Ryan and Hermitage look to familiar source
Trainer Gerald Ryan and prominent owners Hermitage Thoroughbreds are all too familiar with the on-track ability of first season sires Trapeze Artist (Snitzel) and The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice). Ryan prepared the former to four Group 1 triumphs, while the Chris Waller-trained The Autumn Sun carried the green and red chevroned silks of Hermitage to eight wins from nine starts.
And both buyers are now the proud owners of the most expensive yearlings so far to emanate from the stallions they created.
Lot 290, a colt by the Arrowfield Stud-based son of Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) out of the stakes-placed two-year-old Mount Zero (Northern Meteor), was knocked down for $550,000, matching the price Tasman Bloodstock paid yesterday for a colt by the stallion out of I Am Zelady (I Am Invincible).
Sourced from Arrowfield from where The Autumn Sun both derived and now stands, the colt stretches back to the family of 2020 Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Farnan (Not A Single Doubt).
Waller will also train The Autumn Sun three-quarter brother to Group 3 winner Spill The Beans (Snitzel) and dual Group 1 winner Kenedna (Not A Single Doubt) (Lot 267), after securing the colt for $500,000 in conjunction with Guy Mulcaster, as well as Lot 391, the Torryburn Stud-consigned colt out of Progressive (Street Cry), who was purchased for $400,000.
Meanwhile Ryan, who now trains in partnership with Sterling Alexiou, was forced to go to $600,000 for the colt from the Widden Stud draft where the colt’s imposing sire Trapeze Artist stands.
Catalogued as Lot 312, the grey colt is the second foal out of Natchwhali (O’Reilly), herself a half-sister to no less than three stakes winners, including Matriarch Stakes (Gr 2, 2000m) winner Oceanex (Ocean Park), and a further two stakes placegetters.
Ryan and Alexiou, who have bought four yearlings so far on the Gold Coast, added a second son by their emphatic T J Smith Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner when going to $325,000 for the Willow Park-consigned colt out of Our Gilda (Medaglia D’Oro), a daughter of Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Lady Jakeo (Last Tycoon).
Aquis’s Machine and Smash enter the fray
Zoustar (Northern Meteor) has captured attention on the opening two days and yesterday a filly from the first crop of his dual Group 2-winning son Lean Mean Machine set the benchmark for the stallion.
After three day one yearlings sold for an average of $63,333, the Robyn Wise-consigned filly out of Nashville Skyline (Not A Single Doubt) commanded a bid of $240,000 from Queensland trainer Chris Munce and agent Arthur Hoyeau.
A first foal for the mare, the filly descends from fourth dam Nice Dancing (Bering), grandam of Group 1 performers Tulip (Pierro) and Sacred Eye (High Chaparral), while this is also the family of Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Flying Spur (Danehill).
Supporters of Brave Smash (Tosen Phantom) had to wait until day two to get their hands on his progeny, and it was a richly-bred Edinburgh Park-consigned colt that topped his offerings and will head to the Annabel Neasham camp.
The $225,000 colt is the first foal out of US-bred mare Olympic Medal (Medaglia D’Oro), who in turn is a granddaughter of Shantha’s Choice (Canny Lad), making this the diamond family of Redoute’s Choice (Danehill), Manhattan Rain (Encosta De Lago), Rubick (Encosta De Lago) and Shoals (Fastnet Rock).
Elsewhere, the Brave Smash half-brother to Australasian Oaks (Gr 1, 2000m) winner Media Award (Shamus Award) will enter the stable of Gary Portelli, after the trainer went to $130,000 to secure the filly.
Brave Smash yearlings average $138,750 from four to sell, for an average return of 6.31 times his 2019 service fee of $22,000 (inc GST).
Encryption colt impresses
After seeing three yearlings sell at an average of $163,333 on the opening day’s trade, Eureka Stud’s Encryption (Lonhro) went to new heights again yesterday, with a half-brother to progressive stakes winner Miami Fleiss (Spirit Of Boom) fetching $320,000.
The stallion’s current average yearling sales price of $202,500 is 15.35 times his $13,200 service fee, a chart-topping figure among the freshman stallions, and second to only Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) among all stallions.