissors (Aus) (Danehill) and Manhattan Rain (Aus) (Encosta de Lago {Aus}). She is a full-sister to Sliding Cube (Aus), the dam of Group 2 winner and young Coolmore sire Rubick (Aus). This is her second foal, and Ten Carat Rock was bought by Newgate carrying this filly, for A$750,000 from the Teeley dispersal at the 2014 Magic Millions National Sale–the same draft that Monsoon Wedding was plucked from. Her first foal, the 2-year-old filly Our Lucky Raquie (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), is as-yet unraced.

“If she can run, on a global market, she's a four or five million dollar mare,” Field predicted.

Brent Stanley, a former Group 1-winning jockey who has held his training license around three years, operates his Victorian stable as Cloud 9 Thoroughbreds. He said the filly had been bought on behalf of a pair of clients. The young trainer appeared unfazed by the lofty price tag.

“The page sold itself to a certain degree,” he said. “She was a pretty easy buy at a million dollars.”

“I was taking her home,” Stanley added when asked about his limit.

“She's a packaged racehorse,” he continued. “You're not just buying the page; she's a proper physical. She's a great mover, very athletic, with good bone and great muscle–everything I look for in a horse. You see a lot of big-priced horses who don't make it to the next level because people are just buying the page. They need to also have all the physical attributes.”

Stanley said his business has grown from one horse to 160 in three years.

“I have some big clients, who are also breeders and want to race horses before sending them to stud,” he said. “I have proven to my clients that I can train 2-year-olds and older horses from other trainers and improve them. These guys have jumped on board and want to buy horses for the future and they are all about their breeding and making Australian racing bigger and better and having a big future in it.”

Moore of the Same For Snitzel…

Snitzel was responsible for three of the six millionaires of the week and his popularity didn't wane Saturday, with Hong Kong-based agent George Moore pushed to A$460,000 for lot 704, his colt from Amarina Farm out of Very Cherry (Aus) (Anabaa).

“They're selling really well,” Moore said of the Snitzels. “Arrowfield has done a really good job with him. This horse was a good mover and very athletic, exactly what we look for in a horse. The Snitzels have run well in Hong Kong. We've been trying to buy a Snitzel for the whole sale and we're happy to get a beautiful one. ”

He noted the horse had been bought on spec with plans undecided as to whether he will be immediately exported to Hong Kong or start his career in his country of birth, the latter of which may be Moore's preferred avenue.

“Hong Kong is a better environment for the tried horses, so I'm having a lot of my clients for these yearlings race them in Australia then export them to Hong Kong, because it turns out to be a lot cheaper,” he explained.

Also headed to Hong Kong is lot 736, a colt by I Am Invincible (Aus) bought by the Hong Kong Jockey Club for A$380,000. That organization's Mark Richards explained that I Am Invincible is a sire they are keen to try in Hong Kong.

“We've been underbidder on about three I Am Invincible's at this sale,” he said. “He was the nicest one–he didn't quite have the same page as one or two of the others–but as an individual he was the pick. We tried on the earlier ones but we just didn't get them; with those stronger pages they cost a little more money. that's why we missed out. At the end of the day we got the one we really wanted, so we're more than happy.”

I Am Invincible hasn't yet had many chances in Hong Kong, but Richards said the progeny Yarraman Park sire–who was Australia's champion first-season sire in 2013/14–boast traits he think would suit that country.

“He's a very early sort of sire but his success here is what's leading us in,” Richards noted. “He's stamping his horses incredibly well. They're all coming out almost like peas in a pod and they're the right type; they go on top of the ground and they look like fast horses. Great temperaments–that's one thing I've noticed about all of them. You can just pull them out and they go to sleep in your hands. They're ideal types.”

Price Pays For Familiar Family…

Trainer Mick Price is plenty familiar with Velocitea (NZ) (Volksraad {GB}), having conditioned her to win the G1 Goodwood H. in addition to three other black-type races, and on Saturday evening he went to A$340,000 for her Redoute's Choice (Aus) colt (lot 700) that he described as “the best foal the mare has had.”

“I've watched these foals out of this mare and this is the best foal the mare's had,” Price said, explaining he bought the colt on spec. “We trained Velocitea and she was so gutsy. She won Group 1s for us and raced at the highest level for a long time.”

The colt is the fourth foal out of Velocitea. Her first is this one's full-brother, the stakes-placed Limehills (Aus) (Redoute's Choice {Aus}), who was a A$320,000 purchase by Arrowfield from this sale in 2013. Another full-brother was bought by James Harron for A$300,000 here last year. Velocitea was separated from Redoute's Choice for the first time in her breeding career last year; she produced a colt by Fastnet Rock (Aus).

Price was philosophical about his new acquisition's price tag.

“You pay a lot for these horses, especially at this sale, but I have a bit of knowledge about the family and he's the best that mare's had and he'll be a nice horse.”

Price has enjoyed success with another son of Redoute's Choice in recent years, the champion sprinter Lankan Rupee (Aus), and he said he expects this colt to be of a similar profile.

“He's a sprinter,” Price said. “He's out of a sprinter and that's what the world is looking for so that's why we bought him.”

Colt Commands Shadwell's Attention…

The last yearlings by Street Cry (Ire) have generated plenty of good press this week on the Gold Coast, and another late Darley sire with his last yearlings to enjoy a good result Saturday was Commands, whose lot 651 was hammered down to Shadwell racing manager Angus Gold for A$340,000. Perennial leading sire Commands, who died in July 2014, set an Australian record for winners in a season (155) in 2010/11, and was one of just two sires in the country to sire 10 or more stakes winners in Australia in the four years before his death. Shadwell's latest acquisition is proven on the dam's side as well, being a half-brother to Godolphin's dual Group 3 winner Sweynesse (Aus) (Lonhro {Aus}).

In total Gold–who was making his first visit to Magic Millions in eight years–signed for eight lots for a A$2,765,000.

Another Juvenile Star For Baker?

Burgeoning Sydney trainer Bjorn Baker recorded a career milestone two years ago to the day when his Unencumbered (Aus) (Testa Rossa {Aus}) took the Magic Millions 2YO Guineas, and Baker will be hoping his latest purchase, lot 727, can live up to those expectations after paying A$220,000 for the Pierro (Aus) colt Saturday night.

The colt was consigned by the Lyster family's Three Bridges Thoroughbreds, the Victorian operation that stands Unencumbered. Peter Lyster said he was happy with the price fetched by his colt.

“He's a lovely horse and he's going to a very nice home going to Bjorn. We have a good relationship with Bjorn since we purchased Unemcumbered, his Magic Millions winner, and we hope for our sake and Bjorn's sake he can replicate that.”

Three Bridges sold 10 yearlings of 12 offered through Book 1 for A$1,749,000, and that haul also included a A$410,000 Sebring colt and an A$260,000 All Too Hard colt on day one, as well as a A$220,000 Not A Single Doubt filly for A$220,000.

“That's the eighth horse we've had here and we're averaging just over A$200,000, so it's a great result,” Lyster said midway through the session. Three Bridges later sold lot 746, a Bel Esprit (Aus) filly who was the final yearling through the ring of Book 1, for A$170,000 to Boomer Bloodstock and Matt Cumani.

Magic Millions's single-session Book 2 of the Gold Coast Yearling Sale begins at 10 a.m. local time Sunday.