Perth again relies on local buying bench for delayed yearling sale
Magic Millions’ yearling sale roadshow moves swiftly on from the conclusion of yesterday’s Tasmania auction and arrives at Perth, where the delayed Western Australian sale gets underway today in the Swan Valley.
Following the resistance of WA state premier Mark McGowan to open interstate borders last month as planned, Magic Millions took the swift decision to postpone the Perth Yearling Sale for a second year, this time by eight days, in a bid to get key members of staff, including auctioneer Grant Burns and Magic Millions Perth manager David Houston, at the complex following the conclusion of its Gold Coast Yearling Sale on January 17.
Last year the sale was struck by a double setback, with Covid lockdown restrictions combining with a destructive bushfire in the area, resulting in the auction being pushed back by three days.
The sale of 338 catalogued lots across two days of trade begins at 1pm today, and Houston remains optimistic of a successful sale, despite operating under border closures for the second consecutive year, with home buyers driving the demand in the absence of interstate footfall.
“We’re starting to get used to this. This is our second consecutive year where we’ve had a few hurdles put in front of us,” Houston told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“Last year it was the new Covid isolations and lockdowns, as well as a bushfire, which forced the sale to be put back, and obviously this year with the government’s change in the opening date for Western Australia we again had to put it back again.
“There weren’t many windows for the sale. Like isolation, the windows aren’t open! Vendors are always cautious, but because we’re an isolated state and the way things have had to be done with buyers unable to travel interstate, they (the local buyers) love the horses here that are Westspeed eligible, so that’s a great incentive to buy here locally. Any number of buyers have told me here that they’ve got orders ready to go, so the vendors should be positive.”
Last year’s sale was topped by a Western Breeders Alliance-consigned son of Newgate Farm first–season sire Russian Revolution (Snitzel) for $325,000 – the highest-priced lot since 2017 at Perth – with local trainer Simon Miller signing for the colt.
The sale again sees a wide representation of yearlings by leading and up-and-coming sires listed in the catalogue, with yearlings by leading first-season sire Russian Revolution, as well as youngsters by Deep Field (Northern Meteor), Written Tycoon (Iglesia), Capitalist (Written Tycoon), Toronado (High Chaparral) and So You Think (High Chaparral) presented to the market.
The variety is again evident among the draft of last year’s leading Book 1 vendors, the Western Breeders Alliance.
This year the coalition group will offer 29 yearlings, up from the 19 presented a year ago, with the draft featuring fillies by Deep Field, a sire whose first Group 1 winner Portland Sky was sold at this sale, and Russian Revolution, as well as a considerable locally-bred presence.
While the sale stood up to the absence of interstate buyers in 2021, Darling View Stud’s Brent Atwell hopes the local buying bench can again hold up the market.
“Where we’ve lost a little bit of east coast movement and dollars, our local buyers have been able to pick up the fall,” Atwell said.
“I’m a little bit concerned. We’ll still have a little bit of (interstate) involvement, but WA racing is strong at the moment and we have a great bonus scheme and prize-money is very good.
“There is good confidence in our local buyers and there’s a good number of new people coming into the game.”
Western Australian buyers will be introduced to the first yearlings by Breeders’ Plate (Listed, 1000m) and Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) runner-up Bondi (Snitzel). The Lynward Park Stud resident has ten yearlings offered at the sale, including eight colts, and stud principal Troy Van Heemst is looking forward to seeing how his first crop is received.
“From the moment his first foals hit the ground we’ve been really excited about the types and temperaments of them,” Van Heemst said.
“We’ve been in the game for nearly 20 years and this is the first time we’ve started looking for a stallion and feel we’ve got everything you need in this package. He’s a superior horse and it’s evidenced through his stock.”
Among Bondi’s yearlings on offer in the Western Breeding Alliance draft is Lot 117, a colt out of Snowland (Snippets) mare Devil’s Arcade, a stakes placegetter in Sydney.
“He’s impossible not to like. He’s just got the right amount of muscle, bone and size and a great head,” Van Heemst said.
Aside from Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Portland Sky, who dead-heated alongside Celebrity Queen (Redoute’s Choice) in 2021, with this year’s edition held this Saturday at Caulfield, the sale has been responsible for stakes-winning graduates including Karrakatta Plate (Gr 2, 1200m) winner Ex Sport Man (Playing God), Prime Thoroughbreds’ Group 3-winning mare Fituese (Deep Field), who also ran second in Group 2 company, and the Mogumber Park-sold recent Magic Millions WA 3YO Trophy (RL, 1200m) winner Pixie Chix (Rommel).
Mogumber Park stud principal Colin Brown, who a year ago sold the top lot on day two – a brother to Pixie Chix – believes this is the best draft they’ve consigned to the sale, headlined by a popular Russian Revolution colt, catalogued as Lot 137, among 14 lots on offer.
“Every time you talk to a vendor they’ll say ‘we’ve got something for everyone and this is our best draft yet’ but, honestly, we believe this is the best, most varied draft that we’ve brought to the sales,” Brown said.
“We go from having an outstanding Russian Revolution colt, in which there’s been a huge amount of interest in, to the only Written Tycoon in the sale and the last foal out of one of our blue hen mares in Mississippi Belle (Marooned), a half to Group 1 winner Elite Belle, so for us there’s a number of standouts within our draft.”
Brown was another undeterred by the restrictions on interstate movement, citing a lack of activity from domestic buyers in other markets as a positive going into the state’s premier yearling sale of the season.
“It’s been interesting, if our buying bench had gone to other states and had been buying a lot, then we’d be feeling the pressure a lot more. But there’s a lot more local buyers coming out that are showing interest,” he said.
“Across the nation we’re learning how to put information out in a form that people can look at and generate interest in. We will miss the interstate buyers not being here, but I don’t think as much as it could have been.”
Ruby siblings hoping for another gem among burgeoning draft
Jaime and Daniel O’Bree have made a bright start since taking over the running of their parents’ farm and establishing their Ruby Racing brand. Among the sibling’s headline graduates is BRC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) winner Tiger Of Malay (Extreme Choice) – a $255,000 buy for China Horse Club from the Inglis Easter yearling sale in 2020.
The duo presented their first draft at the 2020 Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale with six lots on offer, an offering which expanded to 11 last year, and today the operation presents a consignment of 14 yearlings, bolstered by the investment of prominent breeder Ellie Giles.
“We’re starting to get to the point where we can build a consistent draft in the years coming, and we’re getting a lot of recognition in the Ruby brand,” said Jaime O’Bree.
“We didn’t think we’d build this quickly, but we’ll take the platform and run and I think we’re doing a decent job at the moment. We’ve got Ellie Giles backing us as well and when you have a quality breeder that’s been around for years – we’ve got six of hers in our draft this year – that’s huge.
“She’s giving us tips and everything like that, so it’s been fantastic.”
Giles, who has previously consigned under the banner of Korilya Stud, has bred Group 1 winner Silent Sedition (War Chant), among others, and has among those on offer in Ruby Racing and Breeding’s draft a filly by War Chant (Danzig) out of a half-sister to Behemoth (All Too Hard), as well as a War Chant colt out of Brocky’s Ace (Surtee), who has already produced Group 2 winner Quilista (Scandal Keeper) and Group 3 winner Red Can Man (Gingerbread Man).
“People start to notice us a little bit,” said Daniel O’Bree. “Hopefully that translates into the market a little bit.
“Ellie has managed to give us Brocky’s Ace as well, so when you get a pedigree like that, with Quilista selling for $1 million on the east coast, it’s not just Western Australian horses that she can provide.
“She’s been great coming down and talking to the clients, about old times and new times. She loves it.”
Draft picks
Brent Atwell, Western Breeders Alliance
Lot 4: Deep Field ex On The Que Tee filly
She’s been very popular and is a lovely horse. She has a lovely pedigree, being closely related to Mars Mission in the Hawkes stable.
Troy Van Heemst, Lynward Park Stud
Lot 73: Bondi ex Aim For Gold colt
My pick of the draft probably isn’t the most popular horse here. I’m still fairly new at this and I’m still getting it wrong, but for me it has to be Lot 73. He’s just so athletic. I can see him getting to the track and two, like his mother and father did, but progressing on to be a Guineas horse at three and who knows what after that. He’s such a good type with great energy, but doesn’t waste it.
Colin Brown, Mogumber Park Stud
Lot 99: Safeguard ex Castle Queen filly
There’s a number of eyecatchers, but probably one that’s been out as much as anyone is a Safeguard filly that’s a three-quarter sister to (Group 3 runner-up) Specialism.
Daniel O’Bree, Ruby Racing
Lot 20: Maschino ex Radical Critique colt
I really like this colt. The Western Australians, they don’t miss with the Maschinos, and this is his first real commercial crop. He just has a real swagger to him, he’s just a beautiful structured colt who captures the eye and I hope he’ll do really well.