A half-brother to prominent Coolmore Stud Stakes fancy First Settler is set to be the barometer for the Magic Millions Horses in Training Sale on the Gold Coast.
Despite the Snitzel colt’s presence early in Tuesday’s sale - and a host of others by proven and emerging commercial stallions - the company’s managing director Barry Bowditch has tempered his expectations heading into the second Australian breeze-up sale of the year.
Inglis set an Australasian record price when a Written Tycoon filly sold for $1 million and another seven horses sold for between $500,000 and $750,000 at its equivalent sale last week.
In the lead-up to Magic Millions’ offering, there has been a level of frustration brewing among vendors that rival auction house New Zealand Bloodstock was drawing potential buyers away from the Gold Coast by conducting its two breeze-up sessions on Monday and Tuesday.
NZB will hold its two-day breeze-up sale at Karaka near Auckland on November 20 and 21.
Some bloodstock agents who may have otherwise attended the Magic Millions sale (and they may still be active buyers) were at Te Rapa for Monday’s breeze-ups instead of inspecting horses in Queensland.
Australia-based agents Andrew Williams and Bevan Smith are among those who flew to New Zealand to watch the breeze-ups in person.
Bowditch, however, played down the significance of the New Zealand breeze-ups clashing with Magic Millions, believing it is unlikely to have a “huge bearing” on the sale results on the Gold Coast.
“I think all that sort of information is pretty well available in what the videos (and stride data) show these days,” he said.
“So, look, it's probably not ideal, but it's not something that I would think would have a huge bearing on the market at the end of the day.”
There was also concern that Hong Kong buyers, so influential to the top-end of last week’s Inglis sale, aren’t on the Gold Coast in the same numbers they were in Sydney.
But the way the catalogue has fallen, demand for the elite horses and pedigrees will be tested in the opening 20 minutes of the sale when the Snitzel half-brother to last-start Group 2 Danehill Stakes-winning colt First Settler goes under the hammer.
The Mick Price and Mick Kent Jr-trained three-year-old is an $8 chance for Saturday week’s Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes.
The majority of Australia’s premier trainers such as Ciaron Maher, Lindsay Park, Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott and Annabel Neasham and Rob Archibald are all represented at the Gold Coast and Lot 8, the Gerry Harvey-bred son of Snitzel, is likely to test their appetite to invest in new horses during the heart of the spring carnival.
Horses by Street Boss, Justify, Star Turn and Ole Kirk are also expected to be popular at the afternoon sale.
“I think the quality horses, when they're sold anywhere, and you're seeing it globally at the moment, they're extremely well sought after,” Bowditch said.
“We know we're fortunate enough here that we've had some well-bred horses that have come here in good order, that have breezed up very well.
“I suspect we may not reach the heights of last week (with a million dollar lot at Inglis), but in saying that, we'll have some very, very good sales in amongst the catalogue.”
Tim Rowe
Experienced vendor Tal Nolen, who sold a son of Zousain for $500,000 at last week’s Inglis sale, predicts the bottom of the market to hold up stronger at the Gold Coast than it did in Sydney a week ago.
“If you haven’t got the top horse, there’s not much point going there,” a blunt Nolen said.
“The bottom end we (found it hard) to get rid of, whereas here we’ll be able to sell the bottom-end horses and the top-end, we’ll be able to get rid of them, but perhaps we won’t get as much (money) as we thought we’d get, I’d say.”
Bowditch is hoping a sizable contingent of buyers from Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, China and Malaysia, as well as Hong Kong, who have flown in from overseas can lead to an acceptable clearance rate.
“It's not a sale where it's ever easy to get a good clearance rate, but we're hopeful that our vendors are here to attempt to meet the market and that there's enough market here for the horses,” he said.
“Obviously, I'd probably like a little bit more foot traffic out there than what we've had here today, but there's plenty of people that have done their due diligence. There's a lot of information on these sales without them being here on the complex.
“We're hopeful that … it's a healthy horse sale and a sale that's viable for our vendors.”
The sale starts at 12pm (AEST).
