Nurse Tops Record Broodmare Opener

Group 2-winning filly Nurse Kitchen (NZ) (Savabeel {Aus}) provided the highlight on a record-breaking first session of the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale on the Gold Coast on Tuesday when bought by China Horse Club for A$1.7-million.

The gross of A$44,916,500 marked a record session for not only the Broodmare Sale, but for any Magic Millions auction. That figure was for 255 broodmares, race fillies/maiden mares and stallion shares sold at a clearance rate of 85% (compared to 81% last year). The average, despite an increased catalogue, climbed 7.6% to A$176,143, while the median was up 20% to A$90,000. Three lots sold for seven figures, while 23 made a half-million or greater.

“We're sitting on a gross just under $45-million, which is a record day's gross for Magic Millions at any sale,” Magic Millions Managing Director Vin Cox said. “That is a staggering figure in anyone's language. We are just delighted, obviously, with the quality of horses we offered today, and the competition was here from all parts of the globe.”

“It's been a very rewarding day all round,” Cox added. “I think what really stood out was the competition right throughout the day. We are sitting on a clearance rate of 85% which is just fantastic, particularly when you are offering 300 mares.”

Nurse Kitchen (lot 758 offered by Bhima Thoroughbreds), who raced as a homebred for Sarah Moody with trainer David Brideoake, has accomplished plenty in just seven starts, having won the G2 Fillies Classic at Moonee Valley in the spring and having added a second in the G1 Vinery Stud S. at Rosehill on Mar. 25. China Horse Club's Michael Wallace hinted Nurse Kitchen could get a chance to further enhance her race record.

“Obviously she is a filly that we think has great racing upside,” Wallace said. “She looks easily capable of winning Group 1 races if everything went her way. She's already a Group 2 winner and Group 1 placed by Savabeel, so she will always have a high value regardless. But we definitely feel there is racing upside in her.”

Sarah Moody's husband, former champion trainer Peter Moody, noted the decision to sell Nurse Kitchen was made considering they still have her dam and weanling full-sister.

China Horse Club was also the name on the ticket of the 3-year-old filly Inspired Estelle (Aus) (Manhattan Rain {Aus}) (lot 1680), who hammered at A$925,000. The winning filly is out of the G3 Champagne S. winner Estelle Collection (NZ) (Stravinsky), making her a half-sister to champion sprinter Lankan Rupee (Aus) (Redoute's Choice {Aus}).

Another black-type filly to reach seven figures was the 4-year-old Petits Filous (Aus) (Street Boss) (lot 1687), who was picked up by James Harron Bloodstock for A$1,150,000. A A$65,000 yearling, Petits Filous won the G3 Quezette S. and the Listed Antibes S. in the spring of 2015 and was last seen finishing fourth in Morphettville's G3 R N Irwin S. on Apr. 22.

“She's just a beautiful sort,” Harron said. “We spend a lot of time going through the catalogue and looking for those really good, fast mares who we think will make good broodmares. Speed and precocity are a big thing for us–it's how we select and then good looks and she was a beauty.”

“She can go to any stallion,” he added. “It's a real beauty contest out there and if she can produce foals like her I think we'll do really well with her.”

Harron also picked up last year's G2 Sweet Embrace S. winner Scarlet Rain (Aus) (Manhattan Rain {Aus}) (lot 1660) for A$950,000. Both mares were bought for the broodmare band of Belinda Bateman, who raced the Group 1 winner and successful young sire Foxwedge with her late husband Edmund Bateman, and who is a partner in a number of Harron's top acquisitions.

The A$1,150,000 price tag was reached again late in the session when Yulong Investments won the battle for the dual New Zealand Group 1 winner Soriano (NZ) (Savabeel {Aus}) (lot 881). Already the dam of a weanling filly by Pins (Aus), Soriano was offered by Dormello Stud in foal to New Zealand's exciting young sire Tavistock (NZ).

Barbara Banke's Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings has been a big spender at this sale in the past few years, and the U.S.-based operation was again in action at the top end on Wednesday, securing a pair of fillies off the track. The Group 2 winner Catch A Fire (Aus) (Sebring {Aus}) (lot 674), a full-sister to G2 Sires' Produce S. winner and the dual Group 1-placed Seaburge (Aus), was picked up from the Bhima consignment for A$950,000, while the 3-year-old Group 3 winner Thyme For Roses (Aus) (Redoute's Choice {Aus}) (lot 633) was a A$800,000 buy.

Thyme For Roses was one of four fillies sold by Arrowfield Stud on behalf of the California-based Jon Kelly, who purchased them at the 2015 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. Thyme For Roses' price tag two years ago was A$450,000. Another member of that dispersal was Slumber Party (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}) (lot 621), who also made A$800,000, this time from agent Paul Moroney and Sir Owen Glenn, the latter having raced four-time Group 1 winner and A$7.3-million earner Criterion (NZ) (Sebring {Aus}), who covered his first book of mares at Newgate Farm last spring.

The second of four sessions of the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale begins at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.