Capitalist Filly Takes Center Stage at Magic Millions

A strong second day of trade has helped Magic Millions recover from what was at times a lack of market activity in the auction ring on the opening day to achieve a five-year high aggregate sales revenue at the end of Book 1 of its National Yearling Sale, the penultimate session of the three-week Gold Coast bloodstock extravaganza.  

The Book 1 sale came to a close last night with 17 yearlings making AU$200,000 or more, nine of them sold June 2, to help turnover for the two sessions break AU$14.5 million, the highest figure since the 2017 auction. 

Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch, who had vowed to boost the clearance rate from 57% after day one, was pleased with how the second day unfolded as vendors appeared more willing to meet the market and a more consistent amount of trade took place.

"I thought today had a little bit more momentum to it than yesterday had and the vendors who were willing to meet the market were achieving results and getting their horses sold," Bowditch said.

"Obviously, this year we've sold a lot of yearlings all over Australia and probably more than ever before, so at some stage, given that our (international) borders are shut, the market was going to become a little bit more selective and that's been apparent over the past two days."

As of Wednesday—the Book 2 sale is to be held Thursday—247 yearlings had been sold for AU$14,591,500 (US$11,309,400) at an average of AU$59,075 ($45,787) and a median of AU$40,000 ($31,003). The clearance rate was at 65%.

In 2017, 297 yearlings sold for AU$16,135,500 at an average of AU$54,328.

"This is not a sale where we never hit it out of the park from a clearance rate perspective but to have the highest gross for this sale since 2017, a very healthy average and clearly the horses that were well sought after, in most cases, exceeded the vendors' expectations," Bowditch said.

"This is part of the cycle of our game, so to have horses selling that are facilitating (buyers' needs), whether they are taking them back to trial them, race them, or bring back to a breeze-up sale, it's an incredibly vital part of the sale. 

"For a lot of these vendors, this is where they make the call that this is their last possible chance to sell these yearlings and to provide a spot to do that is important to us. 

"I think this year we achieved that, albeit the clearance rate on a whole was less than satisfactory."

Capitalist Filly Catches Fogden's Eye

Canungra trainer Kacy Fogden only needed one inspection to make up her mind that a Capitalist filly from the family of champion sprinter Starspangledbanner  was the one for her.

As it turned out, she wasn't alone in her view of the filly, leading to strong competition just three lots from the conclusion of the Book 1 sale and she was forced to go to AU$340,000 ($263,523) to buy her. 

Fogden, located at the back of the sales ring next to the pre-parade ring when bidding, has a strong association with Hong Kong owner Tony Fung but she revealed the filly will be syndicated amongst stable clients.  

"She was just a queen, so athletic, and so strong," said Fogden, who did not inspect the filly again after having her paraded on Tuesday.

"We have got a couple of Capitalists at the farm who are really nice and she is a lot like them, really strong, forward, and precocious and she's from a great family, too, so we hope that she will go early."

Offered by Scott Seamer as Lot 1828, she is the second foal out of Kimigayo, an unraced half sister to Gold Anthem, herself the dam of Starspangledbanner and the stakes-placed Barood and Gold Chant. The filly's older full brother, Fenton, is in training with Greg Hickman and has been given just one start at Canterbury last month.

Muir Takes Home More Than Ready Filly

Milburn Creek's John Muir will race a More Than Ready   filly after his agent Suman Hedge was able to come to agreed terms with Vinery Stud for the daughter of group 1-winning mare Allez Wonder  at AU$300,000 ($232,520) after she initially failed to meet her value.

From the second-last Southern Hemisphere crop by More Than Ready, the filly was passed in at AU$280,000 ($217,019) with a reserve of AU$300,000 before Hedge, who was standing to the grandstand side of the sales ring when she went through, made his first official move. He did not bid on her in the ring.

"She's a filly that we think has all the hallmarks of a nice race filly and broodmare to go on with," Hedge said.

"She's by one of the leading broodmare sires in More Than Ready, out of a group 1-winning mare, and that's always a great starting point. 

"Allez Wonder's done a really good job at stud, throwing Kooweerup and Prompt Prodigy, so there's a little bit there as well with Kooweerup at stud moving forward."

The eighth foal out of David Jones Toorak Handicap (G1) winner Allez Wonder, she is also a half sister to group 3 winner Pretty Pins and Breccia, the dam of group 1-winning Waikato Stud stallion Tivaci.

The filly, a sister to the group 3-winning juvenile Kooweerup and the group 2-placed Prompt Prodigy and three other winners, was cataloged as Lot 1654.

Book 2 of the National Yearling Sale and the National Racehorse Sale will be held Thursday from 10 a.m. local time.