Magnier Acquires Medaglia d'Oro Colt for $1M

A Medaglia d'Oro   colt became the first seven-figure offering during the first session of the Keeneland September yearling sale when he was bought by M. V. Magnier of Coolmore Stud for $1 million early during the Sept. 12 session.

Magnier said the colt reminded him of Vancouver, an Australian-bred son of Medaglia d'Oro who won the Tooheys New Golden Slipper (Aus-I). Coolmore sold Vancouver at auction and later purchased the colt, in partnership with China Horse Club, from owners F. A. Kennedy, Mrs. B. L. Kennedy, Bangaloe Stud, and A. Konstanta.

"It's a lot of money to pay for a horse, but he's very good looking and the lads seemed to like him," Magnier said. "He was a very nice horse, he reminded us a lot of Vancouver... and he's an exceptional looking horse, so if he's anything like him we're in good shape."

Magnier said the colt would most likely remain in the U. S. to be raced.

Consigned as Hip 48 by Taylor Made Sales Agency, the colt was bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings and is out of Smart Strike's stakes-winning daughter Spring Party, a half sister to grade I winner Emcee and to the dam of grade I winner Constitution  . Stonestreet purchased Spring Party for $525,000 from Taylor Made at the 2012 Keeneland November breeding stock sale.

"You hardly ever get a horse that well bred that actually walks like that," said Taylor Made's Duncan Taylor, "He looks like he's gliding on air, had all the muscle in the world to go with it. We knew he was a special horse.

"I think that's a Medaglia d'Oro colt that might be standing in Kentucky for a lot of money one day. He sure looks the part."

Erin Shea contributed to this article.