Sepoy Colt Steals the Show

SEPOY COLT STEALS THE SHOW 
By Kelsey Riley 
With the Magic Millions raceday taking center stage on the Gold Coast yesterday afternoon, the sales action shifted to the evening, and was highlighted by vibrant trade and a new sale topper; a Sepoy (Aus) colt secured by Spendthrift Farm for A$1.2 million. That transaction marked the second time on the week that Sepoy broke the previous Australian record for a first-season sire, the first coming with the sale of an A$850,000 filly on opening day. 
“It’s quite astounding that the market has an appetite for first-season horses at that level,” said Magic Millions Managing Director Vin Cox. “It speaks volumes for everyone involved.” 
Last night’s session concluded Book 1 of the sale, which saw 692 horses sold for A$92,022,500 (US$74,370,279), up almost A$17 million on 12 months ago. The average of A$170,728 (US$137,978) was up 18.4%, and the median climbed 8.3% to A$130,000 (US$105,063). The clearance rate was just a tick off last year’s record-setting 87% at 87%. 
“That was just the most extraordinary evening,” Cox said upon the conclusion of the session. “The sale tonight, on its own, averaged A$205,000, with a clearance rate of 90%. It just went boom, from the start to the end, with spectacular sales.” 
Also prominent at the top end of the market last night was the China Horse Club and John Warren, and Cox commented on the international trade, “The international competition is tremendously rewarding from a Magic Millions point of view. We work very hard at attracting the right people. Internationally, all year we’ve had sensational results.” 
This year’s Book 1 also produced a pair of A$1 million-plus results, compared to one last year. 
“From our point of view, that gives us a massive platform for the next 12 months to attract even better horses for next year,” Cox said.

Big Spender… 
B. Wayne Hughes has scaled the highest heights of American racing, with a handful of Breeders’ Cup victories and Eclipse Awards to his credit, and the Spendthrift Farm owner took a giant step towards expanding his Thoroughbred holdings into Australia when paying A$1.2 million for a colt by first-season sire Sepoy (Aus) to top last night’s fourth session of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. The chestnut, consigned by Segenhoe Stud, became the new sale topper. 

Bidding opened at a bold A$400,000 on the late September foal (lot 613), and rocketed up in A$100,000 increments, with Hughes, seated alongside Spendthrift General Manager Ned Toffey, outlasting Hong Kong’s George Moore. 
Toffey noted that Spendthrift is looking to establish a breeding operation in Australia. While they were visiting the Gold Coast sale for the first time, they bought three yearlings at Inglis Easter last year: a pair of Fastnet Rock (Aus) fillies for A$650,000 and A$400,000, and a Street Cry (Ire) colt for A$550,000. Those purchases are in training with the Hawkes Racing team of John, Wayne and Michael Hawkes. 

“We’re looking to set up a breeding operation here, and we’d like to shuttle some of our own stallions but we also thought it was important to have some domestic horses here as well,” Toffey explained. He said conformation comes first when Spendthrift selects a horse, but noted the Sepoy colt also had a page to match. 

“Number one is always physique, and he was just a great physical, a classy looking horse with a great walk–he looks the part. He just looks like a solid, Australian horse, and there was certainly enough page there.” 

Sepoy, Australia’s 2- and 3-year-old champion, won four Group 1 races in 2011: the G1 Blue Diamond S. and G1 Golden Slipper S., the country’s two most important juvenile contests, as well as the G1 Manikato S. and the G1 Coolmore Stud S. as a sophomore. Sister Madly, who won a pair of Group 3s and the G2 Salinger S., finished second to Sepoy in the Manikato. 

Toffey said he was “impressed” with the quality of horse in Australia. 

“We’ve been very impressed with the individuals here–there’s a lot of really solid horses,” he said. “I know as we went through and shortlisted, we wound up on our second looks with a lot of horses still to look at. It’s a very solid bunch. We were impressed when we were down here at Easter and we’re impressed again with this group.” 
The acquisition of Sister Madly by Segenhoe was part of an expansion plan that began when Kevin Moloney purchased the historic Hunter Valley Farm back in 2010, and Segenhoe General Manager Peter O’Brien was visibly moved after the sale. 

“I have being working horses for 30 years and he is the best colt I will ever work with,” O’Brien said. “Obviously he’s by a champion stallion out of a champion mare, but more importantly he was a unique horse. You could not give him enough work and for the first time ever I shed a tear in a sales room.” Click here for a TDN feature on Segenhoe Stud. 

Great Expectations… 
Local Queensland trainer Danny Bougoure made a splash at this sale 12 months ago buying up well-bred fillies for owners Steve and Louise Gillard, and that team got back into the mix last night when securing lot 637, a daughter of Exceed and Excel (Aus) from Amarina Farm, for A$800,000. The September foal is out of Speedy Rossa (Aus) (Testa Rossa {Aus}), and a half-sister to the stakes-placed Lil Red Corvette (Aus) (Henny Hughes). She descends from the G1 South Australian Derby heroine Mapperley Heights (Aus) (Sir Tristram {Ire}). Bougoure said the filly was purchased with a future broodmare career in mind. 

“We probably weren’t expecting to pay that much, but we really liked the filly,” he reasoned. “The cross has worked well, Exceed and Excel over Testa Rossa. We had to set our sights a little high, but we got her.” 

The filly is bred on the same cross as yesterday’s Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner Le Chef (Aus), and that cross has produced three winners from three runners. 

Powerful Players Unite… 
The China Horse Club has displayed plenty of pocket power on its own this week, having purchased the two highest-priced lots through the first three sessions, and that operation joined forces with Coolmore’s Tom Magnier and John Warren to secure one of the gems of last night’s sessions in the form of lot 645, a colt by Snitzel (Aus) from Berkeley Park Stud, for A$775,000. The handsome bay is the fourth produce of Starlevie (Aus) (Fasliyev), a half-sister to a pair of stakes producers. It is also the immediate family of last season’s G1 Sires’ Produce S. runner-up Scratch Me Lucky (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}). 

“We didn’t want to get beaten,” Warren summed up. “He was a very important colt and we put a team together to try to bank him, because I thought he was the colt of the sale. The China Horse Club are involved and the Coolmore team are involved, and then we’ve got a few people at the same time getting little pieces. It’s a very strong syndicate. Someone said, ‘you just hope to hit the ball out of the park with one,’ so that’s the objective.” 

Asked about the rarity of the Coolmore team buying outside their own sire banner, Warren explained, “He’s by a top sire in Snitzel, whose obviously proven he can get a good one, but this horse was all about what a physical specimen he was. You don’t see horses like this very often. I look at quite a lot of horses a year, and he was a bit different, so hopefully he’s lucky for the team.” 

Commenting again on the ownership group, Warren added, “There’s a good mix, and I think the objective is to try to get lucky and hit on some important colts, and hopefully this one lives up to the expectation. I think he would have stood out anywhere in the world as a physical specimen. He was the one–it’s been a long week waiting for him.” 
Later in the session, Tom Magnier signed on his own for lot 670, a Fastnet Rock (Aus) colt from the highly productive family of G1 Oakleigh Plate winner Mrs Onassis (Aus) (General Nediym {Aus}) and G1 Blue Diamond S. heroine Lady Jakeo (Aus) (Last Tycoon {Ire}), for A$460,000. 

Moody Keeps It In The Family… 
Trainer Peter Moody was also willing to take a gamble on a son of Snitzel last night, as he indicated when signing for lot 626 on spec for A$675,000. The late August foal from Three Bridges Thoroughbreds is out of the stakes-placed Song of the Sun (Aus) (Desert Sun {GB}), and a quick glance down the page reveals a family Moody is well familiar with. Song of the Sun is a half-sister to Scandinavia (Aus) (Snippets {Aus}), who produced the dam of the Moody-trained luminary Black Caviar (Aus) (Bel Esprit {Aus}), as well as Moody’s former G1 Galaxy H. winner Magnus (Aus) (Flying Spur {Aus}). 

“He’s a lovely colt and I know the family well,” Moody said. “I don’t traditionally buy big horses–he’s a big horse–but I’ve only seen two in the family who move like that, and it’s not hard to guess which two they were. We’re prepared to punt on him; he’s a magnificent individual, nearly the colt of the sale. If he was by Sepoy he would have topped the sale, simple. And Snitzel works.” 

He added, “Snitzel’s a fantastic stallion. It’s a family that I’m very close to but it was the horse that attracted me, and the family just made it that I wasn’t going home without him.” 

Moody also signed for a So You Think (NZ) colt from the family of New Zealand and Australian champion Sunline (NZ) (Desert Sun {GB}) for A$430,000 in partnership with First Light Racing and Paul Willetts. 

Meteors Land… 
The Japanese-based Tomohiro Sekiguchi enjoyed a fruitful season on the racetrack during the Australian autumn, with his stable star Believe Yourself (Aus) (Sebring {Aus}) collecting the G2 Sweet Embrace S. at Randwick, and Sekiguchi reinvested some of those earnings last night in a colt from the final crop of Australia’s 2012/13 champion first-season sire Northern Meteor (Aus) (lot 628). 

“He’s a very nice horse, and he has a lot of class,” Sekiguchi commented. 

The October-foaled bay from Attunga Stud is out of Sophielicious (Aus) (Canny Lad {Aus}) and from the immediate family of Group 2 winners Sportsman (Aus) (Supremo {Aus}) and Prisoner of Love (Aus) (Canny Lad {Aus}). 
James Harron, acting on behalf of a partnership of established clients, will also take home a Northern Meteor colt after signing at A$550,000 for lot 678 from Glenlogan Park. 

He’s a very athletic horse with a great hip,” Harron said. “I’m really excited to see him after he’s broken in; he’s just a beautiful big frame.” 

Harron noted the sire offered appeal. 

“Northern Meteor is a great stallion, he’s proven that time and time again; it’s a great loss to Australia that he’s passed,” he said. 

A Fastnet For The Ladies… 
Trainer David Hayes had identified the Fastnet Rock (Aus) colt out of Sweet Sanette (SAf) (Jallad) (lot 658) from Coolmore Stud as one of his picks of the sale from the outset, and apparently he wasn’t alone, as he had to extend to A$525,000 to secure the bay on behalf of Peter Devitt. 

“We’ve been waiting for him most of the sale and we were panicking we weren’t going to get him,” Hayes said after signing the ticket. It’s been very hard to buy. We’ve been trying on some really nice ones.” 

Hayes said he hoped to be competing on future Magic Millions racecards with the colt, and he could be put into an all-female partnership in the hopes of collecting the Magic Millions Racing Women’s bonus in next year’s Magic Millions 2YO Classic. 

“There’s a chance we’ll race him with the girls, this new concept Magic Millions has put on that we think is wonderful,” Hayes said. “So hopefully we’ll be here next year. Most Fastnet’s aren’t precocious, but I thought he could be a chance.” 

Magical Day For Kennewell… 
Young South Australian trainer Lloyd Kennewell jetted into town to take Saturday’s A$1 million Magic Millions 3YO Guineas with the A$6,500 bargain buy Deiheros (Aus) (Bon Hoffa {Aus}), and he will head home with an extra horse in his stable after purchasing a Snitzel (Aus) filly (lot 619) from Widden Stud for A$380,000. 
Kennewell said he hopes to get a win on next year’s Magic Millions card with the filly. 

“I’d love to bring her back for next year’s [Magic Millions 2YO Classic],” he said. “She’s an athlete, a running-type 2-year-old, and we want to get her going early so we can bring her back for the 2-year-old race.” 

The bay, who is inbred 3×2 to Snippets (Aus), is a full-sister to Elle Lou (Aus), who won the opening race on yesterday’s Magic Millions card, the maiden plate, for Team Hawkes. 

Kennewell, who is based in Adelaide, said he trains a stable of 28. 

“We’re a boutique stable trying to win big races all around Australia, and that’s what we’re doing,” he said. 
Book 2 of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale takes place tomorrow, beginning at 11 a.m. local time.