In today's Straight Shorts, selling has ended at the Magic Millions March Yearling Sale, an expensive blueblood is set to debut, a shuttle sire for Arrowfield Stud and a New Zealand Group 1 winner has been retired.
Pinatubo colt to join Gollan stable after topping Magic Millions March sale at $290,000
Familiarity with the family of the most expensive lot sold at the Magic Millions March Yearling Sale prompted leading Brisbane trainer Tony Gollan to dig deep for an impressive colt by Darley shuttler Pinatubo.
The $290,000 colt, sold in the final hour of the Gold Coast sale, was bought by syndicator First Light Racing who teamed up with Gollan and the trainer’s trusted agent John Foote to buy the November-born yearling who was offered through the draft of KBL Thoroughbreds.
Earlier in the session, a colt by premier Queensland stallion Spirit Of Boom was sold for $210,000 to Rockhampton trainer Clinton Taylor, whose stable star Chinny Boom is by the same Eureka Stud-based stallion.
Chinny Boom will contest Friday’s $750,000 King Of The Mountain at Toowoomba.
The purchase of the Pinatubo colt by Gollan and First Light continues a strong partnership that has been at play throughout this year’s yearling sales, particularly at the Magic Millions in January and again this week.
“We thought he was the colt of the sale. Obviously, Tony has had a fair bit to do with the mare and obviously the whole family,” Gollan Racing’s general manager Andrew Dunemann said.
“He’s from a really good family, a Queensland family.”
The March sale-topping colt, a half-brother to Gollan’s lightly raced three-year-old Spirit Of Boom filly Esprit Du Jour, is the second living foal out of six-time winner Of The Day, a sister to Group 3 winner Most Important who was also prepared by the premier Brisbane stable.
The colt was bred by Graham and Linda Huddy’s Peachester Lodge, which races Esprit Du Jour and the now retired Most Important also ran in their well-known maroon and gold diagonal striped silks.
“Darley always does a good job with the (stallions) they shuttle down here and ever since he was foaled, we've always liked him,” Linda Huddy said.
“He's always been a beautiful colt, easy to do anything with. We’re really, really happy with the result and the great job that Brad (Lowe) and Kandice (Pritchard) have done.
“Any horses they prepare for us, they’re always beautifully presented.”
The first southern hemisphere crop of Pinatubo, Shamardal’s champion European two-year-old and Horse of the Year who won six straight as a juvenile in an unbeaten season for Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby, have sold up to $700,000 so far this sales season.
SOLD - $290,000!
— Magic Millions (@mmsnippets) March 25, 2025
A new sale topper at the Gold Coast March Yearling Sale as Lot 351 the Pinatubo-Of the Day colt from KBL Thoroughbreds goes to @FirstLight_FLR, @tonygollan & John Foote. #MMGCMarch2025 pic.twitter.com/jqcABWHXKk
Across the two days of the March sale, a catalogue predominantly made up of Queensland-bred horses, 239 yearlings were sold for a combined $8.3 million at an average of $34,730. The median was $25,000, a decrease of $3,000 on the 2024 sale. The clearance rate was 73 per cent.
Magic Millions delayed the March sale by a fortnight due to Cyclone Alfred causing havoc across southeast Queensland earlier this month.
“It’s a really important sale for the Queensland breeders and it's fantastic to host them again and I think, overall, there was solid enough trade done,” Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch said.
“Obviously, the clearance rate's a bit lower than we'd like, but it’s a strong average, (there were) plenty of six-figure horses and overall I thought for the right product there were plenty of bidders here on the ground.”
High-profile Easter filly to debut for Coolmore, Stewart
Ernaux, second only to Winx’s first foal as the highest-priced yearling filly sold at auction in Australia, is set to make her racing debut.
The $3 million filly will be a much-anticipated runner for trainer Chris Waller when she contests an 1100m maiden for two-year-olds against her own sex at Randwick on Wednesday.
Ernaux, a daughter of champion sire I Am Invincible out of the Group 1-winning sprinter Booker, was sold during last year’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale as part of the Coolmore draft.
She will race in John Stewart’s Resolute Racing silks after the American owner teamed up with Coolmore to invest in the Australian bloodstock last year.
Stewart was the under-bidder at $9 million on the Pierro-Winx filly who sold for a record-breaking $10 million at the same sale.
Another huge result for @coolmorestud as their I Am Invincible x Booker filly sells for a tremendous $3 million. Congratulations to @rresoluteracing on their purchase of Lot 443 at #InglisEaster pic.twitter.com/3TQ35Cb2og
— Inglis (@inglis_sales) April 8, 2024
Nevertheless, Stewart spent $5.44 million on six yearlings at Easter sale, selecting Waller, Ciaron Maher and Bjorn Baker to train his Australian interests.
Ernaux has had two lead-in barrier trials to Wednesday’s race and she is an early favourite to make a winning debut.
Group 1 2YO winner Vandeek shuttling to Arrowfield
Arrowfield Stud has become the latest Australian outfit to tap into the best European juvenile sprinting form after acquiring Group 1-winning two-year-old Vandeek for shuttle stallion duties.
Vandeek will shuttle to Australia for the 2025 southern hemisphere breeding season from Cheveley Park Stud in the UK.
He will stand at a fee of $22,000 (incl GST) with Arrowfield chairman John Messara banking on the Australian market’s appetite for stallions with a similar profile to ensure Vandeek will be well-received by breeders.
“He’s a great-looking, unbeaten champion two-year-old by a brilliant young stallion,” Messara said.
“That all makes Vandeek an attractive prospect for us, especially in light of the Australian market’s enthusiasm for stallions like Too Darn Hot and Wootton Bassett, with top-class European two-year-old sprint form.”
Vandeek, who is out of Exceed And Excel mare Mosa Mine, met and defeated the best juveniles of France, England and Ireland in the Group 1 Prix Morny at Deauville and completed his juvenile term with victory in the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket.
He was retired to stud after sustaining a minor injury after filling a placing in the Group 1 July Cup at Newmarket as a three-year-old.
Vandeek is the best performer to date by highly rated European sire Havana Grey.
Arrowfield said Vandeek had received excellent first-season support from British and European breeders with dual Group 1 winner Integral and Group 1 producer Zykina among his book of mares.
Brisbane’s racecourses not in Olympics plan
Brisbane racecourses Doomben and Eagle Farm have not been included in the Crisafulli government’s venue plans for the 2032 Olympics.
Premier David Crisafulli and Deputy Premier and Infrastructure Minister Jarrod Bleijie unveiled the outcomes of an independent panel’s 100-day review on Tuesday.
While Eagle Farm had been mooted as a possible location for equestrian and Doomben an outside chance of being the location for the main stadium in a report in January from Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate, neither was on the list of 32 venues released this week.
The equestrian events will be held at the Toowoomba Showgrounds, while the main stadium will be built at Victoria Park with a capacity of 63,000 at an estimated cost of $3.78 billion.
Alalcance receives weight penalty for Sydney Cup
Tulloch Lodge import Alalcance has been re-handicapped for the Sydney Cup after a dominant lead-up win in the Group 2 NE Manion Cup.
The in-form staying mare received a 2kg penalty for the $2 million Sydney Cup on April 12.
She will now carry 52kg as she tries to match Knight’s Order (2022) and The Offer (2014) as recent Tulloch Lodge-trained winners of the race.
Alalcance swept to the top of Sydney Cup betting markets as a $4.50 chance after her Manion win with stablemate Vauban on the third of betting.
Vauban, a first-up winner for Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, will contest the $1.5 million Tancred Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday and is an unlikely Sydney Cup starter.
New Zealand Group 1 winner Aegon retired
Group 1 winner Aegon, who took trans-Tasman trainer and part-owner Andrew Forsman on a whirlwind ride over the last five years, has been retired
“We felt that we were running out of suitable options for him, and it was nice to see him perform in his last race (third in the Group 2 Japan Trophy) as well as he did and be able to be retired a sound and happy horse,” Forsman told NZ Racing Desk.
Bred by Waikato Stud, the son of their ill-fated stallion Sacred Falls was offered through their 2019 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 1 Yearling Sale draft where he was purchased by Forsman for $150,000.
The Zame Partnership had tasted success with Forsman when racing Group One winner Jon Snow, and they were quick to join the Cambridge trainer in the ownership of Aegon, who carried their silks throughout his 33-race career.
Aegon made the perfect start to his career when winning on debut over 1300m at Taupo as a three-year-old, which commenced a five-race winning sequence that included the Group1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m), Karaka Million 3YO Classic (1600m), and Group 2 Hobartville Stakes (1400m) in Australia.
While he would only go on to add the Group 3 Moonga Stakes (1400m) to his record, he would add a number of high-profile placings to his name, including the Group 1 Captain Cook Stakes (1600m) and the Group 1 Otaki-Maori WFA (1600m).
Aegon competed in the 2023 Group 1 Champions Mile (1600m) at Sha Tin, where he finished fifth behind Hong Kong Champion Golden Sixty.
