A Magic start – Fireworks tipped in early stages of National Broodmare Sale

The Chairman’s Sale provided a market guide and it won’t take long to gauge breeders’ willingness to invest with a view to the longer-term health of the Australasian industry when selling gets under way at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale on Tuesday.

The cataloguing of the race fillies and mares sale, starting with the letter K, means many of the highest-profile horses to be offered on the Gold Coast on Tuesday will go through the ring inside the first two hours.

B2B Thoroughbreds, via Chris Waller Racing, will offer Kerber as the third lot through the ring (there are four stallion shares to be auctioned first).

Kerber, a $1.15 million yearling and sister to dual Group 1-winning sprinter In Secret who raced just twice, looms as an early litmus test for the Gold Coast sale.

Just five lots later five-time Group 1-winning New Zealand mare Legarto will be auctioned, with the daughter of Proisir shaping up to be potentially the most sought after mares to be sold this year.

Last season’s Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner O’Ole will also go under the hammer inside the first hour of selling.

Group 2 winner and multiple Group 1-placed sprinter Stretan Angel, Te Akau’s New Zealand 1000 Guineas winner Captured By Love and Australasian Oaks-winning mare Vibrant Sun will also be offered on day one.

Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch said he was delighted with the depth of the catalogue.

“There’s plenty of fireworks in (Tuesday’s) catalogue, and I think it will kick off with a hell of a lot of gusto in that first hour to an hour and a half,” he said. 

“I’m excited by the quality that the team has been able to attract. It’s a day that has plenty of expectations, but it’s a culmination of a lot of fantastic careers on the racetrack.

“The young mares off the track or those with racing upside will always have great appeal to the market.”

At the Chairman’s Sale earlier this month, Inglis hit a new company benchmark when rising three-year-old Group 2-winning filly Chayan sold to Coolmore for $5.6 million while Group 1-winning sprinter Benedetta sold for $1.9 million and Provence made $1.8 million.

The latter two were both purchased by Yulong, which is expected to again be major players at the top end.

But Bowditch believes Yulong, Coolmore, as well as Arrowfield, which all bought seven-figure mares at Chairman’s, will have strong domestic and international competition on the well-credentialled fillies and mares on the Gold Coast.

That will also filter down to the middle and lower-end of the market.

“There’s always good interest from the northern hemisphere. The Japanese will be here and the Chinese were great (buyers) at the weanling sale, so we expect them to follow in through the mares as well,” he said. 

“I also feel as if there’s a great number of New Zealanders here on the grounds that are looking at mares at the moment.

“I think internationally, across the board, we’re in reasonable shape, but like any year, you’re always held together by your local market. 

“I think we’ve got a great lot of mares that will serve a purpose at all levels.”

The in-foal mares will be offered on Wednesday and it is that segment of the market where buyers have been more risk-averse. 

“We’ve got fewer of them this year, but we’ve probably got the right ones on the whole,” Bowditch said.

“That end of the market is obviously where there is loads of opportunity, whether you’re buying for the cover or you’re buying mares that look like they’ve got a bit of upside of what they’ve already thrown.

“Within that day, we’ve got mares in foal to I Am Invincible, Extreme Choice, Zoustar, Anamoe, all the big sires, and they’re young mares.

“It’s a very young catalogue full of plenty of mares on first and second covers that will be well seen by the market.” 

Day one of selling starts on Tuesday at 12pm (AEST).