Yulong snap up ‘high class’ dual Group 1 winner Magic Time
Hellbent mare bids to secure more black type in Hot Danish while a future date with newly minted Group 1 stallion Alabama Express on the cards
Yulong Stud has made another high-profile addition to its vast and ever-increasing team of mares, buying dual Group 1 winner Magic Time (Hellbent) in a private sale, with the ultimate aim of eventually putting her to newly minted Group 1 sire Alabama Express (Redoute’s Choice).
Owner-breeder John Muir of Milburn Creek stud confirmed to ANZ Bloodstock News negotiations for the sale had started and concluded on Thursday, five days after the five-year-old almost returned to winning form when a 1.17 length second in Randwick’s The Invitation (1400m).
Magic Time will sport the Yulong green and white when she pursues more black type when she back-ups third-up in Saturday’s Hot Danish Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) at Rosehill.
“It was very quickly done,” Muir told ANZ Bloodstock News of the sale, which was brokered by prominent bloodstock agent Damon Gabbedy of Belmont Bloodstock.
“I think we got a fair price and I think they bought a beautiful mare. She’s racing with their colours on tomorrow and I wish them all the best of luck. I hope she can win for them.”
Magic Time, whose half-brother Henlein (Dundeel) ran a 0.36 length second in last month’s Spring Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) at Randwick, will continue to be trained by Grahame Begg – which Muir said had been a condition of the sale.
She’s obviously another high-class mare that we’ve been able to acquire. We’ll race her on for a bit and then she’ll join our broodmare band
Yulong COO Sam Fairgray said Zhang Yuesheng’s group was delighted with the purchase.
“She’s obviously another high–class mare that we’ve been able to acquire. We’ll race her on for a bit and then she’ll join our broodmare band,” Fairgray told ANZ.
“Magic Time is by Hellbent and she’s a Group 1 winner, and her half-brother is a very promising horse, so it’s a pedigree that seems to just be getting stronger and stronger.
“She’s just another one of those good racemares who fits the mould of what we’re trying to do with our broodmare band.”
Fairgray said the fact Magic Time was out of Muir’s Group 3-winning mare Time Awaits (Nicconi) added to her attractiveness.
“Nicconi is actually going OK as a broodmare sire, so it brings in interesting blood,” he said of Widden Victoria’s 19-year-old, who’s had 72 winners from 136 runners globally as a broodmare sire, headed by four stakes winners.
“And Magic Time will actually match up quite well with Alabama Express when she does finish. That’s the long-range goal with her.
“She’ll tell us and Grahame Begg how she’s going. If she’s still enjoying her racing she can keep on running. If not, then we’re ready for her to join the broodmare band.”
Veteran breeder Muir has been richly rewarded for his sentimental side with Magic Time.
He took Time Awaits’s first foal to the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in 2021, but when she was passed in at just $110,000, he walked back to her box to await post-auction suitors. Before any arrived the filly “walked to the stable door and looked me straight in the eye”, he once said in an interview, adding: “Everything changed when she gave me that look.”
It’s fantastic for him to get a Group 1 winner from his first crop – just a great result for the horse and the farm
He retained her to race under the Milburn Creek banner, and the mare, now known as Magic Time, has won six of 15 starts including Caulfield’s Rupert Clarke Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) and Randwick’s All Aged Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m), earning more than $2.5 million in prize-money.
That’s before her sale price to Yulong which, while confidential, could be assumed to be well north of $3 million, given the same interests paid $2.2 million at this year’s Inglis Chairman’s sale for Kimochi (Brave Smash), whose career highlight at the time was a Group 2 success.
“I’m very sad to see her go, but she’s given us tremendous pleasure – the staff, my wife and I and our family,” Muir said. “But she’s gone to a good home, and we’ll bat on and try again.
“We’re happy and Yulong’s happy, and I hope good things happen for them tomorrow. I’ll be tickled pink if they get a reward straight away. Mr Zhang is building up a magnificent portfolio of bloodstock and I wish him and [general manager] Vin Cox all the luck in the world.”
Meanwhile, Yulong were delighted by more good news after second-season sire Alabama Express’s first Group 1 through Thursday’s VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 2500m) victor Treasurethe Moment. They also hope the stallion can have a second when the highly rated Alabama Lass contests New Zealand’s Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) on November 16.
“It’s fantastic for him to get a Group 1 winner from his first crop – just a great result for the horse and the farm,” Fairgray said. “It’s exciting times, especially with Alabama Lass running in the Thousand Guineas in a couple of weeks.”
Muir was speaking from Keeneland’s November breeding stock sale, where he made three purchases in tandem with Twin Palms stud’s Bruce Johnson and his daughter Kate: the dual winning and Grade 2-placed five-year-old Fuente Ovejuna (Lope De Vega) for US$400,000 (approx. AU$601,100); the Grade 3-winning three-year-old Zona Verde (Calyx) for US$325,000 (approx. AU$488,400); and the three-time-winning five-year-old Howboutdemapples (Tiznow) for US$185,000 (approx. AU$278,000).
The sale of Magic Time also came on the same day that Time Awaits was confirmed as in-foal to Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice). All going well, this will produce the sixth foal for the mare, who has a yearling colt by I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit).
