Sunlight the headline act at live Gold Coast breeding stock market
Star of the track to light up the Magic Millions ring on day one of National Sale
Sunlight (Zoustar) could prove to be the most desirable and expensive mare to head to a southern hemisphere public auction in more than a decade with the three-time Group 1 winner considered a chance to crack the $3 million mark when the long-awaited Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale starts today.
The headline act among a select group of potential seven-figure race mares who will go through the ring this afternoon, Sunlight (Lot 80) is likely to command interest from some of the world’s biggest thoroughbred breeders and, if the key protagonists elect to go head-to-head, it could see her eclipse the $3.4 million achieved by Listen Here (Elusive Quality) at the same sale in 2016.
A new benchmark for Magic Millions could be reached, but whether the competition from domestic and international parties will be strong enough, during the Covid-19 pandemic, to see the former Tony and Calvin McEvoy-trained sprinter reach the $5 million price tag, the southern hemisphere record held by Milanova (Danehill), would appear to be remote.
While Sunlight’s appeal is obvious, fellow high-profile race mares who are expected to hit the million-dollar mark are Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Unforgotten (Fastnet Rock) (Lot 92) and Invincibella (I Am Invincible) (Lot 12) who was successful in the 2019 Tattersall’s Tiara (Gr 1, 1400m).
“Any other year you’d expect Sunlight to break a record. She’s like no other mare we’ve ever offered before,” Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch said on the eve of the company’s first public auction since the onset of the pandemic.
“Physically, she’s a star and she’s done it all on the racetrack and she’s also got a great pedigree behind her.
“We’re expecting her to sell extremely well, but who knows (how much she will make) as she’s going through unreserved, as is Unforgotten and Invincibella.”
While the top end of the market is tipped to remain vibrant, the impact of Covid-19 is expected to see the buying bench be cautious and not take unnecessary risks in the current marketplace.
Willow Park Stud’s Glenn Burrows has a draft of 38 mares at this week’s sale and is hopeful that the market sentiment from recent sales continues on the Gold Coast but concedes that buyers will be selective.
“On the first day of parades the number of individual inspections that we’d had was actually slightly ahead of last year’s day-to-day comparison,” Burrows said.
“Unfortunately, that was a flash in the pan as we are now down 68 per cent on our parades in comparison to this sale last year.
“We’re getting people coming here looking at one, two or three mares and, keeping in mind I’ve got almost 40 nice mares in the sale, this is a worry.
“Obviously buyers are being extremely specific with their wish list and, as a consequence, I can see a proportion – say the top 20 per cent of the sale – realising towards their worth but then within the larger percentage, there will be incredible buying opportunities with mares being sold at well discounted prices.
“With service fees owing on these mares, people like myself have to meet the market and sell to survive.”
Bowditch is optimistic that the market at the National sale will remain resilient despite the understandable decline in foot traffic on the ground.
“You look at the trend worldwide over the past three months. Most of the sales in the north have held up quite well, the sales in Australia have held up well and, more importantly, racing continued in this country, so the wheel’s kept turning,” he said.
“Until Covid hit, we were on a record year for yearling sales, so the breeders have got plenty of money in their pocket from the sales earlier in the year and hopefully they seize this opportunity by keeping their lists long and bid on plenty of mares over the next three days.”
The demand for high-class mares was evident at The Chairman’s Sale in May which was topped by dual Group 1 winner In Her TIme (Time Thief) who made $2 million while the virtual auction averaged $431,769 (56 lots sold).
Newgate Farm principal Henry Field expects that demand for elite level breeding stock to be maintained on the Gold Coast.
“The quality bloodstock here and in the northern hemisphere has held up particularly well on the private market and the public market,” Field said.
“I expect the market here for the better horses will be robust and I think there will be plenty of competition for the better offerings.”
One of those is the dual Australian Group 1-winning mare Viddora (I Am Invincible) who was bought privately from connections in Europe last year and covered by Lope De Vega (Shamardal) to southern hemisphere time.
Field said: “We’ve been fortunate to consign a number of mares who have sold for north of a million dollars in the last five or six years and every mare we’ve brought to market at that level has been sold with plenty of competition on them.
“We’re a selling farm, so we’re here to sell her, but in saying that if by chance the market was very soft then she’s a mare you’d have no issue taking home.
“She really reminds me of a mare like Response that Arrowfield and the Yoshida family bought off us a few years ago. She was a top race mare, a multiple Group 1 winner who was beautiful and has gone on to produce (Golden Slipper Stakes winner) Estijaab.
“Viddora’s got a Lope De Vega in her belly and I’m sure she’ll produce a magnificent foal.”
Traditionally the largest breeding stock sale in the southern hemisphere, the Magic Millions National Sale was pushed back from its normal May-June slot in the hope of being able to conduct a live auction.
That was threatened with the second coronavirus wave in Victoria, which led to some participants from that state hitting the road at the start of the month.
An outbreak in western Sydney also forced Bowditch to further delay the National sale by a week to ensure stakeholders who were at the Inglis July sales series could attend.
Baystone Farm’s Dean Harvey, who along with agent Sheamus Mills and Rochelle Adams, is one Victorian who made the dash across the border to ensure he made it to the Gold Coast to oversee his draft of 20 mares.
“We’ve been out of Victoria for nearly a month now. We went up through Scone in NSW for a few weeks and managed to look at a lot of mares up there, which was good, but it’s also been a long trip and I’m looking forward to getting the sale under way,” said Harvey who described the coming few days as “the great unknown”.
Shalwa (O’Reilly), who scored a valuable maiden stakes win in the Helen Coughlan Stakes (Listed, 1350m) at Doomben in May, will be Baystone’s sole mare to go through the ring today, before offering a string of mares on the following two days.
“Our first lot through is a really nice stakes-winning O’Reilly mare called Shalwa. She’s been a very good racemare and she’s been popular with her pedigree, so she should sell really well,” he said.
“We’ve got some other mares with big pedigrees in foal to the right stallions. There’s a nice mare by High Chaparral (Highway) in foal to Trapeze Artist and we’ve got a few in foal to Written Tycoon as well (Nelum, Queen Of The Air and Romantic Era).”
The 147-lot opening session starts at 2pm before two full days of selling tomorrow and Wednesday from 10am.
The National Weanling Sale will be conducted on Thursday and Friday, continuing a hectic week for vendors, agents and buyers alike.