Inter-staters head west in search of a Playing God
Recognition for Darling View sire to underpin Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale
Not since Beau Sovereign (Sovereign Edition) in the 1980s has Western Australia had a sire as captivating to eastern states buyers as Playing God (Blackfriars) is now, recognition that is expected to fuel intense competition between locals and interstate investors over the next two days.
The champion Western Australian sire, who has been represented by five stakes winners this season, including Railway Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Bustler and he has 42 lots set to go under the hammer in the Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale, which starts today.
The interest in the Darling View Thoroughbreds sire’s offspring could transcend what has been a honeypot principally for Western Australian buyers but veteran Perth agent John Chalmers believes that’s about to change.
“It is not often that our stallions get recognised in the east, but it was interesting that when I was in New Zealand [for Karaka] a number of eastern states people and New Zealand people said to me, ‘Gee, you’ve got a good stallion over there in Playing God’,” Chalmers told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“He’s been highly recognised and it probably goes right back to the days of Beau Sovereign since I have heard any comment about our stallions here.
“He’s doing enough to encourage eastern-state buyers to buy [progeny of a] Western Australian stallion.”
Mungrup Pty Ltd’s Gray Williamson, the man who stood Playing God (Blackfriars) until the horse was transferred to Darling View Thoroughbreds, will offer the sister to the Neville Parnham-trained Bustler and the half-sister to the Trevor Andrews-trained A Lot Of Good Men (A Lot), who finished third in yesterday’s Challenge Stakes (Listed, 1500m) at Ascot.
Three-year-old A Lot Of Good Men was also three times stakes-placed during the Pinnacles Carnival at Ascot last November and December while his yearling half-sister is set to go through the ring in the second hour of the sale as Lot 41.
Williamson says it is Playing God’s ability to produce sound horses who train on, noting some of his first crop eight-year-olds were still in training.
“Playing God has gone ahead in leaps and bounds and his stats show him being up in that league with I Am Invincible for stakes winners to runners, that’s pretty damn good,” Williamson said.
“He should just continue on and once a few more get over east, people will start coming over specifically to buy some of these Playing Gods and that’s already started. That’s going to happen.”
Playing God, of course, will capture the headlines but the increased depth of the WA stallion ranks also provides buyers with diversity to access the lucrative Westspeed incentive scheme.
With a draft which includes a Westspeed Hellbent (I Am Invincible) filly, a sibling to the stakes-placed Bohemian Daisy (Hellbent) and a half-sister to fellow stakes performer Spiritual Pursuit (Snitzel), Mogumber Park’s Colin Brown said the sweltering conditions, which have reached an oppressive 45 degrees celsius at Magic Millions’ Swan Valley complex, had made it harder to judge the level of interest from the buying bench.
“This will be one of the hardest sales to judge because of the impact of the weather and as a result we haven’t had people rolling through,” Brown said.
“Today’s a bit different as it’s a bit cooler, but we’ve had interruptions all the way through [due to the heat]. That said, all of the people that you would hope to see the draft, the locals in particular, have come through.
“There’s been a lot of excitement about the catalogue, so we do create our own environment here and hopefully that will hold [the market] up as we are in our own bubble over here.”
Last year, Magic Millions WA manager David Houston said demand would outstrip supply, a prediction which led to a stunning clearance rate of 91 per cent for Book 1 at an average of $91,723 and a median of $70,000.
Twelve months on and Houston remains confident about the next two days while also being mindful of the fact an extra 25 horses have been catalogued for this year’s sale.
“To maintain last year’s average we’ll probably have to find another $1 million to $1.2 million and that would set a Western Australian record of over $21 million, so that’ll be a test,” Houston said.
“There’ll be very good support on the top-end of the market but there’ll be a lot of opportunity throughout the catalogue.”
That required additional buyer power may come with an increased interstate attendance, which includes syndicators Darby Racing and First Light Racing, agents James Mitchell, Suman Hedge, Merrick Staunton, breeze-up vendor Tal Nolen and David “Butch” Bourne.
Houston said: “Interestingly enough, there’s a lot of newer interstate people here, which is a good thing. They’re here and they have got to learn about our bloodlines but I think that’ll create quite a bit of interest, certainly keeping the locals on their toes.”
Chalmers, who has been attending Perth yearling sales since the early 1960s, believes the market will be in line with what’s occurred over the past two years.
“I remember day two here two years ago where there was one horse passed in for the whole day, so it wasn’t just last year that was a strong sale,” the agent said.
“So, I think the market again here this year will be very solid. Whether there’ll be an increase or not is difficult to say, but it’ll hold its own, there’s no question about that.”
The 192-lot Book 1 offering starts at 11am western standard time with the Book 2 sale to start at 10am tomorrow.