Darby lands his National colt by Newgate’s top sire for $400,000

The appearance of four yearlings by rare stallion Extreme Choice has assisted Magic Millions in posting year-on-year turnover growth for its National Yearling Sale, with $12.175 million traded over two days.

The Extreme Choice quartet, a colt and three fillies, who sold up to $580,000 contributed $1.43 million to the yearling sale’s aggregate, bringing the curtain down on five days of selling on the Gold Coast in a 10-day period.

And it was Michael Freedman, the trainer of Saturday’s BRC Sires’ Produce-winning Extreme Choice colt Berzelius, who backed up his day one purchase of a filly by the stallion for $580,000 by adding a colt for $400,000 on Tuesday.

The colt, out of US Listed winner Coco As In Chanel, was the highest-priced yearling sold during the second season, with Freedman teaming up with syndicator Darby Racing and agent Andrew Williams to land the colt.

China’s Linsheng Zhang ($200,000) and Queensland-based Own A Hair ($250,000) bought the other two fillies by Extreme Choice offered on Tuesday.

Scott Darby revealed he had been beaten on many of the leading lots sold on day one – a Lope De Vega colt topped the opening day at $600,000 – but he was pleased to have finally been rewarded for his persistence in the sales ring.

“What’s not to like about buying an Extreme Choice colt the way he’s going. He’s dominating, he’s world class. Michael and myself just love this colt,” Darby said.

“The June sale has always been very good to Darby Racing, we’ve had plenty of success including Group winners Irithea, Dark Eyes and many others.”

Newgate stud manager Jim Carey said the Extreme Choice yearlings had been specifically targeted at the National sale.

“We picked a bunch of horses we thought we could bring here and do well and … they’ve all gone to really good homes, so they’re going to get every chance on the track,” Carey said.

Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch says the results of the yearling sale show that it can be a target sale for vendors.

“The results show that when you target this sale specifically with the right sort of horse you will be well paid and well supported,” Bowditch said. 

“There were plenty of the right people here to buy these horses and when they vetted out well were highly competitive in the sale ring.” 

“We sold 35 horses for above $100,000 which was a strong increase on last year. I think 90 horses went to overseas parties – and that’s big numbers.

“I think this sale has a real future. It’s a genuine alternative for horses that need time or they’re late foals.”

In total, last week’s Magic Millions weanling, race fillies and broodmare sale and this week’s concluding National Yearling Sale achieved an aggregate of $95.125 million, down $21.2 million compared to 2025.

“The results over the past couple of days have really seen the whole National Sale, through weanlings, racefillies, broodmares and yearlings, end on a positive note,” Bowditch said.

“To gross some $97 million across the three sales is a big number.  It was a good, strong and competitive market right from the start to finish – everyone got involved.” 

National Yearling Sale Statistics

Lots Catalogued: 308 (381)

Lots Sold: 212 (249)

Lots Withdrawn: 29 (54)

Lots Passed In: 67 (78)

Top Price: $600,000 ($850,000)

Average Price: $56,231 ($41,434)

Median Price: $30,000 ($25,000)

Sale Gross: $11,921,000 ($10,317,000)

Sold %: 76 (76)

*2025 in brackets