Emirates Park

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Solid reputations in the breeding industry aren’t just built on selling expensive horses, they rely on getting a return on investment for the buyer, and the sooner the better. As Emirates Park’s General Manager Bryan Carlson said, “sale results will tell us one thing but ultimately we want to be judged on the track,” and from the way Charm Stone has come out running, Emirates’ reputation is secure.

Charm Stone is just another example why Emirates Park are amongst the top echelon of vendors in Australia. At the last Gold Coast Sale agent Sheamus Mills and his clients had to go to $1.55 million to snare the full sister to the Stakes winner Najmaty, but even as early as Melbourne Cup day, that looked a wise investment. Ensconced in the Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr barn, Charm Stone won the Gr3 Ottawa Stakes and it’s not a stretch of the imagination to say her market value at this stage might already match her purchase price.

While other large scale farms might have decided to retain a long term broodmare prospect like Charm Stone, Bryan emphasised that wasn’t the way Emirates operated saying, “We have never wanted a reputation for just selling our leftovers, and that at each of the past two Gold Coast sales we have sold a pair of seven figure yearlings is testimony to that.”

Buyers will have a good indication of the state of the market by the time the first of the Emirates draft walks through as Lot 101 with the Brazen Beau colt coming from a successful family the Murrurundi farm have nurtured for four generations. He is the first foal of Mayaaseh, Exceed And Excel’s daughter who was sharp enough to run third in the season opening Gr3 Gimcrack Stakes at two, before winning three times in her career. Emirates began the family with the Gr1 Yorkshire Oaks placed Bineyah, by the incomparable Sadler’s Wells, and from whom the Group winners Te Akau Coup and Alzora, dam of the tough stayer Sacramento, hail. Bryan explained “The Brazen Beau – Exceed And Excel cross has proven successful in the past and we think Brazen Beau punches above his weight given his smaller crops. The young stallion Tassort was bred on that cross.”

Bryan was bullish when describing Lot 153 as “one of the highlight colts of the sale.” Even that statement might be underselling the colt as he is a result of the mating of a Golden Slipper winner in Mossfun with the current Champion Sire in I Am Invincible. “He’s a very nice, good sized type with a great hip and shoulder, very athletic and there will be a lot of interested parties on him come sale time.”

Mossfun has shown she can get a good runner as the dam of the Stakes placed Dajraan, a horse for whom we might have to wait until he strikes a good track to see his best. And this colt’s full sister Mashkhoora is showing promise (given a very easy time when second in a recent Randwick trial) and should start on a path to the Golden Slipper in January.

If buyers don’t land that colt then they have another opportunity to tap into the family with Lot 504, an I Am Invincible colt from Tumooh who is the first foal of Mossfun and by Fastnet Rock. “This is the first foal out of the mare, and again he is a quality colt. A very attractive, leggy sort and will be another one on everybody’s radar,” said Bryan.

On behalf of Merricks Station in Victoria, Emirates will offer Lot 162, a son of Shalaa and Murtle Turtle who was twice Gr3 placed at two. The mare is three for three winners to runners and throws a type, this fellow’s Extreme Choice half-brother making $775,000 when bought by James Harron last season. It is interesting that Shalaa’s four Australian Stakes winners all earned their black type as two year-olds.

Next to sell will be Lot 173, a daughter of Capitalist and the second foal of the winning Snitzel mare Nahab. Bryan told us “As a three-quarter sister to Sweet Idea and the multiple Gr2 winning young sire Showtime, Nahab comes from a very good family. She is a nice, athletic, compact filly, very much an early running two year-old type.”

Another Capitalist, and one where the pedigree jumps off the page is Lot 373, a colt out of the Sebring mare Sheikha. A winner and placed third in the Gr3 Kindergarten Stakes at two, Sheikha is out of the excellent broodmare Solar Charged making her a half-sister to the three-time Gr1 winner and darling of the turf Sunlight, and to Sisstar whose six career wins included the Gr3 Red Roses Stakes down the Flemington straight. Dam of six winners in all from seven foals to race Solar Charged, by Charge Forward, was a handy juvenile herself winning a pair of Gr3s at two. “Buyers will find he is a quite athletic colt with the family to back it up. We expect he will sell well”, Bryan said.

Another colt with the Charge Forward connection is Lot 434, a son of Spirit Of Boom and Stylemaker, a three time winning daughter of the noted broodmare sire. “We bought him out of the National Weanling Sale, as he was such a good type,” Bryan mentioned. After a terrific 2021/22 season headlined by the Gr1 Manikato Stakes win of Jonker, Spirit Of Boom looks likely to take things to another level this season with horses like the exciting two year-old Miss Coota and undefeated Chinny Boom reminding the market what he is capable of siring.

The foal market took a distinct liking to the first stock on offer by the Gr2 winner Dubious, and Bryan expects everyone will be impressed once they have inspected Lot 638. The filly is out of the Dream Ahead mare Azyaan whose oldest foal, a three year-old, is a winner while her dam Zyoon is an Al Maher half sister to Encosta De Lago making her from the same family as the influential sire and Golden Slipper winner Flying Spur. “This filly looks to be an early two year-old type and very attractive.”

The final Book 1 lot carries hip number 923 and is a son of Pride Of Dubai out of Harbour Fun, a Harbour Watch half-sister to the dam of Mossfun and the Champion Sprinter in Singapore Aramco. “He’s an attractive colt and I think this pedigree is on the way up,” Bryan explained. Besides the Mossfun factor Harbour Fun is a half-sister to Cat d’Antibes who won the Ken Russell Classic when it was a Listed event and ran third in the Gr2 QTC Sires’ Produce Stakes.

Emirates also have two very interesting offerings in Book Two, led off by Lot 1036, a daughter of Press Statement and the Bernardini mare Bondini. “This is a filly we bought as a weanling as we like Press Statement. He can be relied upon to get a good horse every season, Roots for Chris Waller at the moment being an example. Whoever buys this filly will get more horse for their money than usual.”

Bryan explained how Lot 1260, a Pride Of Dubai colt out of Speedy Kitty, came to be in the draft. “We bought the Street Boss filly out of the mare last year and we backed up buying this colt as a weanling. He’s a lovely type and with the likes of recent Stakes winners Bella Nipotina and Sirileo Miss showing what Pride Of Dubai can do, he should be popular.” His dam Speedy Kitty is an Exceed And Excel mare from a strong American family, her dam Ashley’s Kitty was a Grade 3 winner in the States from the family of the promising young sire over there in Cupid.

From discussing the draft with Bryan, two things become apparent. The first is just how diverse the Emirates offerings are, and the second, how strong the potential is that another Charm Stone lies waiting to be found at every level.