Arcadia Queen sells for $3.2 million in crowning moment for Magic Millions broodmare auction as unprecedented trade sees $142 million traded
A $3.2 million deal for champion Arcadia Queen (Pierro) reached two days after she was initially passed in has brought to a close a frenzied Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale; the culmination of a three-day $142 million bloodstock spending spree, never before witnessed in Australasia.
Arrowfield Stud agreed to terms to buy Western Australian owner-breeder Bob Peters’ three-time Group 1 winner for the sale-topping figure, which was below the reserve of $4 million, as the sun had gone down on the Gold Coast and the final lots were going through the ring.
Arcadia Queen, a supplementary entry in the race fillies and mares session and billed as Magic Millions’ star attraction, surpassed Melody Belle (Commands), who made $2.6 million on Tuesday morning.
It capped a frenetic week in which 25 mares sold for $1 million or more, including five who went through the ring in yesterday’s final session, with Volpe Veloce (Foxwedge) the highest-priced of those at $1.9 million.
Arrowfield Stud’s Paul Messara revealed he had shown interest in Arcadia Queen in conjunction with a partner when the mare was offered prior to the Shadwell Stud Australasia dispersal but the dynamic changed once she was passed in at $3.4 million.
After 48 hours of considering their options, Arcadia Queen became theirs for the eye-watering figure.
“Looking at it after the event, we valued her around the mark and she’s one of those foundation mares that you don’t get the opportunity to buy too often,” Messara said.
“They are great mares to have, hard to come by, and we are very happy to have her on the farm.”
Arrowfield will consider stallions on its own roster as well as looking to other elite sires as a first-season mating option for Arcadia Queen.
“We have got Dundeel who would be a perfect cross for her, but we will look outside our roster if need be,” he said.
“Obviously, we want to have the best commercial outcome and produce the best horse. With those types of mares, you really have got to have a good look everywhere for the best possible options for her.
“Bob’s done a great job breeding and racing, so to be able to get into a family like that and also at the top-end of that family. She’s the pinnacle of that family, so to have the top of it is fantastic.”
Peters, who sold another Group 1-winning mare in Celebrity Queen (Redoute’s Choice) at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale for $2.5 million earlier this month, said selling Arcadia Queen was “purely a business decision”.
“As I said before, we’ve got lots of the family and lots coming on for us in the future, so one of them has now gone out of the family, and not a lot of them have come out of that over the years,” Peters said from Perth last night.
“They are very competent people and I’m sure they will look after her really well. She’s only just down the road from where she’s been living.
“It’s very rare that you get a big mare like her that is so athletic. Most of them aren’t like that, but she has just got everything you could want.”
If Arrowfield chose to send Arcadia Queen to Dundeel (High Chaparral), they would have Peters’ endorsement.
“She’d suit Dundeel down to the ground, really. I’ve got a share in Dundeel and we breed a couple of mares to him every year,” he said.
“He would definitely be a really good mating for her. if she were to go that way. It’s good that she stays here, but on the other hand, it would have been great to see her on the international stage as well.
“Either way, it is good to see she is going somewhere where she will be really well looked after.”
Longwood’s Christian’s patience rewarded with Volpe Veloce purchase
Investors showed no signs of buyer fatigue on the third and final day of the mares’ sale, instead stepping up the bidding competition with a number of high-profile mares who were offered yesterday, led by Group 1-winning sprinter Volpe Veloce, the equal fifth highest-priced mare of the sale.
Longwood Thoroughbred Farm’s Michael Christian had to go to $1.9 million for Volpe Veloce, his second high-priced addition this week to his growing Victorian-based broodmare band.
“We bought Rimraam from the Shadwell draft for $1.5 million on Tuesday night and we thought she was the bees knees and we really wanted to get this mare as well, so we waited patiently all day yesterday and we’re delighted to get her,” Christian said.
“Again, like Rimraam, she will be on the farm for the next 12 years and hopefully produce some really nice foals and hopefully we will have a lot of fun over that time.”
Volpe Veloce is in foal to I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) on a November 7 cover and Christian confirmed the mare was set for a return date with the Yarraman Park Stud stallion.
Christian confirmed Volpe Veloce would be mated with I Am Invincible again this year.
“I think he’s a great match for her and, certainly for this year, she will be going straight back to Vinnie, so we’re really excited about that.”
Christian partnered with agent Sheamus Mills and Peter Morgan to buy Volpe Veloce, who was a big trading result for Newgate Farm’s Henry Field who bought her for $675,000 at last year’s Inglis Chairman’s Sale and put her in foal to I Am Invincible.
She was sold last year in absentia due to the Covid-19 restrictions.
“I was just talking to Michael Christan, who bought Volpe Veloce with Sheamus, and I remember a mare Response who we sold for a good price – $1.5 million – but in her belly she was carrying a $1.7 million yearling who won a Golden Slipper in Estijaab and she’s probably a $5 million mare now,” Field said.
“We will be successful in selling these big-ticket mares as long as they keep doing the job for the people who buy them and in Volpe Veloce I couldn’t be more certain about a mare going on to do that for everyone involved.”
A New Zealand Railway Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner who was trained by Graham Richardson, Volpe Veloce is a half-sister to Black Opal Stakes (Listed, 1200m) winner Delago Bolt (Delago Brom) and a daughter of Blue Diamond Preview (F) Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m) winner Bardego (Barathea).
“She’s freaky good looking, she was a really good racehorse, she’s in foal to Vinnie and she’s got a pedigree – she’s a star,” Field said.
“I am really glad Michael bought her as I’ve admired him all my life. I used to strap a (Group 2 winner) called Phoenix Park for him and I’m confident she’s going to be a great mare for him.”
Christian runs Longwood Thoroughbred Farm in North East Victoria and believes the state’s breeding industry is on the way up.
“It’s great with Widden coming down to Victoria and Yulong is stepping it up as well,” he said. “There’s some great farms with some great stallions as well.
“Rosemont has been really busy at this sale and we’ve bought two quality mares as well to come home to Victoria and we’re really excited about what the future holds.”
The Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed Rimraam (Commands), a half-sister to Group 3 winner and promising Novara Park-based sire Sweynesse (Lonhro), was bought in foal to Dundeel (High Chaparral).
The four mares to surpass $2 million, Arcadia Queen ($3.2 million), Melody Belle (Commands) ($2.6 million), Mizzy (Zoustar) ($2.2 million) and Qafila (Not A Single Doubt), who was in foal to Dundeel (High Chaparral) ($2 million), were sent through the ring on Tuesday in the race fillies and mares and Shadwell Stud Australasia Dispersal session and, while the latter three all sold in the ring, Arcadia Queen’s sale-topping purchase completed yesterday evening followed her passing in with a reserve of $4 million on Tuesday.
Eleven Commands (Danehill) mares sold this week at an average of $604,545 while Foxwedge (Fastnet Rock) had nine sell for an average of $428,889.
Diddles a million dollar first for Boomer and Daandine
Newgate Farm also pulled off another big trade later in the day when it sold Diddles (Snitzel), an ATC Gimcrack Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m) runner-up and half-sister to Barbaric (I Am Invincible), for $1 million in foal to Deep Field (Northern Meteor).
Field bought Diddles, a daughter of Group 2 winner and Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) winner Mimi Lebrock (Show A Heart), for $300,000 from last year’s Inglis Chairman’s Sale.
Yesterday, going through the Magic Millions sale, she made $1 million after Boomer Bloodstock’s Craig Rounsefell identified Diddles on behalf of client Jan Clark of Daandine Stud, the breeder of Written Tycoon (Iglesia) and his Golden Slipper Stakes- (Gr 1, 1200m) winning son Capitalist.
Diddles was a major milestone for Rounsefell, the president of the Federation of Bloodstock Agents Australia, becoming the first million-dollar horse he has bought.
“She’s the type of mare we truly believe that the farm can produce another Golden Slipper winner out of,” Rounsefell said.
“It’s a real two-year-old family, the mare had unbelievable speed and talent early. She was a $400,000 yearling and showed incredible talent before she got hurt.
“The farm’s had a lot of luck with Deep Field, who she is in foal to, they produced Isotope and she’s a mare that hopefully will produce another Golden Slipper winner.
“The pedigree’s there, the mare herself as a type has unbelievable quality and is as intelligent a horse as you will see.
“She is one of the ones you never think you’ll get and I’m delighted Jan’s got her for the farm.”
No decision on a mating for Diddles has been decided but Rounsefell will be recommending the Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) mare is sent to I Am Invincible.
Rounsefell, an agent who operates in both hemispheres, admitted to feeling nervous as the bids closed in on seven figures.
He said: “You are at these auctions all the time and horses, particularly now, are making a lot of money.
“It is very nerve-racking as it is a lot of money, so when you do pull the trigger you want to make sure that you have total confidence and with this mare, Jan and the team, had total confidence that she was the one to do it on.”
Rounsefell commended Field for his conviction to invest in quality mares last year and he has certainly been rewarded for doing so.
“During Covid last year there was uncertainty, but the market’s thriving right now and there’s a lot of people out there who want to compete and produce top horses and you have got to buy quality to do that,” he said.
Torryburn stump up for Jedastar
The third million-dollar mare for the day was former speedy juvenile Jedastar (I Am Invincible), who will find a new home at Torryburn Stud after John and Brett Cornish decided to make the most of their “last saloon” after drawing a blank earlier in the week.
Brett Cornish, who signed for Jedastar, had to go to an even $1 million to get her and defeated Widden Stud in the process.
Another star lot offered by the Newgate Consignment, the former Lloyd Kennewell-trained Jedastar, a juvenile winner who was runner-up in the 2019 Blue Diamond Preview (F) (Gr 3, 1000m), was sold in foal to Zoustar (Northern Meteor).
Jedastar is a sister to the stakes-placed sprinter Rulership and a daughter of the Listed winner Devoirs (Dehere). Such was Jedastar’s speed, Kennewell ran her in the Black Caviar Lightning Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m) as a two-year-old.
“She was a very fast and forward two-year-old by one of our great sires, and she is in foal to one of our great sires. There’s not much guesswork there. she was just an excellent type and we were just happy to get her,” Cornish said.
“When the catalogue came out, we were hoping the physical would match up and it did. She was a very short-coupled, fast two-year-old type.
“It was a great mating, Henry (Field) put a Zoustar in her and it’s just the perfect mating, to put some size and scope into the foal.”
“We’ve been trying. We have been underbidder on a couple and been on the hunt for a few, including the Shadwell mares, but we didn’t quite make it.”
“That was the last chance saloon, right at the end of the sale. The amount of money that is floating around is amazing. A lot of it seems to be going to Victoria, and so the whole industry is strong, not just the Hunter, which is good to see.”
Jedastar is likely to return to Widden’s Zoustar this year.
Meanwhile, Newgate Farm sold 28 mares at the National sale for $13.205 million at an average of $471,607, to sit behind only the Shadwell Dispersal as leading vendor.
Regally-bred Taste Of Heaven sells for $1.6 million
An intriguing and stoutly-bred supplementary addition to the Magic Millions National Broodmare sale was Taste Of Heaven (Encosta De Lago), whose pedigree spoke volumes in the ring, as the mare, out of Shantha’s Choice (Canny Lad), making her a sister to Manhattan Rain and a half-sister to Redoute’s Choice (Danehill), sold for $1.6 million to Bill Mitchell.
Agent Will Johnson played a significant role in bringing her back to Australia, after US owner LNJ Foxwoods entered the ownership of the mare, who found her way to the US having been purchased for $1.5 million by John Sikura and Craig Bernick, as part of the Teeley Assets dispersal in 2014.
At the Inglis Chairman’s Sale two mares sold from the prolific-producing family, as Meuse (Snitzel) was knocked down in foal to Dundeel (High Chaparral) for $1.2 million, and Visenya (Fastnet Rock) sold in foal to Written Tycoon (Iglesia) for $310,000.
“The plan was to get her in foal to I Am Invincible last year, which we successfully did on the early cover,” said Johnson. “With the market so buoyant after the Chairman’s Sale we thought it was a good opportunity to see how she fared on the open market.
“It was great to see fierce bidding on her and ultimately selling for $1.6 million. On behalf of Craig and LNJ Foxwood, we’d like to wish the best of luck to her new connections.
“With all likelihood she’ll go back to I Am Invincible and with a bit of luck they can get a couple of nice fillies and the legacy of this family can continue.
“In line with the I Am Invincible covers, the majority of which made seven figures, I think that was the starting point and we let the market find the level thereafter.”
Mitchell Bloodstock’s Bill Mitchell was delighted to take up the rare opportunity to buy into the black-type family.
“It’s the best pedigree, isn’t it,” said Mitchell after securing the mare, catalogued as lot 1369, from the Yarraman Park Stud draft in foal to I Am Invincible on a September cover. “It just keeps getting better and better.
“We bought her for a syndicate and that’s in the process of being sorted out.”
A Kembla Grange winner in three starts, the rising 12-year-old mare is the dam of Grade 3 winner Heavenly Curlin (Curlin) in the US, one of four named foals, with her Curlin (Smart Strike) two-year-old filly in training in France under the ownership of Haras D’Etreham.
“We know the mare well and she’s produced a stakes winner and she’s from the best family,” Mitchell continued.
“I know they are expensive, but everything is expensive … I don’t think we had any more for her, just happy to have her.”
Mitchell Bloodstock purchased eight lots outright for a combined outlay of $2.91 million, while, in conjunction with Segenhoe Stud, Mitchell purchased Group 2 winner and Group 1 placegetter Oregon’s Day (Domesday) in foal to Pierata (Pierro) for $1 million.
A half-sister to two further stakes winners, Oregon’s Day saw her first foal by Fastnet Rock (Danehill) sell for $600,000 at the Magic Millions National Weanling Sale last week to Rosemont Stud and Bahen Bloodstock.
Widden make mark early
The strong start to yesterday’s session saw Widden Stud win the battle for Group 2 winner Tsartisa (Dane Shadow), the dam of talented two-year-old Patton (American Pharoah), for $950,000 in foal to I Am Invincible.
Offered by Attunga Stud as Lot 1100, Tsaritsa is a half-sister to Group 2 winner Ninth Legion (Fastnet Rock) and the stakes-placed Sing A Love Song (Your Song). Tsaritsa’s weanling filly by The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice) sold last week to agent Justin Bahen for $300,000.
“She’s a lovely mare and the quality is obvious to see. The fact is that she has already produced a couple of good types of foals,” Widden Stud’s Antony Thompson said.
“The American Pharoah (Patton) was one of the better American Pharoahs we saw that year and her foal at this foal sale had great quality as well. It gives you great confidence that not only is she a lovely type of mare, but she throws that as well.”
Champion stallion Zoustar (Northern Meteor), who stands at Widden, has been pencilled in for Tsaritsa this year.
Widden Stud bought six mares over the three days, led by Group 2-winning sprinter Humma Humma (Denman) who made $1 million on Tuesday.
“Some of our new stallions, Russian Camelot and Doubtland in Victoria, and Anders in the Hunter, we’ve been targeting some mares that will really suit them,” Thompson said.
“All three stallions are getting really good support so far, but we want to find the mares that really put the cherry on top and really help launch their careers.
“There’s a bit of that going on and with the rest of our stallions there, we have plenty of options.
“We are just looking for nice mares all the time and if there is something we really like, we’ll go a bit further on them (to buy them).”
Thompson added: “We have had a bit of luck with some mares out of this rung, with Bonny O’Reilly and Vezalay, mares of that ilk which have been bought in foal and we got good results with those foals.
“There have been some good returns and so hopefully we can do it again.”
Eight mares in foal to I Am Invincible sold at this week’s sale and averaged $1,142,500.
Hell Or Highwater for busy Hedge
As the sun was beginning to go down, agent Suman Hedge capped a big broodmare sale with his 14th and final purchase, the Not A Single Doubt (Redoute’s Choice) mare Hell Or Highwater who is in foal to Written Tycoon, for $850,000.
The Melburnian, whose collection of mares cost a combined $7.15 million and included Shadwell mares Futooh (Sebring) ($1.2 million) and Hindaam (Savabeel) ($1 millon), rounded out his sales season with four lots purchased yesterday headed by the Woodside Park Stud-consigned Hell Or Highwater.
A Listed winner and multiple Group-placed mare, Hell Or Highwater, herself a daughter of US Listed winner Get Ready Bertie (More Than Ready), was bought by Woodside Park Stud and Iskander Racing for $600,000 at the 2018 Magic Millions Broodmare Sale.
Her first foal, a colt by Written Tycoon, made $250,000 at this year’s Gold Coast Yearling Sale and his weanling brother was bought last week at auction by Rosemont Stud for $510,000.
“She’s a mare that we obviously knew a lot about as we owned her in partnership with Woodside,” Hedge said.
“She’s by a champion in Not A Single Doubt and was a well-performed racehorse herself, she was a stakes winner. Her first yearling made $250,000 and her first foal sold particularly well last week as well and sold for $510,000. With that in mind, we were pretty bullish in getting something done with her.”
Zoustar is a probable mating for Hell Or Highwater this year.
Hedge also bought three mares in partnership with Ridgmont Farm and fellow agent Jim Clarke.
“We have had clients that really wanted to be active here, and we had the artillery to be involved,” Hedge said.
“We had a clear edict to buy good physicals that we thought were elite and commercial and will mate those accordingly.
“It’s been hard, but we certainly don’t think we have got the upper hand anywhere, but if you wanted to be involved you had to be brave and put yourself up there and buy.”
Mind-blowing results at mares sale
All the indicators were that there would be a hot market at the Magic Millions National Sale after a record yearling sale series and a strong weanling market but, even so, the auction house’s managing director Barry Bowditch was still coming to terms by how much trade had taken place this week.
The sale closed with a spend of $142.459 million on 611 mares at an average of $233,157 and a median of $120,000. The clearance was 87 per cent, highlighting the intense demand for horses.
“We knew we had an unbelievable catalogue and we were very confident with where the market was at, but to achieve the results we have was blowing our minds, to be honest,” Bowditch said.
“To have a gross of over $142 million, a record average of $233,000 considering we sold 611 lots at a clearance rate of 87 percent is just way above our expectations.”
The Written Tycoon Syndicate was the leading buyer, taking home 39 mares at a cost of $16.46 million while fellow Victorian operation Rosemont Stud bought 22 lots for $12.735 million.
Bowditch credited the depth of the buying bench as one of the reasons for the results.
“To have 25 million-dollar mares and five of those today is better than we thought we’d go,” he said.
“The Cornishs at Torryburn are great supporters of Magic Millions. They’ve had great success buying out of this sale, they have great success at our yearling sales, so it’s great to see them chip up and spend plenty on a mare and Daandine, one of the champion breeders of Queensland who’ve had great luck buying mares here … investing in quality bloodstock with their agent Craig Rounsefell is fantastic.”
The three-day Magic Millions Gold Coast National Yearling Sale starts on Tuesday.
Sale statistics – overall
2021 2020 2019
Catalogued 823 628 1005
Offered 702 538 898
Sold 611 394 (73%) 707 (79%)
Aggregate $142,459,000 $55,391,000 $104,025,000
Average $$233,157 $140,586 $147,136
Median $120,000 $65,000 $75,000
Top Lot $2.6 million $4.2 million $2.3 million