Coolmore buys Grenville’s half-brother to Think About It
Two of Australia’s biggest industry players duked it out in a lunch time auction ring battle for the final chance to buy a relation to arguably the country’s best sprinter, reigning Everest (1200m) champion Think About It (So You Think).
It was Coolmore’s Tom Magnier who dug deepest, going to $900,000 for the Tasmanian-bred Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) colt, the last foal of Tiare (Flying Spur). Magnier fended off the Rosemont Alliance to ensure the horse would join Coolmore’s colts syndicate and Chris Waller has been elected to train the colt.
The McCulloch family’s Grenville Stud, whose previous highest-priced yearling was a $550,000 2021 Inglis Premier-sold son of Deep Field (Northern Meteor), purchased the colt’s dam for $150,000 at the 2021 Magic Millions National Sale when she was in foal to Pierro (Lonhro).
It was before the emergence of the Joe Pride-trained sprinter, a $70,000 Premier yearling, who has gone on to win 11 of his 13 starts, $11,259,175 in career prize-money and send the appeal of the McCullochs’ colt soaring.
They subsequently sent Tiare, a half-sister to Group 2-winning sprinter Keen Array (Bel Esprit), to first-season Coolmore shuttler Wootton Bassett, proven in the northern hemisphere from humble beginnings in France prior to being purchased by the Magniers. She died in July last year.
“We’re just lucky we had a horse like this and he turned out to be such a nice horse,” said Graeme McCulloch, who runs Grenville Stud near Launceston with his son Bart.
“I’m glad Coolmore have got him, he’ll get every chance there and hopefully he does well on the track and they stand him at stud.
“It’s just a relief to have him sold now and we don’t have to worry about them.”
Wootton Bassett has sired 40 stakes winners in the northern hemisphere, nine of them at Group 1 level including Cambridge Stud shuttler Almanzor and Swettenham Stud’s Wooded.
“Whatever he touches seems to turn to gold,” Magnier said of the sire.
“He got great support at the farm, we loved the types, we’re selling a lovely filly later in the week out of Avantage and we couldn’t be any happier with the way he’s going.
“Fingers crossed he kicks the same goals down here that he does in Europe.”
It’s not the first time Grenville and Coolmore have done business together, the McCullochs and Magniers having bred the Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Mongolian Khan (Holy Roman Emperor).
“They’re lovely people, great breeders and in fairness they had that horse looking fantastic all week,” Magnier said.
“They’re just lovely people so you’d be delighted for them to get a result like that. I was delighted for them.”