Domestic market key to underpinning Magic Millions’ 2YOs In Training Sale
Victoria-based Tal Nolen leaves draft in capable hands of Kenmore Lodge’s Cameron and Kellie Bond
Experienced breeze-up vendor Tal Nolen hopes the domestic market’s strength can be maintained at next week’s Magic Millions 2YOs In Training Sale on the Gold Coast to offset any loss of participation from more traditional two-year-old buyers.
The Victoria-based Nolen, who last year sold Group 2-winning colt Lightsaber (Zoustar) through Inglis’ two-year-old sale and also prepared star Singapore mare Celavi (Fighting Sun), will watch Monday’s sale from afar when his eight-strong draft goes through the ring, instead relying on Queensland’s Cameron and Kellie Bond to oversee his team of juveniles.
Nolen’s horses, which include the progeny of Zoustar (Northern Meteor), Maurice (Screen Hero) and Asia favourite Starcraft (Soviet Star), arrived on the Gold Coast late yesterday but fellow Victorian vendors Network Bloodstock and Rosemont Stud will sell theirs in absentia.
“There has been a bit of interest, but whether they can get the local trainers there, that’s going to be the big thing, having the Australian trainers (being active),” Nolen said yesterday.
“In the past few years, the (domestic buyers) have put a real floor in the market ever since Singapore and Malaysia have dropped away a bit.”
Rosemont Stud showcased its draft of five colts, including a colt by Capitalist (Written Tycoon), at Mornington last week in a bid to put them in front of potential buyers while agents have conducted on-farm visits to Victorian vendors in recent times.
Those who have inspected horses include Peter Morgan, Jeremy Rogers and Sheamus Mills, the latter providing publicly available independent assessments of the horses which have been published on the Magic Millions website.
Throughout the pandemic Magic Millions and Inglis have been able to negotiate state government travel exemptions to allow locked out agents and trainers to attend sales in order to inspect horses, albeit under tightly enforced protocols, and the auction house is hopeful of a similar proposal receiving approval prior to the auction.
It was unclear late yesterday whether Queensland Health had made a final decision on granting the exemption.
A colt consigned by Nolen by Queensland sire Rothesay (Fastnet Rock) set the fastest time of the Seymour session, stopping the clock at 10.20 seconds while Lot 123, a son of Starcraft procured online for a paltry sum, ran 10.33 seconds.
The Zoustar filly, catalogued as Lot 60, ran 10.42 seconds. She is a granddaughter of four-time Group 3-winning sprinter Avenue (Anabaa), herself a sister to Group 1 winner Virage De Fortune.
The rising yearling prices made it harder for buyers of trade horses, but Nolen did his due diligence and believes his Magic Millions draft shows that the hard work scouring the sales grounds has paid off.
“We had to spend more money in some cases but if you do your work, you can still pick up the right breeze-up horse,” he said.
“You’ve got to work a bit harder, though.”
Breeze-ups for the Magic Millions sale were held at Seymour, Newcastle and the Gold Coast, with the final session held yesterday at the Queensland circuit.
A colt by Sooboog (Snitzel) from the Alexia Fraser consignment recorded the fastest time of the morning, stopping the clock at 11.01 second for the 200-metre split. Catalogued as Lot 107, he is out of the stakes-placed juvenile Hot Snippety (Snippetson) from the family of the multiple stakes-winning Macau star The Alfonso (Magnus).
A fraction behind yesterday’s pacesetter was Lot 29, a Rothesay gelding from the Grandview Stud draft that posted an 11.02-second split, while a Headwater (Exceed And Excel) and All Too Hard (Casino Prince) colt from the Baramul Stud consignment ran times of 11.04 and 11.07 seconds respectively.
Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch revealed the Gold Coast surface had been replaced since last year’s auction so urged buyers to avoid attempting to compare breeze-up times between racecourses or on previous years’ times.
“This year on the Gold Coast, they’ve had a change of surface here, they’ve run somewhat slower. On the whole, I’d say it’s 0.7 seconds slower than what they normally would,” Bowditch said.
“If you look at the overall average time of the morning then you’re comparing apples with apples, so to speak.
“You are not going to see as many horses run sub-11 seconds has we have in the past but the breezes themselves have been done on a true track and the horses are very well educated.”
It is inevitable that comparisons will be made between the Magic Millions sale and that of rival Inglis, which sold to a top of $400,000 last week, but Bowditch is adamant that there will be solid competition between buyers on Monday.
“There’s quite a few more restrictions trying to get people here (compared to Inglis), which makes it all the more difficult, but there’s a thirst for horses and that it gives us reason to believe that there are plenty of people out there looking to buy a horse as the product we have here is comparable (to Inglis),” Bowditch said.
“I am sure that we will sell some nice horses who will go on and win plenty of races and serve their buyers well.”
As usual, Magic Millions’ David Chester and Nicky Wong will play a key role in ensuring international buyers are well taken care of and aware of horses suitable for their respective racing jurisdictions.
“David Chester and Nicky Wong are feverishly on the phone working day and night to engage with as many people as possible and give them all the information they need from afar to be able to purchase,” Bowditch said.
“We are relatively comfortable with the level of interest from an international perspective, but we will be working very, very hard to increase that.”
The 156-lot sale starts at 1pm AEDT on the Gold Coast on Monday.