Staying future for Frankel filly
Belmont Bloodstock’s Damon Gabbedy is hoping the Frankel (Galileo) filly he purchased in partnership with Ciaron Maher for $900,000 early on the fourth and final day of Book 1 of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling can develop into an Oaks filly in the future.
Bred by Yulong, the grey filly is out of the winning Dark Angel (Acclamation) mare Of Good Cheer, who topped the Inglis Digital June (Early) Sale in 2023 when she was bought by Chatsworth Farm for $560,000, carrying the Frankel filly in utero.
The youngster hails from the successful Juddmonte family of dual US Grade 1 winner Heat Haze (Green Desert), who is the dam of Metropolitan Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Mirage Dancer (Frankel) and South Australian Listed winner Ironclad (Dubawi).
Will Bourne, Maher’s head of bloodstock, told ANZ Bloodstock News that Yulong will be retaining a share in the filly.
“She’s got a great pedigree and is very loose moving,” he said. Not in the Magic Millions-mould, being more of an Oaks-type filly and she will need a bit more time. She will get over distance, but she had that class edge to her.
How can you go past Frankel? He’s a superstar. His record speaks for itself so we decided to have a red hot crack
“We have some owners who are happy to wait, and 20 per cent to sell. The stallion is a freak and she’s a lovely filly.”
A familiar figure at sales overseas, Gabbedy said that if the filly had been offered in Europe, he would have expected her to make significantly more than she did on Friday.
“I had a client who loved the filly. If that filly was in Europe, we’d be paying a million guineas being by Frankel out of that depth of pedigree. I had a client who wanted a real Oaks filly and that was what we identified in the catalogue,” he said.
“How can you go past Frankel? He’s a superstar. His record speaks for itself so we decided to have a red hot crack. They want Ciaron to train it, so, good.
“It goes back to one of the best pedigrees in the world. Great depth which was very important.”
Gabbedy said that while the filly was not the archetypal Magic Millions yearling, he was happy to buy her regardless of the sale.
“It’s not the normal thing but you’ve got to find the filly when they come up at the sale and Frankel is statistically one of the best stallions in the world, if not the best, and it doesn’t matter where they come from. Subzero came from this sale,” he said.
Later on in the afternoon, Yulong sold another filly by Frankel to Michael Hickmott for $700,000. Catalogued as Lot 954, the filly was also bought in utero, with Yulong paying $700,000 for her one time-winning dam, Small Print (Siyouni), at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale.