A full spectrum of Tulloch Lodge's 2023 yearling sales purchases has been showcased in yet another display of stable strength that threatens to cut a swathe through Australia's best two-year-old races.

Seven days after Storm Boy elevated his status to one of the country's most valuable pieces of horseflesh in winning the Magic Millions 2YO Classic, Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott have unearthed another colt of considerable promise.

Fully Lit emerged as one of the favourites for a $2 million sales-restricted race in Sydney next month, following the Tulloch Lodge blueprint for success with an all-the-way win at Rosehill.

In a string of horses brimming with some of Australia's big-budget yearlings who have become even more valuable after contributing to the stable's imposing strike-rate with juveniles in 2023/24, Fully Lit perhaps looked out of place as an inexpensive Inglis Classic Yearling Sale buy for syndication newcomer RedFox Racing.

But with a no-nonsense win to match that slightly unfashionable background, Fully Lit now stands as one of Waterhouse and Bott's best chances to claim the Inglis Millennium for the first time.

Of the eight individual juvenile winners sent out by Waterhouse and Bott this season, Fully Lit is easily the cheapest at $60,000 as a son of Yarraman Park sire Hellbent from the Snitzel mare Sunlit.

Yet nothing can be as profitable as a bit of inside stable knowledge and as the second foal of Sunlit, Fully Lit is a half-brother to The Novelist, last season's BJ McLachlan Stakes winner for Tulloch Lodge who went amiss after that Group 3 victory and hasn't raced since.

Nevertheless, Fully Lit's purchase price is in the bargain category compared to the $460,000 outlaid on his stablemate Storm Boy, a warm favourite to sweep Sydney's autumn triple crown for two-year-olds.

And it certainly pales into insignificance up against the $1 million Waterhouse and Bott spent to secure Espionage and Too Darn Lizzie, who are both well on the way to repaying that outlay with unbeaten starts to their racing careers.

Bott said he wasn't surprised Fully Lit was too fast for his rivals under jockey Regan Bayliss.

"I thought he had certainly shown plenty of potential in both his trials," the co-trainer said.

"We knew he would be well educated and had the fitness on his side coming here today so it was good to see that level of ability stack up.

"He has obviously been produced that little bit later and he's still got to take those next steps from this point but no doubt there is improvement to come."

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The StraightWarwick Barr

And based on figures out of last week's Magic Millions sale, it seems beyond question the stable's renewed dominance of two-year-old racing, which returned 37 winners in 2022/23, can continue this season and into 2024/25.

Waterhouse and Bott teamed up with Bruce Slade's Kestrel Thoroughbreds to purchase 23 yearlings during Book 1 on the Gold Coast, spending more than $8.5 million at an average of $37o,435 to be the leading buyer.

At Eagle Farm, homebred two-year-old Commanding Artist delivered a maidne victory in a the 1200-metre Racecourse Village Handicap.

Trained by Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou, Commanding Artist is the second two-year-old winner of this crop for Widden's Trapeze Artist, and races in the same colours as his sire, having been also been bred by the Vieira family.

The other two-year-old winner in Australia on Saturday was the filly Kuroyanagi, who won on debut over 1100 metres at Gawler. The one-time $390,000 yearling is trained by Will larken and Niki O'Shea and is the second juvenile winner in Australia or Written Tycoon this season.

Hoofnote: Glenlogan Park will offer a North Pacific half-sister to Fully Lit as Lot 750 at this year's Classic Sale.

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