Litt makes a big impact with flying Gold Coast visit
Ottavio Galletta, the majority owner of Group 1-winning stallion prospect Castelvecchio (Dundeel), did not reveal his intention to buy the only horse by Deep Impact (Sunday Silence) at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale until hours before the colt went through the ring.
It was left to Castelvecchio’s Sydney-based trainer Richard Litt to handle the bidding on behalf of Galletta, chiming in at $1.7 million before landing the Arrowfield Stud-offered lot for $1.9 million.
He was one of four million dollar lots sold yesterday, bringing the total of seven–figure lots changing hands so far to seven, in a market that remains buoyant with a thirst from the buying bench for new stock.
By Japan’s champion sire Deep Impact, who died last year, the colt is the first foal out of Group 3-winning mare Honesty Prevails (Redoute’s Choice) and Litt revealed his client was prepared to keep going, had the competition continued for the prized yearling.
“This was a massive responsibility on me and it’s not something I will be taking lightly – I have to step up and produce another good horse in a year or so,” Litt said.
“I never thought I would be in this position a year ago, I was here buying tried horses so we are very lucky.
“Ottavio knows his horses and he buys the ones he wants and he loved his pedigree. It was a bit nerve-wracking. There was no budget – I just did what he told me to do.”
On the colt himself, Litt said: “I only saw him a couple of hours ago, but he came out and was very professional – what can I say, he was perfect.
“He is very well bred out of a good mare and Deep Impact, they don’t make them anymore – he’s a lovely individual.”
Hong Kong-based owner Bon Ho, who races the Les Bridge-trained Group 2-winning sprinter Classique Legend (Not A Single Doubt), was the under bidder.
Arrowfield’s John Messara has had a long-established relationship with Galletta and orchestrated the deal to buy a majority share in the Arrowfield Stud-bred Castelvecchio late last year with a view to retiring him to stud in the next year or two.
But Galletta did not flag his interest in the valuable colt in the days leading up to yesterday’s auction which saw a $500,000 opening bid.
“Ottavio plays his cards very close to his chest. He asked me a few times about this horse and I told him, ‘Ottavio, I think this horse is going to fetch a million-plus’ and he said ‘that’s going to be too much money’.
“He obviously had his mind set. Ottavio is a canny investor and I guess what he’s done is give us some of our money back for the purchase of Castelvecchio. I’m excited that he’s got him and we are obviously in the stable now with the other horse, so I’ll be able to keep an eye on this bloke.”
Messara had neither sought nor been offered a chance to retain a stake in the colt who is the only lot by Deep Impact in the catalogue.
“Richard’s a young trainer with a big future and this will give him an additional boost now on top of Castelvecchio,” he said.
“I made no arrangements to buy any equity but if he offers me some equity I wouldn’t mind having it, by the way, so that way the horse can stand at Arrowfield otherwise he’s going to hit me for tens of millions to buy in at some later stage.”
The colt is out of the former Rick Worthington-trained Honesty Prevails and he carries the same cross that has proved successful in the past with Epsom Cup (Gr 3, 1800m) winner Satono Arthur (Deep Impact). He was catalogued as Lot 385.
Messara was also pleased with the way the progeny of Arrowfield’s new season sires Mikki Isle (Deep Impact), Maurice (Screen Hero) and Shalaa (Invincible Spirit), the latter who had a colt sell for $600,000 yesterday.
He said: “I don’t like these unproven horses selling for too much money because the expectation becomes enormous on the progeny. I’ve been caught in that before, but they are averaging around $200,000 which is about six and seven times the service fee which is more than enough.
“I’m very pleased with the acceptance of these horses.”
Karuta Queen filly by Written Tycoon fetches $1.5 million
Sheamus Mills was so taken by the Written Tycoon (Iglesia) daughter of Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) winner Karuta Queen (Not A Single Doubt) that he went to $1.5 million to secure her, considerably more than he thought he would have to pay.
The Victorian agent tried to avoid cliches, but he was certain that the John Singleton-bred, Strawberry Hill Stud-sold filly was the best yearling he had ever seen.
Such was his conviction that he kept bidding, well past the $800,000 to $900,000 figure he had placed on her.
“I don’t know what I’m thinking actually, I hope someone is going to pay for it,” Mills said as the adrenaline was still pumping shortly after the hammer fell.
“I got a bit carried away there, but people use these superlatives about the best horses in the sale which is a lot of sales talk. But she’s as good a yearling as I have ever seen, not just a filly and not just at this sale, she really is as good as a yearling as I’ve seen.
“She is outstanding. I just couldn’t fault her. I generally judge horses up to A-plus and I had to invent a new category on my scale and I just said to the boys ‘If I had to give something an A+++ that’s her.”
It was the first time Mills has bought a yearling for more than $1 million, dramatically surpassing the $500,000 he had previously paid.
She will be raced by a partnership of Mills’ clients and it is yet to be decided who will train the filly.
The fifth foal out of Karuta Queen, all of them fillies, she is a half-sister to the stakes winner Eawase (Sebring), the promising three-year-old Oh Please Diana (Deep Field) and the unraced two-year-old sister to the $1.5 million filly in Pocket Goddess. She was catalogued as Lot 434.
“It’s an outstanding sale and she was a magnificent filly, a real queen. I’ve been selling horses for a long time, but you very rarely get a filly who looks like that,” Singleton’s racing manager Duncan Grimley said.
“She paraded beautifully the whole sale, never turned a hair. Everyone who looked at her and inspected her, the good judges were back four and five times and she paraded perfectly every time and they thought it was extraordinary themselves.
“When the horse went in the ring, there were bids everywhere, so to get that result was fantastic for everybody.”
Grimley revealed there was a tinge of regret in parting with a filly of her quality, but tough decisions needed to be made.
“There always is, but we also run a business and occasionally we get to a time where we have to sell things that we probably shouldn’t or wouldn’t normally and this year is one of those years,” he said.
“We are selling a lot of horses that in a normal year we would keep, but we haven’t been kicking enough goals on the racetrack at the moment, so that is reflected in our yearling sales.
“It’s unfortunate for John that we are selling a filly like that but the other side of it is that she has gone to a great home and we got a great price and we will follow her with great interest.”
Karuta Queen has a filly at foot by Spirit Of Boom (Sequalo) and is in foal to Zoustar (Northern Meteor).
New record for yearling by Hinchinbrook
Demand for last crop yearlings by Yarraman Park’s late sire Hinchinbrook (Fastnet Rock) also remained strong on day two, with Coolmore going to $1.15 million for a colt and creating a new yearling price record for the stallion.
Tom Magnier and agent James Bester signed for the Yarraman Park Stud-offered colt and it was the latter who immediately put the horse on the short list when inspecting him in Scone late last year.
“Hinchinbrook is no longer with us unfortunately, but he has the best sprinter in Hong Kong and had a great horse in Press Statement before that. He had a very good colt in Derryn, so we are confident that he can get the right kind of colt,” Bester said.
“This is a beautiful animal. I thought personally he was the best horse in the sale, all the way from his beautiful head, great colour and quality, a great hindquarter and a sublime walk. He just strolled along like a panther, so he was a must-have horse.”
Bester hopes the colt’s pedigree gains a further update in the next six months via the deeds of close relation, The Everest (1200m) winner Yes Yes Yes (Rubick) who is now majority owned by the Coolmore syndicate.
“It didn’t hurt the pedigree at all with Yes Yes Yes for whom we have great expectations at Royal Ascot this year,” he said.
“The fact that In Her Time is a top-class Group 1-type horse by Time Thief, all those good horses bode well. He was an absolute star all the way through and was the star of the show.”
Catalogued as Lot 364, the colt is out five-time winning mare Harlem Heat (Xaar), making him a three-quarter brother to Listed winner Harlem River (Fastnet Rock).
The colt’s third dam is Steam Heat (Salieri), whose 13 foals to race have all been winners, including Group 3 winner Hot As Hell (County) and Listed-winning pair Flaming Hot (County) Craig’s Dragon (Catbird).
Steam Heat is also a half-sister to Sin Sin Sin (Fantastic Light) – the dam of Everest (1200m) winner Yes Yes Yes (Rubick), while she also counts Hell It’s Hot (Zeditave) – the dam of dual Group 1-winning mare In Her Time (Time Thief) – as her half-sibling.
Hinchinbrook also had a colt sell to Hawkes Racing for $850,000 on Wednesday.
Return With Honour’s owner goes again
The owner of leading Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) contender Wisdom Of Water (Headwater) teamed up with Sydney trainer Gerald Ryan to buy a colt by dominant sire Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) for $1.1 million.
Chinese businessman An Zhiqiang, who also races the highly promising Ryan-trained Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) bound colt Return With Honour (Fastnet Rock), landed the expensive colt who is from the family of champion European three-year-old and Cambridge Stud shuttler Almanzor (Wootton Bassett).
Redoute’s Choice, who died early last year, has enjoyed a great 12 months with his progeny highlighted by the deeds of five-time Group 1 winner The Autumn Sun.
Ryan said An approached him earlier in the week to select a number of potential purchases which included the million dollar colt.
The Rosehill-based trainer was rapt to see the horse coming to his stable.
“Redoute’s Choice has amazing stats since he’s died, He’s had 17 stakes winners since he died. He might be dead, but his legacy lives on,” Ryan said.
“He’s from a great family and is a very athletic horse. I’d be very surprised if he wasn’t up and going as a two-year-old, whether he’s here or up and going in the autumn, I don’t know, he is as good a moving colt as I’ve seen here.”
Ryan admitted he only received the go-ahead to bid on the colt at the last minute.
“Mr An asked me the other day for half a dozen numbers. I gave them to him and I didn’t hear from him until the horse was in the ring. (Mr An’s assistant) Victoria (Wong) rang me and told me to come out the back and see them,” he said.
Offered by Bhima Thoroughbreds on behalf of breeder Jonathan Munz as Lot 354, the colt is the second foal out of the Hussonet (Mr Prospector) mare Gresset who is a half-sister to the South African Grade 2 winner Honorine (Redoute’s Choice).
The sale continues the success for Munz who also sold an Exceed And Excel (Danehill) colt for $900,000 on the first day.
“Johnathan Munz puts a lot in and breeds a lot of mares so it is great to get this sort of mare. It was great for a very good client,” Bhima Thoroughbreds’ Mike Fleming said.
“The brother to Big Party on Wednesday was great timing, which can mean a lot in this game with him winning a Group 3 in Hong Kong certainly helped the activity on him.”
Spendthrift see Red with $650,000 Frosted filly
Another yearling with international appeal yesterday was the half-sister to multiple Group 1 winner Santa Ana Lane (Lope De Vega) by champion US sprinter-miler Frosted (Tapit), with dual-hemisphere operation Spendthrift’s Australian venture landing the filly for $650,000.
It was the second time in as many years that Spendthrift Australia has provided a windfall for pinhookers Redwall Bloodstock who paid $300,000 for the Frosted filly last year as a weanling.
Garry Cuddy, Spendthrift Australia’s general manager, also signed for a Zoustar (Northern Meteor) colt from the Widden Stud-Redwall Bloodstock consignment at the Gold Coast in 2019 and was happy to reward the pinhooking operation again
“We have been talking about Frosted for the past few days and we actually bought two in the northern hemisphere and we’ve added this filly in the southern hemisphere,” Cuddy said.
“We’re going to have to buy another pinhook off Redwall. They’ve done a great job and she is a lovely filly who is full of quality.”
Spendthrift Australia has strong links to the Hawkes Racing stable but Cuddy said a decision on a trainer for the filly would not be made until she had been broken in.
He also did not rule out the daughter of Frosted eventually finding her way to the US.
“It’s hard to say (but her pedigree) keeps both doors open. We have the operation here and the operation in America and buying fillies who have the appeal in both hemispheres is on our radar,” he said.
“If we are lucky enough that she is good enough to go up there or stay here I guess we’ll cross that bridge when it happens.”
The filly was sold to Redwall Bloodstock by Aquis Farm at the Magic Millions National Weanling Sale last year. She is one of the flag bearers for Darley shuttler Frosted and is the seventh foal out of the winning mare Fast Fleet (Fastnet Rock), herself a half-sister to Group 3 winner Blimey O’Reilly (O’Reilly). She was catalogued as Lot 301.
“She was the one I was looking forward to all year since we bought her here last May. We were very impressed with the way she behaved all week and the final result,” said Tweenhills’ Hannah Wall, who heads the Redwall Bloodstock syndicate with David Redvers.
“It was a slight gamble as Frosted is an unproven stallion, but we ultimately felt that she was such a good physical as a weanling … so as a type, on pedigree and the fact she is a filly there was always going to be residual value there anyway.
“We were pretty strong on her as foal, so we all knew that it just had to come together here this week.”
Later in the session, Spendthrift Australia also struck a sales ring blow by going to $900,000 for a colt by Vinery Stud’s veteran shuttler More Than Ready (Southern Halo) from Lime Country Thoroughbreds.
“I think, to us, he was the best More Than Ready on the complex and if all goes to plan on the race track, we’ve got a horse that we can stand in both hemispheres,” Cuddy said.
“It’s a nice big family underneath the first dam. He looks a lot like a General Nediym, so if we can get a bit of the General Nediym speed, mixed with the More Than Ready, it will give him opportunity here.”
He added: “More Than Ready gets a good type but this guy had a big engine, a big lovely shoulder on him and he just walked out of his box every day and never turned a wrong foot.”
The colt, who was catalogued as Lot 453, is the fifth foal out of La Fluorescent (General Nediym) who is a half-sister to stakes winners Savvy Nature (Savabeel) and Addictive Nature (Savabeel).
Strong trend continues
After two days of selling, the 2020 Magic Millions sale is almost on par with last year’s record-breaking January auction, underlining the depth of participation from owners, trainers, syndicators and investors wanting to be involved in the racing industry.
The aggregate closed last night at $104,344,500, up less than one per cent on last year, while the average of $249,023 was down just one per cent year-on-year with predictions that there remains some highly sought after yearlings still to go through the ring today and tomorrow night.
“It was a really deep day’s selling and we are above our expectations to this point. The market was solid from start to finish today,” Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch said.
“When you have got an 86 per cent clearance rate and sold 419 horses so far, it’s deep. The vendors have sent great horses to the sale and put realistic reserves on them and the buyers are finding their level. They have confidence in the market and it’s hard not to be pleased with what’s going on out there.”
Bowditch also saw yesterday’s session as a defining moment for two industry professionals, Richard Litt and Sheamus Mills.
“It’s a great spread of buyers at the moment and it’s good to see some new names at the top having Richard Litt and Sheamus Mills – names who are unfamiliar at the top end of this sale,” he said.
“I am thrilled that they were able to find the horses they were after and to find the clients to purchase them for.”
Day three starts at 10am today.