Boom filly joins her sister in Taylor stable with a $230,000 price tag

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Sibling to Rockhampton’s stakes-placed star tops Magic Millions March Yearling Sale

Cattle breeders Laird and Sonia Morgan have ramped up their involvement in the thoroughbred industry by ensuring the sister to one of Queensland’s most exciting sprinters remains in the state.

The Western Downs Wagyu beef producers partnered with Chinny Boom’s Rockhampton-based trainer Clinton Taylor to buy the stakes-placed mare’s Spirit Of Boom (Sequalo) sister for a top-priced $230,000 at the Magic Millions March Yearling Sale yesterday.

In a market that improved on the second day – three lots made $100,000 or more compared to only one during the opening session – and the clearance rate improved to 75 per cent, the majority of the buyer action at the top end of the market occurred late in the day.

And it was Taylor, who has trained 35 winners in Queensland so far this season at a strike-rate of 26.1 per cent, that came out on top with the backing of the Morgans.

“I think she was a real standout in this whole sale. I haven’t seen anything that goes close to her,” Taylor said. 

“I know the whole family well, not just Chinny Boom, but I also trained Chinny Boom’s sister Holdin’ My Own who had tons of ability, so I hope this filly can live up to her sisters and be as good as them.

“We were out of bullets, we were shooting blanks at the end, but it was really exciting. To have Laird and Sonia supporting me, being only a young trainer, I can’t be any more grateful.”

The Morgans last month sold a Pierata (Pierro) colt at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale for $320,000 to Yulong Investments and have now added to their racing portfolio with the purchase of the valuable filly.

The appeal of the high-priced yearling was enhanced on Saturday when Chinny Boom took out the $125,000 Military Rose Plate (1100m) at the Gold Coast, her eighth win from 13 starts, a victory which took her prize-money earnings beyond $500,000. Connections are now targeting next month’s $775,000 The Archer (1300m) slot race at Rockhampton in late April.

Chinchilla-based breeder Mark Pascoe, who retained Chinny Boom to race after passing her in with a $50,000 reserve at the 2021 March sale, sold her younger sister through the Eureka Stud draft and she was understandably on the radar of many of Queensland’s most prominent owners and trainers.

As well as producing the stakes-placed Chinny Boom, Imanoremiss (Made Of Gold) is also the dam of eight-time winner Le Palmier (Spirit Of Boom) and last month’s Tony Gollan-trained Brisbane winner, the three-year-old La Petite Maison (Spirit Of Boom).

NEWS: Chinny Boom’s Sister Tops Gold Coast March Yearling Sale

The full sister to Saturday’s impressive Gold Coast winner Chinny Boom is heading to the same stable after she sold for $230,000 and topped the Gold Coast March Yearling Sale.

Read more: https://t.co/uwFPYFRByf pic.twitter.com/McHDxt5Fah

— Magic Millions (@mmsnippets) March 12, 2024

She is by the same sire as Manikato Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Jonker, who stands at Aquis Farm’s Canungra stallion operation.

Taylor signed for five yearlings over the two days, ranging from $20,000 to the sale-topping $230,000.

“There’s been some nice horses here, it’s probably down on past year, but there’s definitely been some bargains there if you have done your homework,” the Central Queensland-based trainer said. 

“I am sure there will be some nice horses come out of here because there always is.”

 

Bartholomew ready for taste of racehorse ownership

The underbidder on the sale-topping filly, South East Queensland-based livestock and real estate agent Roy Bartholomew, didn’t go home empty handed having earlier purchased another daughter of Spirit Of Boom for $100,000.

It was 75-year-old Bartholomew’s maiden venture into racehorse ownership, leaning on the advice of Kenmore Lodge’s Cameron and Kellie Bond and his chosen trainer, Tony Gollan.

“This is a bit of a foray into something new. I want to have a bit of a taste of it,” Bartholomew told ANZ Bloodstock News.

“I’ve got a nephew [Sean O’Hanlon] who is very respected in the [performance] horse industry and he introduced me to some really nice people, Kellie and Cameron Bond, and they’re straight shooters.

“They took me under their wing at the January sale where we tried to buy something – we came second a couple of times – and they had a couple of fillies in this sale and so I bought one of theirs.”

Bred and sold by Kenmore Lodge, Bartholomew’s October 31-born Spirit Of Boom filly is the second live foal out of Alnaas (Not A Single Doubt), a four-time winner and a sister to the stakes-placed Maqsad.

Her first live foal is two-year-old colt Of Course (Yes Yes Yes) who is raced by Proven Thoroughbreds and in training with Steven O’Dea and Matthew Hoysted at Eagle Farm.

The Bonds will break-in and pre-train the Spirit Of Boom filly for Boonah-based Bartholomew, whose family has run Bartholomew & Co since 1920, prior to entering Gollan’s Eagle Farm stables.

“We’ve spent a fair bit of time looking at horses and we want to do it right and I think in an industry that you don’t know anything about, you’ve got to get good people around you and that you can trust,” he said.

“With Cameron, Kellie and Tony Gollan I feel comfortable.”

Bartholomew could try to at least double the number of horses he owns by attending the Magic Millions National Yearling Sale in June, although he is aware of the upcoming Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale in Sydney.

“I was the losing bidder on a filly from Eureka, she made $230,000, and I thought, ‘well, that was enough for me’,” the first-time owner said.

“All the good advisers say you’ve got to buy a QTIS horse and I believe there’s another sale in June, so we’ll go and look at that.

“There’s also the Easter sale down in Sydney, but there’s a lot of horses that aren’t QTIS, so that probably rules us out. 

“But I’d like to buy one or two horses a year.”

Later in the session, Kenmore Lodge also sold another Spirit Of Boom filly out of six-time winner Boom Boom Epic (Sebring), herself a half-sister to Magic Millions 3YO Guineas (RL, 1400m) winner Saluter (Commands) and the stakes-placed Epic Girl (Shamus Award), for $90,000 to O’Dea and Hoysted and Proven Thoroughbreds.

While Lyndhurst Stud Farm resident sire Better Than Ready (More Than Ready) held his own on Monday, siring three of the six highest-priced horses sold, it was Spirit Of Boom’s day yesterday with four of the five most expensive yearlings changing hands being by the Eureka Stud stallion.

As well as Chinny Boom’s sister, an Alexia Fraser Bloodstock-consigned colt by Spirit Of Boom was sold to Toowoomba-based trainer Michael Nolan for $160,000 late in the day and there was little surprise in the buyer.

Nolan trained the colt’s sprinting half-sister Kisukano (Bel Esprit) to win eight races, four of them as a two-year-old, as well as achieving three stakes placings during her 30-start career.

The colt, who is also a half-brother to five-time winner Granite Prince (Rothesay), is the fourth living foal out of Kiss For Gran (Show A Heart).

In what remained a difficult trading environment, Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch was pleased with the clearance rate, which increased from 66 per cent at the end of day one to close at 75 per cent last night. 

“Today was a fair bit stronger than yesterday. For the right horses, when they walked into the ring, there was great participation,” Bowditch said.

“These are the times we are in. These sales at the lower end, they are feeling the pinch a little bit. There’s more of those horses in a sale like this so you do struggle a bit with your clearance rate.

“We will continue to work with our breeders going forward to make sure we continue to make this sale viable and give them reason to continue to invest and upgrade the stock they breed.” 

The Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale will be held at Morphettville next Monday and Tuesday.

The 2024 Magic Millions Gold Coast March Yearling Sale came to a close on Tuesday afternoon. We thank all our vendors and buyers for their efforts this week! #MMGCMarch24 pic.twitter.com/hSKJeKNDOe

— Magic Millions (@mmsnippets) March 12, 2024

Sale results – overall