Kambula Fillies Star on Day 2 of Magic Millions Sale

Kambula Stud's David Toole has been rewarded for supporting his local Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale, selling the two highest-priced lots at this year's auction, leading him to declare that the South Australian Thoroughbred industry was on the up.

A pair of fillies delivered the breeder the leading results March 16, with a daughter of Dundeel  (High Chaparral) making AU$375,000 (US$273,285), while a filly by Capitalist (Written Tycoon) was bought for AU$325,000 ($236,824), as local and interstate buyers upped their spend at Morphettville to record levels, the latest Australian yearling sale to do so in 2022.

The Kambula-consigned fillies, two of 12 yearlings sold by the Kadina farm this week for a combined AU$1.47 million ($1,020,264), topped the auction which 358 horses were traded leading to a turnover of AU$20,921,500 ($15,250,309), the first time the Adelaide auction has cracked the AU$20 million mark.

Toole's contribution, along with fellow South Australian farms such as Cornerstone Stud, Mill Park Stud, and a host of others, helped the average increase by 8% to AU$58,439 ($42,598) while the median also rose to AU$45,000 ($32,805). The clearance rate lifted to 88% by the close of trade last night.

"One of the big things is that South Australian racing has turned around in the past 12 to 18 months and the other thing is, I followed the motto of Goldin Farms last year who brought their best horses here and I thought to myself, 'Why can't I?'" Toole told ANZ Bloodstock News. 

"Last year, I went to the Gold Coast and Melbourne and only went fairly, so I decided that I was going to keep them home and bring them all to Adelaide. I'm a very proud South Australian and I wanted to be the star of the show."

Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch said the vendors deserved a lot of credit for putting their confidence in the South Australian sale.  

"For the sale, considering back in 2019 we battled to get to AU$10 million so to be exceeding AU$20 million three years later it is a credit to the breeders who have brought horses here, it's a credit to the state who have stuck by this sale and supported the sale with the best horses they've got, and to the buying bench,'' Bowditch said.

"It's been a fantastic two days of selling for Magic Millions, it's been fantastic for Adelaide and the South Australian industry."

This year's sale was held as 1 "Book" rather than splitting the catalog into two offerings, a move orchestrated by Magic Millions' South Australian representative Adrian Hancock and endorsed by the buying bench.

Cornerstone Stud was the leading vendor by aggregate, selling 27 yearlings for AU$2.072 million ($1,510,260) at an average of AU$76,141 ($55,513), while China Horse Club's The Chase topped the leaderboard in terms of average, selling five yearlings on Day 1 for an average of AU$156,000 ($113,660).

"When you look at the results of the likes of Kambula, they've kept all their yearlings here this year and credit to David Toole and his family for doing so," Bowditch said. 

"To have a AU$375,000 and a AU$325,000 and a really solid sell underneath that it just shows if you're willing to leave your best stock here, like last year with Goldin and Cornerstone who did the same thing, you can be extremely well rewarded and rewarded like you wouldn't be at any other sale in the country."

Dundeel Filly Sets Benchmark

Agent Suman Hedge, who bought the sale's top lot, is hoping lightning can strike twice after going to AU$375,000 for a filly by Arrowfield Stud-based stallion Dundeel (High Chaparral) Wednesday. 

Adelaide has been a happy hunting ground for Hedge, having bought sale-topping group 2-winning Victoria Quay—who is also by Dundeel—for AU$250,000 ($176,775) in 2019, and he was prepared to back his judgement again yesterday for a daughter of the Arrowfield Stud sire.

Her price exceeds the AU$370,000 Palentino (Teofilo) sold at last year's sale and makes her the most expensive filly to go through a Magic Millions Adelaide auction.

"She had a lot of similarities to Victoria Quay who we had a bit of success with, she won a G.H. Mumm Wakeful (G2), and I'm a big believer in the stallion Dundeel. I've been buying his horses over the last 18 months and I think he's a horse that's got a lot ahead of him," Hedge said.

"This filly has a nice pedigree being out of a stakes-winning mare; the mare's already done the job to a degree, she's had a stakes performer, so she ticked a lot of boxes for us."

Trilogy Racing and Murray Bridge trainer Michael Hickmott, who bought four horses in partnership this week, were underbidders.

"Dundeels can be very athletic horses. She's quite strong and forward and has a lot of substance," the agent said. 

"I think she's going to be sharp, she'll be anything from 1,400 to a mile, that type of horse, and in her age group maybe she could get a bit further."

Bred and sold by Kambula Stud as Lot 297, she is the fourth living foal out of the SA listed winner Prettyhappyaboutit (Magnus) who is already the dam of the stakes-placed six-time winner Yulong Command (Written Tycoon).

Kambula's Toole has taken on the majority of the yearling preparation himself, with his daughter Rebecca Wilson having recently given birth to baby daughter Thelma.

"Words can't describe how proud I am. We've had staff issues with my daughter being pregnant and only a few people know how hard we have worked in the last couple of months," he said. 

"We've had a great sale and I am just so happy."

Earlier in the day, Hedge, who was working on behalf of the same undisclosed client, also bought a mature filly by Headwater (Exceed And Excel) for AU$220,000 ($160,347) from the Rathmore Lodge draft.  

Hedge has been assisting Travis Doudle at this year's sale but such was the appeal of the Nov. 11-born Headwater filly it soon became clear that she was out of the Adelaide trainer's budget, so the Melbourne agent identified her for another client. A decision on who trains the filly is yet to be made.

"We'd done all the inspections and she was right up the top for us in terms of her athleticism, she moved particularly well, was lovely and strong through the hocks, and really had that propulsion that we like," Hedge said.

"Every time we brought her out she walked the same, she didn't change, didn't fatigue at all, and had a great temperament. 

"She's prettyforward looking so that was a nice thing to know that she's still a couple of months behind most of the others."

Rathmore Lodge's Ross Hatton purchased Miss Cooper (Medaglia d'Oro  ), a two-time winner for prominent Victorian breeder David Moodie, before he offloaded her to South Australian trainer Bill Smart, at the end of her racing career.

Miss Cooper's two foals to race are both stakes-placed, the Richard and Chantelle Jolly-trained Karacasu (Headwater) and recent Tasmanian stakes-placed 2-year-old filly Piiink Beauty (Zebedee).

The filly's third dam is Moodie's Oakleigh Plate (G1) winner Miss Kournikova (Mr Greeley). The filly was cataloged as Lot 245.

"She has the pedigree, the physique, the walk. She had everything, she was the busiest in our draft. What can I say? It's quite an emotional sale, to be able to breed and raise that foal on the farm for some partners. I am overwhelmed with that.

"I put an extremely realistic reserve on her. She was only going to sell well, but I didn't quite expect her to get to that mark but she was bought by an extremely good judge in Suman Hedge.

"Richard was the underbidder and he trains her full brother. She is a mirror image of him as a yearling, so he's added to the page and the 2-year-old in Tassie was stakes-placed last month as well, which helps."

Vinery Stud's Headwater is the sire of four stakes winners: dual group 2 winner Jamaea, group 3-winning juvenile Wisdom Of Water, Mileva, and Starlight.

"This is the first (Headwater) that we've ever bought, but given that this one's mating had worked and there's some depth in the pedigree as well, you look at every generation there and there's a nice horse, all of those things just give you a little bit of confidence and we're really happy to get her," Hedge said.

"It's been a really good sale in the sense that it's been a really honest sale, everyone's had the opportunity to buy a horse here. I think some of the sales earlier in the year are really intimidating; you just think 'I've got no chance here' but here if you like a horse and set yourself for it, you have a chance to buy it.''

The fillies were bought for a client with significant breeding interests and Hedge hopes they can form part of a growing broodmare band.

"We've got some stallion assets so we're just trying to assemble some nice fillies that we can race and then hopefully send on to stud later on," he said.

"We've got stallions like Zoustar and Written Tycoon , and Farnan and Extreme Choice. They're good stallions and hopefully these horses can do the job on the track and we can send them there later on."

Rathmore Lodge sold all 15 yearlings for AU$877,500 ($639,399) at the Adelaide sale.  

Trainer Will Clarken is also confident that he has identified the best filly on offer at the Adelaide sale and he was prepared to recommend the daughter of Capitalist (Written Tycoon), from the family of champion filly Alinghi (Encosta de Lago), to the owners of his group 1-placed sprinter Beau Rossa (Unencumbered). 

"We thought she was the best filly here. She is all class and you can see the Fastnet Rock coming through in her and she is by a gun stallion," Clarken said. 

"She might have lacked a bit of 'walk' but that is the Capitalist coming out in her and she just looked so fast. She has a massive hindquarter and a massive shoulder. She was the horse we were here to buy. We had some help from a bloodstock agent who came down from Sydney and he thought she was the best Capitalist he'd seen all season.

"This is coming off an Adelaide vendor, which is important I think. She is just a really classy filly and she will run in the Beau Rossa colors."

Cataloged as Lot 398, the Kambula Stud-sold filly is the second foal out of Fastnet Rock (Danehill) mare Tagreeda, a two-time winning blood sister to the stakes-placed Lady Sharapova (Fastnet Rock) and a half sister to the group 3-placed High Spirit (High Chaparral). Her third dam is Oceanfast (Monde Bleu), the dam of four-time group 1-winning champion Alinghi.

Phillip Stokes trains the filly's unraced 2-year-old half sister Sooreeda (Sooboog).

Clarken teamed up with Anthony Panozzo and his racing manager Lachie Weekley to buy a Kambula Stud-bred colt by Russian Revolution (Snitzel) out of Umaquest (Umatilla) for AU$180,000 ($131,211). 

Flemington trainers Mark and Levi Kavanagh continued their Adelaide investment, one that has served them well for two decades, taking home 13 yearlings for a spend of AU$1.4 million ($1,020,250), while trainers Tony and Calvin McEvoy, alongside Belmont Bloodstock's Damon Gabbedy, bought eight horses for AU$760,000 ($553,774).

"I think that breeders deserve to be stimulated more here in the state,'' Bowditch said. 

"They are doing an outstanding job, doing their best and results like this just show. They're breeding an outstanding product.

"There's a hunger from South Australian trainers to support this sale in particular and make it their sale. Racing Rewards, in fairness, are doing an outstanding job.

"The trainers of South Australia have stumped up, they've done their best and they're getting in and spending really well and I'd love to see the prize-money increase to give them more rewards for what they're doing here at this sale.''

Meanwhile, a number of Queensland-based Magic Millions staff were on flights back to the Gold Coast last night in readiness for Monday's March QTIS Yearling Sale.

"We're having a great season for our regional sales and we're off back to the Gold Coast out of headquarters and we're really excited," the Magic Millions boss said. 

"The breeders of Queensland have been stepping it up for the last few years and I expect for any buyer there will be some great value to be had but there will be a lot of lovely horses for them to inspect.''