‘You only get an opportunity like this once or twice in a lifetime’
Magic Millions ready for Singleton’s Strawberry Hill Stud dispersal sale
The Strawberry Hill Stud dispersal of bloodstock, five decades in the making, will provide generational opportunities for breeders wanting to create their own dynasty on the back of John Singleton’s thoroughbred legacy.
A snap decision a month ago by Singleton to sell all his stock has led to today’s unreserved dispersal of 57 lots from his Mount White property on the New South Wales Central Coast, the sale being run by Magic Millions, the auction house the 81-year-old adman once part-owned.
Not since Lakewood Stud was dispersed by Peter and Pauline Liston in 2004 has an on-farm sale of this magnitude been conducted in Australia. Four years earlier, the Hunter Valley-based Bellerive Stud also conducted an on-property dispersal sale.
Among the Strawberry Hill dispersal are ageing, but iconic, champion mares More Joyous (More Than Ready) and Samantha Miss (Redoute’s Choice), as well as their prized daughters, Woman (Frankel) and the Group 2 winner Miss Fabulass (Frankel) respectively, who are expected to be among the most sought after amongst the breeding stock at the afternoon sale.
Dear Demi (Dehere), the 2012 VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m) winner, will also be sold by Singleton alongside her valuable Group 2-winning daughter Mokulua (Redoute’s Choice), herself in foal to Juddmonte’s sire sensation Frankel (Galileo) to southern hemisphere time.
A line up of yearlings and just turned two-year-olds by renowned stallions such as I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit), So You Think (High Chaparral), Pierro (Lonhro), Capitalist (Written Tycoon) and Spirit Of Boom (Sequalo) will go under the hammer to open the afternoon’s proceedings.
Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch yesterday declared “any breeder worth their salt should be paying attention to the sale” with numerous interstate buyers making the trip to attend the “Singo Sale”.
“These pedigrees are generational and, from a yearling perspective, there is an outstanding line of end-user yearlings, as well as horses that can be entered into any yearling sale of the buyers’ choice next year,” Bowditch told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“Whether you’re buying long-term or short-term, there is so much opportunity at a sale like this and given the fact that there’s 57 lots unreserved, there’s going to be opportunities for everyone.”
The I Am Invincible-Miss Fabulass colt, the second foal out of the 2018 Tea Rose Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) winner, possesses the mouth-watering black–type pedigree to be reoffered at either the Magic Millions or Inglis Easter yearling sales next year and command the attention of the industry’s biggest investors.
“Physically, he’s a very good athlete to go with it and he’s a horse who has the potential to be a seven-figure sale-topping yearling next year,” Bowditch said.
“Whoever purchases him, if they’re looking to resell him, we’ll be handing the entry form over straight away in the hope of getting him to our January sale.
“He’s not the only one, either, with the Frankel colt out of Key, an outstanding horse, and there’s plenty of others, horses who are elite yearlings who, if they’re bought by traders, will go to market next year and be highly sought after.”
As well as the colt out of the stakes-placed Key (Exceed And Excel), the Frankel yearling filly out of Yesterjoy (More Than Ready), herself a three-quarter sister to More Joyous, is sure to be popular.
Bowditch said using Strawberry Hill Stud for the sale made the most sense given the 2023 breeding season starts on Friday.
“The last couple of on-farm sales that Magic Millions conducted was Lakewood, which was the Listons, and Bellerive – and I think I was still at school when that occurred – so it’s a long, long time ago,” he said.
“It’s very unique and I think it was the only way of going, given it’s so close to the breeding season and logistically a sale at a place like Mount White works and it gives us the best of both worlds.
“People can come and enjoy a fantastic property and a day out at a horse sale and also have people come and do their work and bid remotely from wherever they might be.”
Bowditch added: “We encourage everyone to get involved and seize the opportunity as you are only going to get an opportunity like this once or twice in a lifetime. Whether you have a small or a big budget, the horses are unreserved and are here for the market’s competition and you need to be prepared and ready to go.”
On-farm inspections start at 9am with the sale to begin at 1pm.
Highlight lots
48: More Joyous
8 x Group 1 winner
12 x stakes winner
The jewel in the Strawberry Hill crown, More Joyous will be a coveted queen for any broodmare band, despite her now 17 years of age. The champion mare claimed 21 wins in an illustrious career, with her Group 1 haul of eight, including the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Doncaster Mile, and the Queen Of The Turf Stakes – twice. Her breeding record has not matched the lofty heights of her racing career, with one stakes placegetter from five named foals, but expect the bidding to be fierce on this heroine of the turf, with access to one of the most coveted families in the stud book up for grabs.
52: Samantha Miss
3 x Group 1 winner
6 x stakes winner
A champion three-year-old filly and juvenile Group 1 winner, Samantha Miss is another of Strawberry Hill’s iconic mares. Her elite-level wins spanned the Champagne Stakes and Flight Stakes over a mile, to the 2500-metre trip of the VRC Oaks, while as a three-year-old filly she finished third in the Cox Plate. Her bloodlines – by the champion Redoute’s Choice out of a mare by champion sire Zabeel – oozes class, and she is a proven producer, being the dam of Group 2 winner Miss Fabulass. A torn tendon put a premature end to her racing career, and she was subsequently bought by John Singleton in 2009 for $3.85 million.
47: Mokulua
Group 2 winner
Mokulua makes for an enticing prospect who is at the beginning of her broodmare career. The daughter of VRC Oaks winner Dear Demi, who is also catalogued for the unique dispersal sale, Mokulua is offered in foal to European champion stallion Frankel for her first cover. The winner of the mile-long Moonee Valley Fillies Classic – the only win of her 14-race career – five-year-old Mokulua will command the attention of many commercial breeders.
46: Miss Fabulass
Group 2 winner
2 x stakes winner
A Group 2-winning daughter of Frankel, Miss Fabulass is out of the champion racemare Samantha Miss making her another prized asset of the Strawberry Hill broodmare band. The now eight-year-old mare claimed the Tea Rose Stakes at Randwick as a spring three-year-old, and was denied a Group 1 win of her own when finding only Con Te Partiro too good in the 2020 Coolmore Classic. Already possessing a two-year-old daughter of Written Tycoon and a yearling colt by I Am Invincible – the latter offered as Lot 10 today – Miss Fabulass will have plenty of upside for breeders.
20: Frankel ex Yesterjoy filly
Among the 30 lots of unraced stock to be offered today, the filly by Frankel out of Yesterjoy will make for significant appeal. A September 1-born filly, the Lot 20-catalogued yearling is a granddaughter of four-time Group 1 winner Tuesday Joy – herself a half-sister to the Group 1-winning Sunday Joy, who in turn is the dam of champion filly More Joyous. Yesterday Joy, herself a winner at 2000 metres, has already produced a Group 3 winner in The Elanora.