Earthlight colt out of bargain mare delivers Kruger a result to remember
Jeff Kruger was delighted to have bought a mare in-foal to Earthlight (Shamardal) at a 2023 broodmare sale for just $26,000.
The next thing he did was go and find out what he could about Earthlight.
Lyndhurst Stud’s director thought the mare – the stakes-placed Sanadaat (Not A Single Doubt) – had the right sireline to match with his farm’s dual Queensland champion sire Better Than Ready (More Than Ready).
Whatever he might make from the Earthlight colt she then had would be a cherry on top.
Timing is everything.
Eight months after Kruger bought Sanadaat, her daughter Matisse (Microphone) ran third for Anthony and Sam Freedman in both the Blue Diamond Preview (F) (Gr 3, 1000m) and Prelude (F) (Gr 2, 1100m).
Kruger could have offered the colt at this year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast sale, but thought he’d go for Melbourne’s Inglis Premier instead. Earthlight had stood in Victoria, after all, and the colt was nominated for VOBIS bonuses.
The colt was also QTIS nominated in Lyndhurst’s home state, but Matisse – a city winner who ran fourth in last November’s Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) at Caulfield – enhanced his Victorian appeal. So did the Freedmans, who also train the colt’s 2022 half-brother by Hanseatic (Street Boss), while Sanadaat had run third in Flemington’s Talindert Stakes (Listed, 1100m), alongside wins at Sandown and Morphettville.
Talk about bonuses.
On Monday the colt went through the ring at Premier and fetched Kruger a stunning $475,000, when bought by the biggest “Victorian” heavyweight of all, China’s Zhang Yuesheng and his Yulong establishment.
Kruger was naturally ecstatic. Suffice to say he knows more than he did before about Earthlight, the winner of two European Group 1s at two, and seven from nine overall, who shuttled to Darley Victoria for three seasons up to 2023.
“To be honest, I knew nothing about Earthlight when I bought the mare,” Kruger told ANZ Bloodstock News. “I had to read more about him when I got home.”
Earthlight has had four runners hit the track from his first Australian crop for no winners so far, while he’s had 26 from 67 runners in his first northern hemisphere crop and one stakes-winner in Daylight, who’s also been twice Group 1-placed.
Still, Kruger’s colt was a stand-out at Oaklands through the week, helping him become one of the top lots on day two at Premier as he sold from the draft of Verna Metcalfe’s Alma Vale Thoroughbreds. He’s also became easily Earthlight’s top seller in Australia, eclipsing a $220,000 filly at Premier last year.
“I’m rapt,” said Kruger. “He probably brought three times my expectation.
“He could’ve gone to January but needed a bit more time, and he was VOBIS nominated, so I took a punt and came to Premier.”
Kruger was not only thankful to Metcalfe and her team at Alma Vale – in their first year of selling under their own name – but to Toby Liston at Three Bridges Stud, who steered him towards Sanadaat at the Magic Millions National Broodmare sale in the first place.
“Big thanks to Toby. I was looking at another horse in his draft at the June National Sale and he said I should look at Sanadaat, because she was going through unreserved and he had a bit of time for her progeny,” he said.
“She’s a bit of a common type, a little bit plain, but I thought since she was by Not A Single Doubt she’d go well with Better Than Ready, and at that sort of money she was low risk,” he said.
“It didn’t matter what she was in-foal to, I thought I could probably pinhook it. But the fact Matisse came out and did what she did helped.”
Sanadaat now has a weanling filly by Better Than Ready, and wasn’t served last spring. Kruger could send her back to Lyndhurst’s flagbearer, but reckons with “a bit more cash in the tin” after yesterday’s sale, he might look further afield to the Hunter Valley.
Veteran breeder Metcalfe was thrilled with the sale, which punctuates Alma Vale’s first year of selling, ahead of seven lots going to Inglis Easter.
“I thought he’d sell well. He was the stand-out in the draft and a quality colt,” she told ANZ.
“Jeff sent him to us four weeks ago and I liked him from the moment he walked onto the farm. He was the perfect horse. Every time he paraded, he paraded the same. Even today he paraded the same after six days of parading.
“It’s a thrill to do this for Jeff. They’re a good family, and his son Percy does a bit of work for me.
“It’s great for our farm Alma Vale, and it’s great to sell to Yulong. He’ll go to a good home, a good trainer, and hopefully he’ll make a stallion.”