Colt by ‘statistical outlier’ Extreme Choice makes A$1.4 million at Magics

A A$1.4 million (£734,000/€854,000) colt by Extreme Choice proved too irresistible for big-time international investor Yulong as the curtain came down on Book 1 of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale on Saturday night.

The start of the evening session was pushed back by an hour to 7pm due to the Magic Millions 3YO Guineas being delayed by 70 minutes owing to a dramatic barrier incident involving unbeaten second favourite Sydney Bowler, who was scratched and required veterinary care.

Once it eventually got under way, it didn’t take long for the action to heat up, with the opening lot, a Deep Field colt, selling for A$800,000 and, 20 minutes later, the night’s marquee horse – a Kingstar Farm-bred and sold son of Extreme Choice – was bought by Yulong, its most expensive purchase across the five days of action.

Yulong general manager Vin Cox said: “We expected him to be up there somewhere [in price]. He was a much talked [about] horse that we identified fairly early. We saw him in December when we went through the Hunter Valley looking at yearlings and it is great to come away with him.

“He’s a beautiful colt out of a Shamardal mare who has already thrown a stakes winner and we’re delighted to get him.”

Raised at Matthew Sandblom’s private Hunter Valley breeding operation Kingstar Farm, near Denman, the colt by the Newgate Farm-based sire is the stud’s second seven-figure yearling sold at the Magic Millions in as many years – and both are by Extreme Choice.

This year’s Kingstar stand-out, catalogued as Lot 942, is a half-brother to the former Mick Price and Mick Kent jnr-trained Vain Stakes winner Our Playboy and the fifth living foal out of the unraced mare, Mischief Night.

A half-sister to All Aged Stakes-winning sire Pierata, who now stands at Yulong in Victoria, as well as Group 3 winner Ashokan, Mischief Night was bought by Sandblom at the 2019 Magic Millions National Sale for A$200,000 from the Widden Stud draft.

Cox bought talented Extreme Choice colt Parkour – a race morning scratching from Saturday’s Magic Millions 2YO Classic – for A$600,000 at last year’s sale for his former employer Sheikh Mohammed and a year on he was happy to pay more than double for one on behalf of his new boss, Yulong’s Zhang Yuesheng.

Cox said: “He’s probably not as big as Parkour. Parkour was a very big yearling, but he’s a chestnut like Parkour and there’s a lot of similarities with him. 

“This horse has made a lot more money than Parkour but that is on the back of continued success of the stallion.”

Zhang is playing the same game as the other major colts funds, aiming to add to the size and depth of Yulong’s stallion roster and the feats of Extreme Choice can’t be ignored.

Cox said: “[If you] land the right colt and it improves business. If we can hit on the right colt by the right stallion it moves the needle from a business perspective.

Vin Cox: 'We're delighted to get him'Credit: Magic Millions

“When you look at his [Extreme Choice’s] numbers it is staggering. He’s an outlier in terms of his statistics and in terms of what he’s done and what he’s achieved, realistically and anyone would admit is a low base, is wonderful.

“They all seem to gallop and we’re glad to get a colt that is bred by him and looks like him.”

Saturday night’s closing Book 1 trade officially brought an end to the sustained growth enjoyed by Magic Millions at its January sale, but in the context of the sales season ahead it’s far from panic stations.

That’s the view of managing director Barry Bowditch as he started to assess the five days of trade, which generated a considerable A$223.5m in turnover, down marginally year-on-year. The clearance rate was 86 per cent.

He said: “I’m incredibly pleased with how it came together. We’ll reflect on this sale as a great sale as the year goes on.

“Right now we are a tick over two per cent under last year and that is pleasing considering things aren’t easy out there for everyone.

“We did have an increase in million-dollar lots – 23 million-dollar lots, which is the most we’ve ever had here.

“To have an average of around $280,000, that is the third highest we’ve ever had and it was the last two years that beat that.” 

Magic Millions’ two-day Book 2 January sale starts on Monday.

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