$6.6 million Imperatriz rewrites records on the Gold Coast

Imperatriz has smashed the record price for a broodmare in Australia, with Yulong securing the 10-time Group 1 winner for $6.6 million on an action-packed first day of the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale.

Zhijun Zhao, an associate of Yulong’s chief Yuesheng Zhang, signed for the I Am Invincible mare, who was offered by Te Akau Stud as a breeding proposition after her record-breaking racing career, which saw her secure 19 wins from 27 starts.

Yulong’s Vin Cox said it was highly likely that Imperatriz had run her last race and a decision on what stallion she would visit would be made when they got her back to the farm in Victoria.

“I mean, a 10-time Group 1 winner. They’re elite. They don’t give Group 1 races away at any level, in any country, in any jurisdiction,” Cox said.

”We went over and had a look at her last week and had a dinner with David (Ellis) and Karyn (Fenton-Ellis). And, we liked her, obviously, and sent through all the reports, and that’s where we’ve ended up.”

The mare was sold in absentia as she is back home at Te Akau Stud in New Zealand, but that didn’t inhibit the enthusiasm for her. Several bidders were active, with Coolmore the underbidders.

Her price easily eclipsed the $5 million Coolmore paid for Milanova in 2008 and represents a stunning return for her ownership group, which paid $360,000 for her through the same sales ring in 2020. During her career, she collected just short of $7 million in prize money.

Cox said while it was a lot of money, he felt on a global level that Australia’s elite mares still offered value.

“I’ve always thought mares in Australia are undervalued compared to the Northern Hemisphere. If you look at what mares, elite mares, can make in America or in Europe, we’ve always been, in my view, about half price, whereas, conversely, our stallions are probably more, valued more than they are in the Northern Hemisphere,” he said.

He said he felt Imperatriz belonged in the elite company of mares, globally,   

“She’d be in the top half dozen, you know, certainly top 10 mares of all time. Have to be. The Zenyattas, the Sunlines and horses like that come to mind.”

Coolmore’s ongoing faith in shuttle stallion Wootton Bassett was on display when they purchased two fillies, Madame Pommery and Platinum Jubilee, to go to him this spring, for a total of $6.2 million.

Zoustar filly Platinum Jubilee may have not won a Group 1, but as a half-sister to a Golden Slipper winner and a Group 3 Gimcrack Stakes winner herself, the one-time $600,000 yearling was always expected to reach seven figures.

Her dam, Miss Debutante, has three stakes winners from as many to the track, including Lady Of Camelot, the winner of this year’s Golden Slipper.

Coolmore’s Tom Magnier seemed determined not to let her slip, seeing off several bidders to eventually pay $3.5 million.

A winner of one of her 10 starts for Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, she will be retired immediately and be sent to Wootton Bassett.

“She was one we were pretty keen to get a hold of,” Coolmore’s Tom Moore said.

“Obviously the mother has done more than most will ever hope to do; she’s the dam of a Golden Slipper winner (and) all first three foals are Group winners.

“This particular filly won her Gimcrack on debut and she’s the type of filly that we want to hone in on to send to stallions like Wootton Bassett.

“We think that she can produce a commercial yearling, hopefully a top-class two-year-old in the future and she was one of the mares here that we really wanted to get home.”

Coolmore sent another expensive Zoustar filly, Sunlight, who cost $4.2 million at this sale three years ago, to Wootton Bassett, and she produced a $1.4 million colt at the Sydney Easter Yearling Sale.

Sold!
$2.7 million for the Group One winner Madame Pommery. Offered by @cwallerracing she is headed to @CoolmoreAus! #MMNational2024 pic.twitter.com/gnUiEO3HVr

— Magic Millions (@mmsnippets) May 28, 2024

 

About 50 minutes earlier, Coolmore paid $2.7 million for Group 1 Thousand Guineas winner Madame Pommery, and she is another destined for Wootton Bassett.

That mare, by No Nay Never out of a sister to Group 1 winner Earthquake, won two of her 18 starts and just over $850,000 in prizemoney.

Coolmore’s attraction to the mare was intensified by the fact she is by its stallion No Nay Never, who, while he only served four seasons in Australia, is highly regarded in the Northern Hemisphere.

“She’s a lovely mare, we’ve obviously got a lot of No Nay Never fillies at home and they’re good producers,” Coolmore Australia principal Tom Magnier said.

“She was an unbelievable race filly, Chris Waller did a great job and Sophie Baker is a big help to our team and she’s a superstar and I was delighted for her and all her connections.”

Baker is Waller’s long-term Executive Assistant and pulled a syndicate of women into the ownership of Madame Pommery.

“We’ve got so many loyal supporters behind us. They paid $150,000, she’s won a Group 1, she’s won $800,000 and she’s done this today. It’s unbelievable,” Baker said.

“The group involved a lot of women who have supported the stable over a number of years. They’ve all had a great time, now they’re great friends, they’ve had a few champagnes – especially a lot of Pommery – and they’ll be celebrating tonight.”

“I mean, a 10-time Group 1 winner. They’re elite. They don’t give Group 1 races away at any level, in any country, in any jurisdiction” Yulong’s Vin Cox on Imperatriz

Coolmore landed a third filly for seven figures when going to $1.4 million for stakes-winning Justify filly Legacies.

Earlier in the day Zhao/Yulong paid $2.5 million for Group 1-winning mare Chain Of Lightning.

The daughter of Fighting Sun will remain in work with Peter Moody, but is unlikely to be headed to Royal Ascot, as the previous owners had planned.

“We’ll have a chat to Peter (Moody) – we haven’t spoken directly to him yet – but there are some good options here in Australia as well,” Cox said.

“The obvious race is a race like the (Tattersalls) Tiara – the Stradbroke’s probably on the radar as well – but, again, we haven’t spoken to Peter Moody yet.”       

It was a marquee result for her breeder Stuart Ramsey, who had bought into this family with the help of Cox through the mare’s grandam Mardi’s Magic.

Sold!
$2.5 million for Chain of Lightning. The TJ Smith Stakes winner was sold through the draft of @KenmoreLodge for @TuranggaFarm. pic.twitter.com/osd6n5TvYh

— Magic Millions (@mmsnippets) May 28, 2024

“At the end of the day, we couldn’t even get her mother into the sale, but we’ve turned her into $2.5 million, plus $2.5 million prizemoney,” Ramsey said.

“That’s $5 million. It’s hard to get with a pick and shovel, isn’t it, so you’ve got to be satisfied.”

Ramsey revealed that at the time he purchased Mardi’s Magic with Cox, he could have added her half-sister Surrealist for $10,000. She ended up being the dam of five-time Group 1 winner Racing To Win.

He now has to be satisfied with a $2.5 million jackpot from her daughter.

Zhou also signed for another of Ramsey’s mares, Life Lessons, for $1 million.

Late in the day, Japan’s Northern Farm entered the market with a successful $2 million bid for G1 Robert Sangster Stakes winner Ruthless Dame.

The daughter of Tavistock will be sent to Japan to begin her breeding career.

Meanwhile, the yearling half-sister to Golden Sixty, a filly by Wootton Bassett, sold for $1 million to American-based Mt Brilliant Farm. She will remain and race in Australia with Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.

Nearly $52 million was traded across the first day, up $1 million on last year. The average of $309,731 and median of $120,00o was well up on 2023. The overall clearance of 84 per cent down year on year.

“When you put a catalogue like this together, when I opened the catalogue a week ago, I thought this is going to be something pretty good if the market’s OK,” Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch said. “And it was all of that. We averaged $309,000.”

“That’s seriously good, with a clearance rate of 84 per cent. The gross had increased on last year. To sell more million-dollar horses today than last year, or more million-dollar race fillies than we did last year is something we’ve got to be pretty happy with.”