Ellis makes a splash on the Coast
Te Akau’s David Ellis came to the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale 12 months ago and left having spent an impressive $6,965,000. During the opening session of this year’s sale, the Kiwi, teaming up with numerous partners, picked up where he left off in 2024, buying six lots for a total spend of $2,485,000.
Ellis, sitting at the back of the packed auditorium, didn’t leave it too long before etching his name on the buyers’ sheet when parting with $625,000 for a Snitzel colt from the draft of Bhima Thoroughbreds, before entering the fore again when securing a Segenhoe Stud-consigned filly by I Am Invincible for $510,000.
A little later in the session, the Te Akau supremo showed his buying power once again when clinching another yearling by I Am Invincible, this time a colt, for $600,000, before adding another buy to his bulging portfolio, paying Westbury Stud $350,000 for a Savabeel (Zabeel) filly.
Later on in the afternoon, he parted with $100,000 for a Vinery Stud-consigned filly by Russian Revolution, while he also bought Coolmore’s colt by Home Affairs out of Group 1 winner Booker (Written Tycoon) for $300,000.
Catalogued as Lot 37, the Snitzel colt is from a family that Ellis would be familiar with, the youngster being the second foal out of the New Zealand-bred Australasian Oaks (Gr 1, 2000m) winner Toffee Tongue (Tavistock).
The mare’s first foal was purchased by Anthony Freedman and Suman Hedge Bloodstock for $350,000 at the same sale last year.
“It’s a terrific New Zealand family that we bought from Jonathan Munz, one of the great breeders in Australia,” said Ellis. “We’re thrilled to have a colt who is out of a Tavistock mare, they are going really well at stud, out of a Zabeel mare.
“You just can’t get better than that and he was a really precocious type that we can see winning about now [next year]. I think he’ll be a 1600-metre colt in time.”
Toffee Tongue herself is a sister to Hong Kong champion Werther as well as Group 3 scorer Gobstopper.
The $600,000 colt by ‘Vinnie’ was offered by Yarraman Park, where the stallion resides, and is out of the placed mare Zimaretto (Anabaa), who was provided with her eighth winner from as many runners when Heesen (Astern) landed her second start, a Kembla Grange maiden by 4.8 lengths last Saturday.
Zimaretto is also the dam of dual Group 3 winner California Zimbol (I Am Invincible) and Listed-winning duo Cruden Bay (Not A Single Doubt) and From Within (Not A Single Doubt).
Results ‘satisfy’ Bowditch
Across the opening day $45,125,000 was traded on 162 lots, which was a very marginal drop of 1.1 per cent on the total receipts recorded at the sale 12 months earlier, when 192 were knocked down for a gross of $45,928,000.
The day’s average finished at $278,549, another 1.1 per cent decrease from the $281,767 recorded on the first day last year, while the median closed at $200,000, $10,000 worse than 12 months ago. The clearance rate was down at 75 per cent, having closed at 87.8 per cent at the close of play on day one at last year’s edition.
Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch said he was ‘satisfied’ with the day’s trade and felt there were good results in all areas of the market.
“We’re satisfied with the first day,” Bowditch said. “Good healthy, genuine trade and four million–dollar lots was what we had last year.
“It set a good theme for the day and I think there’s a good middle to top end to come.
“With Stay Inside, he has been made into an outstanding first-season sire and that [his $1 million Bleu Zebra colt] is a great result.
“I’m really pleased with the average. We are just satisfied with the clearance rate. We’d be hoping to get as many horses sold as possible.
“We are in great shape that we can get to a similar number as last year.
“We sold a few more horses today, but I think it puts us in great shape to end up at a number that’s going to be not far from last year’s sale given the fact we’ve got a lot of key horses to come.”
Bowditch said he was particularly pleased to see Resolute’s John Stewart getting involved in the action, while also ruing the fact the Resolute team were unable to make the trip to the Gold Coast.
“It’s fantastic to see John and Chelsey and Resolute Bloodstock supporting Magic Millions,” he said.
“We’re really disappointed they can’t be here, we would have loved to have enjoyed the week with them and shown them the Magic Millions experience, which I think they both would have enjoyed thoroughly.
“It’s great that they’re participating and when they’re participating it means they’re likely to be back here for the race next year, so we’ll have them here next year and that is exciting for us.
“We thank them for their support thus far and we look forward to seeing how the sale progresses for them from here.”
The second day of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale gets underway at 10am (AEST) Wednesday.
SALE SNIPPETS
Lot 224: Zoustar ex Bonaria by Redoute’s Choice, colt
Price: $800,000
Buyer: Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott Racing/Kestrel Thoroughbreds/Kia Ora
Vendor: Widden Stud
“Magical. He was a lyrical sort of horse the way he moved and carried himself and he’s got a lovely pedigree,” said co-trainer Gai Waterhouse. “It’s a lovely mix. Robert Anderson bred him at Widden, he’s a great breeder and he’s been doing it a long time, so it’s very nice to get him. We had a partnership in place and that’s how we were able to secure him. All the good horses are two-year-olds and they go on to be three, four and five-year-olds.”
Lot 177: Too Darn Hot ex Asteroidea by American Pharoah, colt
Price: $650,000
Buyer: China Horse Club/Newgate Bloodstock/Kia Ora
Vendor: Segenhoe Stud
“He’s a very good stallion, Too Darn Hot. We love that colt. He’s very sharp out of a fast Australian family. There’s a lot of Dubawi about that fellow but a great mover as well,” said Newgate managing director Henry Field. “Bowness breed a good, tough horse. They work hard and they are great people. We thought he was a really spectacular colt and we thought he was one of our pics in the sale. We thought he was a special horse and hopefully he can gallop.”
Lot 234: Siyouni ex Bumbasina by Canford Cliffs, colt
Price: $$625,000
Buyer: Luke Fernie
Vendor: Segenhoe Stud
“We thought it was a nice horse and I’ve always had a soft spot for her [Bumbasina] and I thought ‘bugger it’ why not,” said trainer Luke Fernie. “We’ll let him grow and do his thing. We’ll have a crack but he’ll tell us when he’s ready.”
Lot 87: Snitzel ex Warranty by All Too Hard, colt
Price: $600,000
Buyer: China Horse Club/Newgate Bloodstock & Partners
Vendor: Segenhoe Stud
“We thought he was a very sharp, mature colt, raised by a very good farm in Segenhoe and bred by a very good breeder in John Camilleri,” said Field. “Very straightforward animal from a fast mare. We’ve had a lot of success buying Snitzels – we’ve bought three or four Group 1 winners by Snitzel. We thought he was a really sharp horse who we thought would go early and we like him a lot. There has been some caution in the market but we’re just pleased to get the horse.”
Day 1 statistics
2025 2024
Catalogued 240 210 Offered 217 192 Sold 162 (74.65%) 163 (87.8%)
Aggregate $45,125,000 (-1.7%) $45,928,000
Average $278,549 (-1.1%) $281,767
Median $200,000 (-4.7%) $210,000
Top Lot $1.8 million $1.3 million
LOTS TO WATCH – DAY TWO
Lot Sire Dam Sex
Lot 248 The Autumn Sun Carry On Alice Filly
Lot 256 Home Affairs Champagne Cuddles Filly
Lot 272 Frankel Cleanup Colt
Lot 280 Toronado Commanding Jewel Colt
Lot 290 I Am Invincible Courageous Kitty Filly
Lot 309 Snitzel Debonnaire Colt
Lot 335 Snitzel Dream Date Colt
Lot 353 I Am Invincible Eloping Filly
Lot 377 Zoustar Exaltation Filly
Lot 387 Snitzel Fashion Faux Pas Colt
Lot 395 Snitzel Festivity Colt
Lot 396 I Am Invincible Fiera Vista Colt
Lot 397 Pinatubo Fiesta Colt
Lot 424 Zoustar Fuddle Dee Duddle Colt
Lot 425 Home Affairs Fundamentalist Colt
Lot 435 I Am Invincible Giza Goddess Colt
Lot 436 Zoustar Glamorize Colt
Lot 438 I Am Invincible Glamour Cat Colt