Ellis makes $400,000 move for standout Zoustar colt
Half-brother to Te Akau’s Manawatu Sires’ winner to join New Zealand stable
A week after Te Akau chief David Ellis reached dizzying heights as a vendor when selling the stable’s champion mare Imperatriz (I Am Invincible) for a record-breaking $6.6 million, Ellis was a major player on day one of the Magic Millions National Yearling Sale, purchasing four horses, including the session’s highest-priced lot, the $400,000 Zoustar (Northern Meteor) half-brother to Te Akau’s current season Group 1-winning two-year-old colt Move To Strike (I Am Invincible).
Widden’s champion sire Zoustar was responsible for the three most expensive yearlings sold on day one in a session where 12 horses reached six figures.
Ellis, who bought four yearlings at the Gold Coast on Tuesday, signed for the Baramul Stud-bred and sold sibling to Te Akau’s Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) winner Move To Strike while a $350,000 Zoustar filly was bought by The Two Old Men Syndicate, another from the Baramul Stud draft.
Riverstone Lodge also sold a colt by Zoustar for $200,000 to Australian Bloodstock. An I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) colt also changed hands with a $200,000 price tag on day one after being purchased by Prime Thoroughbreds’ Joe O’Neill.
With Te Akau-raced Group 1 winners Princess Coup (Encosta De Lago), Tell A Tale (Tale Of The Cat), Costa Viva (Encosta De Lago) and Campionessa (Contributer) all emerging from the National sale, Ellis was more than happy to remain on the Gold Coast for the last leg of the weanling, broodmare and yearling sale series.
Ellis, who chalked up his 60th yearling purchase in 2024 with a quartet of buys on Tuesday, said the top-priced Zoustar colt’s pedigree had a lot to like about it – and more than just the fact he is a half-brother to Te Akau’s leading New Zealand 2,000 (Gr 1, 1600m) contender for next season.
The colt is the tenth foal out of Group 2 winner No Evidence Needed (Shamardal), a former Patinack Farm-owned mare who has also produced the stakes-placed Discharged (Snitzel).
“We love Shamardal as the broodmare sire and we’ve got a horse in the stable that’s a half-brother that we think is one of the best two-year-olds we’ve ever had and he’s won a Group 1 already,” Ellis said of Lot 1388.
“We’ve also had a lot of success buying out of Generous mares and out of Danehill mares, so to have Shamardal, Generous and Danehill as the broodmare sires [on the colt’s dam side] is pretty exciting.”
Ellis was an active buyer at the Gold Coast in January as well as the Inglis Premier and Inglis Easter sales.
The Melbourne Premier and Easter yearlings have been educated in Australia but the Gold Coast batch in January and the June-acquired yearlings will be sent to Te Akau Stud in New Zealand.
Ellis also signed for a Written Tycoon (Iglesia) filly from the Yulong draft which cost $130,000, a Cool Aza Beel (Savabeel) filly ($67,500) bought out of the Newhaven Park draft and a $57,500 Hellbent (I Am Invincible) filly from Lincoln Farm.
The second most expensive filly was also consigned by Baramul Stud having been through the Gold Coast sales ring in January.
Bred in partnership by Harvey, Echo Beach Bloodstock, Greenwich Stud, Hybrook Pastoral Co and Encompass International, the filly was initially passed in at the Gold Coast in January with a reserve of $300,000 when offered by Vinery Stud.
She is the seventh foal out of the city winning mare Fit And Ready (More Than Ready), the half-sister to Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Catbird (Danehill) and Group 2-winning juvenile Danbird (Danehill).
Fit And Ready has already produced Group 3 winner Outrageous (All Too Hard), Western Australian Oaks (Gr 3, 2400m) winner Very Tempting (Redoute’s Choice) and the stakes-placed Temptacion (All Too Hard).
Baramul Stud also sold a So You Think (High Chaparral) sister to Rosehill Guineas (Gr 1, 2000m) winning young Bowness Stud-based sire D’Argento for $180,000 to Singapore’s Eric Koh.
The filly, the tenth living foal out of Listed winner Fullazz (Redoute’s Choice), is also a sister to the stakes placed Diamond’s Choice and a half-sister to Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) runner-up Fullazaboot (Sepoy).
Koh, who manages Falcon Racing, King Power and his own Team Cheval racing portfolio, also signed for four other yearlings on day one ranging in price from $30,000 to $100,000.
Buyers from the Philippines also played an important role in the market, buying 19 yearlings during the opening session.
“If you look at the participation from all over Asia, whether that be from China, Hong Kong, Singapore and, in particular, the Philippines, they bought 19 horses today,” Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch said.
“Kudos to David Chester for getting out and marketing the sale so well in recent weeks. The proof is in the pudding. He got numbers here and they’re participating.”
Trade of $5.22 million was up 15 per cent on the same session in 2023 while the clearance rate also climbed to 67 per cent compared to 56 per cent last year. The median fell from $30,000 to $29,000.
“No doubt it’s a selective market, especially when you’re getting to the end of the yearling sale series, but I think when a nice horse walked in that had vetted out well, it was keenly sought after,” Bowditch said.
“The top sires dominated, whether that be Zoustar or I Am Invincible or So You Think, but a Tassort filly selling well [for $175,000] from a one-horse vendor or an Admire Mars colt from Berkeley Park that sold for $140,000 were big results that far exceeded both the reserve and the vendors’ expectations.”
The final National Yearling Sale session starts at 10am.
Sale results – day one
2024 2023
Catalogued 200 202
Offered 164 173
Sold 110 (67%) 98 (56%)
Aggregate $5,220,000 (+15%) $4,529,500
Average $47,455 (+2.6%) $46,219
Median $29,000 (-3.3%) $30,000
Top Lot $400,000 $750,000