Mikki Isle colt reigns supreme at $500,000 at Magic Millions 2YOs In Training Sale
Realistic vendors facilitate trade in order to continue business into 2021
A $500,000 son of Japanese shuttle stallion Mikki Isle (Deep Impact) and three other horses who made more than $200,000 were the highlights of yesterday’s Magic Millions Gold Coast 2YOs In Training Sale in a market where most vendors took a long-term decision to trade with a buying bench missing a key segment.
A flurry of action occurred late in the afternoon session, led by a sales ring triumph for Mel O’Gorman who successfully sold the athletic Mikki Isle colt to Rosehill trainer Gary Moore, ten months after buying him from the same auction ring for less than a fifth of that amount.
Two-year-olds by proven Australian colonial stallions Nicconi (Bianconi), Hinchinbrook (Fastnet Rock) and Exceed And Excel (Danehill) made $280,000, $270,000 and $250,000 respectively.
Catalogued as Lot 181, the Mikki Isle colt was bought by O’Gorman for $82,500 from Arrowfield in the Book 2 session of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale earlier this year.
Out of the unraced Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) mare In The Clear, he received a pedigree update when the Tom Dabernig and Ben Hayes-trained Azaly (Dundeel) finished runner-up in the Geelong Classic (Listed, 2200m) last month.
“I am absolutely thrilled. It’s a great result for Magic Millions and myself. We thought he was a real standout coming into the sale but it’s obviously a tough year under the circumstances, but it proves that if you have the right article the money is there for them,” O’Gorman told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“From day one, I thought he was a really serious horse. He’s got a great temperament and attitude. You can see that he’s got speed, but also the family’s winning over Derby distances so he ticks a lot of boxes. I really feel that I sold the winning bidder the genuine article.”
Moore, bidding over the phone via Magic Millions’ David Chester, waged an enthralling battle with fellow Sydney trainer Annabel Neasham to eventually secure the colt for the half-a-million dollar figure.
The trainer, who recently joined a partnership with his brother John, said his Hong Kong client intended to keep the horse in Australia for at least the immediate future.
“He wanted something out of this sale and I just went through all the horses and I could see that the stallion was doing very well in Japan and when you watched him go away from you in the breeze, his action was perfect,” Moore said.
“I watched him numerous times and I particularly watch them when they go past the winning post and he really lengthened.
“He was just a great type and had a lot of presence. I didn’t think we’d have to go that far but my client wanted to buy him.
“These horses are hard to find, so it is pretty exciting to get him and, don’t forget, he’s come off one of the best nurseries in the land in Arrowfield, so he has been on good pasture and he’s been consigned by Mel O’Gorman who is one of the best in the business.
“You couldn’t ask for any more.”
The Mikki Isle sale topper helped O’Gorman claim the leading vendor title by aggregate and average, with the Tamworth-based horsewoman selling her draft of eight two-year-olds for a total of $975,000 at an average of $121,875.
O’Gorman said her draft was brought to the Gold Coast “to sell”.
“We can’t expect to win on every horse or expect to win every year. There will be good years and bad years and you will have your ups and downs,” she said.
“As a vendor who has been doing this for some years now, I have learnt to roll with it and you take the good years with the bad years.”
Last night, Magic Millions had sold 123 horses at an average of $53,569 and a median of $34,000. The clearance rate was at 70 per cent.
They are figures that left Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch satisfied, particularly when the Singapore market was non-existent at this year’s sale,after owners and trainers from the Asian jurisdiction bought 30 horses last year.
“We have got to applaud the vendors who have come here to meet the market and we have a core of vendors that do this year in and year out and again they bring a great product to the sale, whether they were making money or not,” Bowditch said last night.
“It was a great result for Mel O’Gorman to see that colt make that much money so late in the day – he was an outstanding colt and I’m thrilled for Mel and her team.
“I think the sale to get a clearance rate of 70 per cent, given the circumstances, with no internationals in attendance and no Victorians or no Sydney, it makes things very difficult. But we have to applaud the ones did participate in those areas.”
Bowditch continued: “The vendors clearly understood the reality of the market and they did what they needed to do to sell their horses and they met the market and they created confidence for people to get in and bid.
“I think it was a genuine sale, but there is no point in sugar-coating the results, we are down on last year, but under the circumstances the results are more than adequate.”
Nature Strip lookalike makes $280,000
Another horse to sell well late in the day was a son of Nicconi who was described as being very similar in looks to the Widden Stud stallion’s best offspring to date, the explose sprinter Nature Strip.
The KBL Thoroughbreds-consigned colt, who was catalogued as Lot 203, is the first foal out of two-time winner Life’s Zerprise (Choisir). The colt was a $140,000 purchase at the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale by Breeze Up Bloodstock who now trade under Zhongli Thoroughbreds.
The colt was bought by Gold Coast couple Hoss and Gillian Heinrich who signed under the Winners Bloodstock banner.
“He was an absolutely sensational type. Obviously he breezed really well and has everything that we like,” Gillian Heinrich said.
“We looked at him three or four times today and everytime we looked at him he looked better. I thought maybe $200,000 to $220,000 may have pulled him up, but obviously a couple of people were on him and really liked him and when other people are on them you’re going to have to pay more.”
Park looks ahead after ‘tough’ sale
Symphony Lodge’s Matthew Park, one of the leading vendors at the Gold Coast two-year-old sale for a number of years, admitted that the market had been “tough” but that he and his clients were prepared to meet the market in order to ensure trade was achieved.
“There’s some money there for the better ones but even that’s hard. I thought it might have been a little bit easier, but it’s a tough year. They are getting sold, that’s the main thing,” Park said.
“We have put the reserves down and a lot of the better ones we’ve put the reserves down at cost price or less, just to get them moved this year, and then we can move on to next year.
“People are buying at a bargain and hopefully they’ve got themselves good horses.”
The highest-priced lot sold by Symphony Lodge was a Written Tycoon (Iglesia) gelding, who was catalogued as Lot 109, for $150,000 to Filipino owner Rodolfo Mendoza.
“There’s a lot of interest there but I just don’t think there’s the top-end money here like it has been in previous years. We thought he would have been a $300,000 colt easily, being by Written Tycoon, and everything was perfect with him.
“Even at $150,000, I think he’s very good buying.”
Magic Millions marketed the sale strongly to trainers from NSW, Queensland and the Northern Territory in a bid to increase the depth of the buying bench and Park believes those trainers’ involvement was evident throughout the day.
“One thing we’ve seen this year is that a lot of the Asian and the international buyers are nowhere near as strong, but there’s a lot more local buyers here,” he said.
“We’ve got the likes of Brett Cavanough and Mitch Beer who are buying horses and hopefully get them home and have some good results and then they will take this sale more seriously from now on.”
Australian syndicators were also active and none more so than Darby Racing, who purchased three two-year-olds at the sale, with the $250,000 Exceed And Excel colt the most expensive.
He was consigned by Nolen Racing after he was purchased for $130,000 at the Magic Millions sale in January from the Rosemont Stud draft. He is a half-brother to recent Ethereal Stakes (Gr 3, 2000m) winner Chica Fuerte (Hinchinbrook).
Michael and Richard Freedman will train the colt.
“We are absolutely rapt to get that colt for that price. He is just a beautifully made horse and there was a lot of hype around him physically,” Scott Darby said.
“He is really balanced in his breeze-up and a pedigree that could see him stand at stud if he were to win the right races. I really thought $250,000 given for him was really good buying.
“It was really interesting because the Mikki Isle made $500,000 and we had them sort of as our top two lots and we got him at $250,000 and when that went on to make half a million – we were rapt with that.”
In conjunction with agent Will Johnson, who used a day pass to the Gold Coast to inspect horses on Monday, Darby Racing also paid $120,000 for a Deep Field (Northern Meteor) gelding and $100,000 for a Kuroshio (Exceed And Excel) colt.
Nolen’s Pride Of Dubai colt off to Hong Kong
Tony “Tubba” Williams inspected horses on behalf of Hong Kong trainer Ricky Yiu and landed a Pride Of Dubai (Street Cry) colt for $180,000. Catalogued as Lot 177, he was an $80,000 buy from the Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale in February.
“Dean Hawkes and Ricky Yiu contacted me to help out at the sale as they couldn’t get here which I was more than glad to do and fortunately we were able to buy this colt,” Williams said.
“I think he was really good value, by a stallion who is really doing a good job. He is the ideal physical type for Hong Kong in my opinion. He is the type of horse that Ricky and Dean would normally buy and he breezed-up well and is prepared by Nolen Racing who consistently do a good job.
“Ricky has been a supporter of the breeze-up sale and he likes a specific type and he was champion trainer in Hong Kong last season, he buys a nice horse and I feel this colt would be exactly what he would be looking for.”
Williams, the former boss of auction house Goffs UK, said the international borders being closed, and also the fact that Queensland is off limits to Victorians, made compiling a complete buying bench difficult for Magic Millions.
“This sale isn’t ideal for any of the vendors and there are a lot of people who obviously would be hurting, there is no doubt about it, but there are some good sales also,” he said.
“This is the sign of the times and there is nothing anyone could do about this. I just wish the state governments had opened the borders and allowed sales like this go ahead normally.
“There is quite a (high) pass-in rate, which is unfortunate, but we have to live through this year and then we have to look forward to 2021 and 2022 and make the most of what we have to work with.
“I feel like there have been a lot of purchases that were really good value at the sale today and the Pride Of Dubai horse was no exception.”
Son of Hinchinbrook mades $270,000
Denys Chan was determined to attend yesterday’s Gold Coast sale and he ensured the two-week stint in hotel quarantine was worthwhile after securing a Hong Kong-bound colt by Hinchinbrook for $270,000.
Consigned by Kenmore Lodge as Lot 31, the colt is the first living foal out of the stakes-placed mare Paris Match (Street Cry). He was a $100,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale purchase earlier this year by Ken James.
Chan purchased the Hinchinbrook colt for client Lisa Ngai and he is likely to be trained in Hong Kong by former champion jockey Dougles Whyte.
“Hinchinbrook is doing very well in Hong Kong with horses like Beat The Clock – he’s an amazing sire who suits Hong Kong,” Chan said.
“He’s from Hinchinbrook’s last crop, so we won’t be able to get them any more. He’s got perfect x-rays and he scoped clean.”
As was predicted, the market had swung in the favour of buyers with vendors lowering their sights in order to get horses sold and Chan agreed.
“He was one of the horses who caught my eye. There are plenty of good horses here at the sale and I think it was good buying. It’s a buyers’ market,” he said.