Most vendors take a draft to a sale knowing they have a horse or two that might not be quite what the buying bench wants. Ian Smith of Edinburgh Park Stud has no such concerns as the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale approaches with only those guaranteed to appeal to a discerning market getting aboard the truck at Wingham.
As he explained “We have been very selective in the draft of eleven horses that are going to the Gold Coast. They all have physical appeal as mature, early running types and are by the right stallions. We are proud that our draft doesn’t have a tail with all being by top end, commercial stallions. It’s a work in progress and the quality of our drafts are getting better. A lot of our stock are running before Christmas which is what Magic Millions buyers want to see.” Trainers with horses from his 2021 draft are making the right noises and by sale time the results should be rolling in. “We are getting good reports on the stock we sold last year with a number of them ready to go around Christmas time with some being aimed at the Magic Million races.”
Putting a draft of this quality in some sort of order is far too challenging, so we threw a couple of youngsters by proven stallions at Ian for comment, starting with lot 342, Snitzel’s son out of Our Crown Mistress (Star Witness). “The first foal of an exceptionally good racemare, this guy is a big, strong, strapping colt, but a well-balanced, lovely mover with a fantastic temperament. He just looks a readymade racehorse.” Our Crown Mistress won five of her eleven career starts including a pair of listed races and comes from the family that gave us Classique Legend (Not A Single Doubt) and the five time G1 winner Racing To Win (Encosta De Lago).
Lot 500 is an impressive filly by Exceed And Excel out of Sebring’s stakes placed daughter Serena Bay. “Serena Bay’s first foal is a Not A Single Doubt colt purchased out of our draft last year by the Fung family. Named West Of Africa, he’s with Annabel Neasham, the stable having big raps on him and looks on a path to the Magic Millions 2YO Classic. The purchaser of our filly will get themselves a jump and run type, have a 2023 Magic Millions candidate on their hands with potential residual, Serena Bay having a Written Tycoon filly on her and currently being in foal to Snitzel. Serena Bay was an exceptionally fast juvenile and from what we know of the two year-old it looks like she definitely throws runners.” Thrice a winner as a juvenile and third in the G2 Percy Sykes Stakes, Serena Bay certainly came to hand early.
Asked if he had one yearling he thought might be flying under the radar Ian pointed out lot 576, the Harry Angel colt out of Sun Valley which he thinks will appeal to buyers looking for an out-and-out sprinter. “As a physical he looks an early running, fast type. He’s another jump and run type which you would expect from a world-class sprinter like Harry Angel. This guy is out of a Commands mare from a family that continually throws up stakes winners and the page has really jumped since I purchased this mare.” Sun Valley is a half-sister to Tenley (Medaglia d’Oro) who won the G2 Reisling Stakes at two, and is from the family of Golden Slipper winner Vancouver (Medaglia d’Oro) and the Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner Bradbury’s Luck (Redoute’s Choice) so lacking precocity won’t be an issue.
One colt that made a strong impression when sold as a weanling is lot 335, a son of Brave Smash which Ian had to outbid a few good judges to acquire. “I have a massive amount of time for Japanese stallions in general and I have a big opinion of Brave Smash. Typical of the Japanese breed this colt looks a tough, readymade racehorse. He’s also one of the best bred Brave Smash’s on the ground as his dam Olympic Medal is an American bred daughter of Medaglia d’Oro out of Redoute’s Choice’s half-sister Taste Of Heaven (Encosta De Lago). He’s starting to furnish into an excellent type and by sale time he’ll be an impressive individual. He’s a horse that should be on a lot of people’s radar as the family has some serious sex appeal.”
Selling as lot 675 is a Written Tycoon colt out of a half-sister to the tough, G2 Matriarch Stakes winner Oceanex. “The Written Tycoon – Waikato River colt has a fantastic one page family, constantly producing stakes winners. This is the best foal the mare has produced and her first foal, Spectacle (Teofilo), has been stakes placed for Tony and Calvin McEvoy. A flashy grey, he is of course by Australia’s reigning Champion Sire and this guy looks like the runner to put the mare really on the map.”
Lot 914 has plenty of appeal for the local market as Ian explains. “This is a colt for the Queenslanders. He’s the first foal out of Diminish, a Fastnet Rock half-sister to Buffering. A big strong boy, we’ve been massive supporters of Zoustar who is on an upward trend. A lot of the good horses to come off Edinburgh Park have been first foals and I see no reason this fellow won’t join that list.”
Edinburgh Park will also offer a Lonhro colt out of the tough Commands mare Awasita as lot 766. The winner of five races, it didn’t matter what the going or how tough the opposition, Awasita turned up and gave her all every start. “This guy is very much in the mould of Lonhro; good boned, well-balance and a strong individual. We sold her first foal, a Spirit Of Boom filly, out of this ring last year. Now named Boomsita we are hearing good things from the Kris Lees stable about her. This is a cross that has thrown multiple stakes winners.”
Testa Rossa has quietly gone about his business as a broodmare sire, his G1 winner’s count now standing at five. He’ll get every opportunity to make it six with lot 411, a daughter of Pierro and the six time winner Quicksilver Lass. This filly is a half-sister to the Chris Waller trained, Star Thoroughbreds owned, recent Melbourne metropolitan winner Gabeira (Deep Field). “This is a Magic Millions pedigree if ever there was one, Quicksilver Lass’ half-brother Fullazzaboot (Sepoy) beating all bar a flying Sunlight (Zoustar) in the 2018 2YO Classic while another half-brother in D’Argento (So You Think) won the G1 Rosehill Guineas in the Star Thoroughbred silks. She offers plenty of residual as a broodmare once she has finished winning on the track.”
Anyone who has been slightly envious watching on as the Edinburgh Park bred Eleven Eleven (Fastnet Rock) has won on consecutive Magic Millions race days gets the opportunity to tap into the same family with lot 562, a So You Think filly out of Sticky Fingers by Duke Of Marmalade. “I put this filly into the sale because she is a big strong individual. It’s an American family I’ve had a lot of success with, not just with Eleven Eleven but the likes of Glenfiddich (Fastnet Rock), etc. We got exactly what we wanted with this mating. She’s a lovely bodied, well grown out filly which we’ll offer to the market as an opportunity for buyers to get into a family that just keeps on producing stakes performers. So You Think over the blood of Danzig is a cross that works.”
The More Than Ready filly out of Flying Single is ‘another that should be on the list of all breeders. The dam is a half-sister to Not A Single Doubt and is also the grandam of the Restricted Listed winner Lady Jivago (Beneteau). “She is a rare jewel to be fair, and we are presenting her to market with the view she will be well sought after.”
Ian is also pleased to offer a colt from the first crop of Trapeze Artist out of Fortune Of War whose Zoustar colt fetched $550,000 from this ring last January. This is a cracking family as his half-sister Spoils (Snitzel) was stakes placed on three occasions at two. A daughter of General Nediym, Fortune Of War was a handy two year-old being stakes placed down the Flemington straight while she is a half-sister to the Group winners Sertorius (Galileo), Pretty Brazen (Brazen Beau), Dollar For Dollar (High Chaparral) and Clifton Red (Sebring).
Eleven Eleven’s recent high profile Kembla Grange success showed he is on track for a remarkable third successive Magic Millions raceday win, and took his earnings to ten times his purchase price. Whose to say history won’t repeat from amongst the outstanding 2022 Edinburgh Park draft.
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