$2.8 million Legarto stars as demand remains strong for top-quality mares and fillies 

Five-time Group 1 winner Legarto will take pride of place at Segenhoe Stud, Yulong’s acquired Hunter Valley property, after Zhang Yuesheng purchased the Kiwi mare for $2.8 million on the Gold Coast on Tuesday.

The daughter of champion New Zealand sire Proisir was the highest-priced lot of Magic Millions’ race fillies and mares session of the National Broodmare Sale.

A 12-time winner for trainers Ken and Bev Kelso, Legarto was bought by Zhang after Coolmore’s Tom Magnier retreated from the bidding duel, in contrast to the $5.6 million sale of Chayan at the Chairman’s Sale earlier this month.

Yulong-associated entities signed for three of the seven million dollar mares to sell at the Gold Coast, with Legarto joining the Ciaron Maher-trained Snitzanova ($1.8 million) and Captured By Love ($1.5 million) on her way to Segenhoe.

Jun Zhang, Yulong’s general manager, indicated that once Segenhoe was fully functional as an agistment property and stallion business, they would have 150 to 160 mares domiciled on the farm.

And Legarto would be one of the best-credentialled ones to be residing there.

“She’s the mare of the whole sale and we love her, we fell in love with her when we first saw her,” Zhang said.

“We purchased Segenhoe and we need some very elite mares to support our stallions, Devil Night or Private Harry.”

Captured By Love, who won the New Zealand 1000 Guineas for Te Akau, “has come full circle”.

“This is where I bought her for $500,000, and to win seven races and to come back and get 1.5 million Australian dollars, is a big thrill for us,” Te Akau principal David Ellis said.

“She has been brilliantly promoted by Newgate and Magic Millions and we’re very happy.”

Arrowfield bought Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed Stretan Angel for $1.6 million specifically to be mated to The Autumn Sun while Japan’s Northern Farm paid $1.5 million for LIlac, a Group 3-winning daughter of Justify, and the same amount for Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner O’ Ole.

Arrowfield’s John Messara believes the former Phillip Stokes-trained Stretan Angel, a daughter of Harry Angel, was well suited by Arrowfield’s stallion roster leader.

“I liked everything about her. I liked the pedigree. I like the way she looked. I had a good look at her, and I liked her performance,” Messara said.

“A three-times Group 1 placed in best races – the Goodwood, the Newmarket, Lightning Stakes – those sort of races.

“She’ll suit our horse The Autumn Sun perfectly. We’re buying mares to suit the horses that we’ve got and that mare we bought for that purpose.”

A winner of $1.3 million the track, Stretan Angel’s sale put a big full stop on her racing career for Stokes and her owners who paid $64,000 for her at the 2022 National Yearling Sale.

“We bought her here out of this (National) sale, out of a placed Bernardini mare, so not much to go on, but just a nice type,” Stokes said.

“We got some of our very good clients and friends in it, they’ve raced horses with us for a long time, and to do the full circle and get this result at the end of it is huge.

“It’s a big thrill. I’m really rapt for everyone.”

Also seated at the Arrowfield table at the back of the Magic Millions sales complex was Northern Farm representative Shingo Hashimoto acting for Katsumi Yoshida.

Hashimoto’s first purchase, the former Annabel and Rob Archibald-trained Lilac, could be mated with Japanese champion Equinox in the New Year.

“This sire (Justify) hasn’t had much success in Japan yet but we think he is a very good broodmare sire,” Hashimoto said of Lilac.

“She had a nice frame. She was gorgeous the way she walked – very nice. We pretty much liked her.”

While Lilac’s future appears to be in Japan, Hashimoto was less certain about the Bjorn Baker-trained O’ Ole, a first season daughter of Ole Kirk.

“We really like how she looks, so that came first, and the way she performed at the Magic Millions 2YO race was fantastic, so we really liked her,” Hashimoto said.

“We haven’t decided yet whether to take her back to Japan or possibly keep her in Australia.”

The race fillies and mares session turned over almost $34 million at an average of $249,298 and a median of $107,500. 

All indices were down year-on-year but Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch says Tuesday’s trade exceeded his pre-sale predictions.

“I thought the depth in the market was extremely solid and I think that’s evident in the fact that we’ve cleared 84 percent of the stock. It was a very genuine market,” he said.

“Obviously you can look at the sale and compare it to last year, but I think it’s hard to compare when you’re not comparing apples with apples.

“Each year’s got a different level of quality and a different line of horses, but I think for the catalogue that was there today I would have thought leading in it has exceeded our expectations.”

Five mares sold for more than $2 million at last year’s National Sale, headed by $5.25 million Zoustar mare Zougotcha whereas Legarto was the only mare to sell for more than $2 million this year.

Day two’s in-foal mares sale starts at 10am (AEST).

Day 1 Sale results

Lots Sold: 136 (131)

Lots Passed In: 26 (31) 

Lots Withdrawn: 15 (37)

Sale Gross: $33,904,500 ($47,574,500) 

Average Price: $249,298 ($363,164)

Top Price: $2.8 million ($5,250,000) 

Median Price: $107,500 ($160,000) 

Sold %: 84 (81)

*2025 day 1 in brackets