'In fairness to the stallion he is kicking amazing goals' - Wootton Bassett on top with two million-dollar yearlings at Magic Millions

The first foal of Te Akau’s champion mare Avantage is back in the hands of the tangerine machine as David Ellis continued to employ strong-arm sale ring tactics during the third session of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale on Thursday.

The presence of the filly from the first southern hemisphere-bred crop of Coolmore’s European super sire Wootton Bassett in the opening minutes of day three set the auction alight, selling for a new 2024 Magic Millions high of A$2.1 million (£1.1m/€1.28m).

Four other yearlings also sold for seven figures on Thursday following on from the colts by Too Darn Hot (A$1.9m), Snitzel (A$1.75m) and Extreme Choice (A$1.6m) that were traded on Wednesday.

While the Wootton Bassett filly was an obvious attraction for Te Akau, Ellis was not alone in his appreciation of the Coolmore-bred first foal out of Avantage, who, with Thursday’s result, became the highest-priced yearling ever sold in Australia by a European shuttle stallion.

Steve Davis opened the bidding at A$500,000 and it quickly escalated well past the A$1m mark. With Yulong holding the call at A$2m, Ellis successfully held out the Chinese billionaire Zhang Yuesheng, with the gavel eventually falling in the Te Akau supremo’s favour.  

Independent agent Sheamus Mills who, after buying a daughter of I Am Invincible on Tuesday for A$1.25m, remarked earlier in the week that the four to five other fillies on his shortlist may be unattainable – and he’s been proven right despite also making a strong play for the valuable filly.

Ellis said: “We’re just over the moon to have a filly of her quality to train. A lot of people don’t realise that she [Avantage] had her first start as a two-year-old in September and she won that well.

“She raced again in October, she won the Karaka Million. She won a Group 1 as a two-year-old. She won a Group 1 at 1,200 metres, 1,400 metres, 1,600 and 2,000 metres [six furlongs to a mile and a quarter].

“She was the complete racehorse and I’ve seen her foal at the stud this year. She is a cracker and the mare is back in foal to I Am Invincible, so it has got so much upside and we’re just so proud to have her in the stable to train.”

Nine-time Group 1 winner Avantage, who was initially purchased by Ellis for NZ$210,000 in 2017 from the New Zealand Bloodstock Sale, was sold by Te Akau through Gavelhouse Plus at the end of her stellar racing career in 2021 and was bought by Coolmore’s Tom Magnier for an online record of NZ$4.1m.

“I was delighted for the lads, they obviously gave a lot of money for the mare, but it’s great when you can buy something off David Ellis and he comes back and buys off us,” said Magnier.

“David Ellis is just different, the success he has on the racetrack, and then you get to buy a great mare like Avantage off him.

Wootton Bassett: in sizzling form at Magic Millions

“I just hope for David and Karyn [Fenton-Ellis] and all the Te Akau team that this filly does great things for them. You never know, we might be back returning the favour at the end.”

Ellis added: “This filly has terrific residual value and she’d be an asset for any stud farm [even] if she never races.”

Ellis has spent recent months pressing the flesh with major Australian studs and leading owners, attempting to convince them to support Te Akau’s new Cranbourne stable, a base from which Imperatriz won three Group 1s during the recent Melbourne spring carnival.

So far, at least, Ellis, New Zealand Bloodstock’s leading buyer for the past 18 years, has lived up to his part of the bargain at Magic Millions, purchasing ten yearlings in three days for an aggregate of A$6.965m and they will be trained by Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson. Four of the Gold Coast portfolio have cost more than A$1m each.

Ellis said: “It’s been a lot of work but we enjoy doing it. It’s fun to us, it’s our hobby, and it’s just exciting to see how well received Te Akau Racing is here in Australia [and] at this sales complex.

“It’s a very exciting time for Te Akau.”

Later on in the afternoon, Wootton Bassett enjoyed another brilliant result when Magnier bought a colt by the sire for A$1.6m for Coolmore’s colts syndicate linked with trainer Chris Waller, who has already prepared dual Group 1 winner Home Affairs and Golden Slipper winner Shinzo for the group.

Bred by Fairway Thoroughbreds’ John Camilleri – the Sydney-based breeder’s fourth million-dollar yearling sold this week – the Segenhoe-consigned colt is the second foal out of the Listed-winning Fiera Vista.

Magnier has utmost faith in Wootton Bassett. 

Magnier said: “John Camilleri is a very smart breeder and he believes in Wootton Bassett. The best trainers, the best trainers’ agents, breeders, they’re all linked into this stallion.

“The horse has every chance and we have every faith in him. We stood here before with Justify with the same faith with our clients who supported Justify with Wootton Bassett.

“We’ll need a bit of luck, but in fairness to the stallion he is kicking amazing goals and the market seems to have the confidence that he is going to do the same in the south [southern hemisphere].”

Earlier in the session, Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott welcomed a classy Wootton Bassett filly into the stable for long-time client, adman John Singleton.

Gai Waterhouse: legendary trainer was among the buyers at the saleCredit: Edward Whitaker

Singleton dispersed his significant bloodstock interests last August and sold Strawberry Hill Stud on the NSW Central Coast to Tom Magnier soon after, but the larrikin octogenarian still has an interest in a small number of horses and gave Waterhouse an order for just one horse from the Magic Millions.

And Waterhouse came up with the Coolmore-bred and -sold second foal out of Group 2 winner Champagne Cuddles, a mare Coolmore bought at the National sale for A$2m in 2020. Her first foal, a two-year-old colt by Justify called French Empire, is yet to race for trainer Annabel Neasham.

Waterhouse said: “He gave me the brief and that was it. The only horse for Singo.

“He said, ‘I only want one horse and if you like it, buy it’. I do like her, she’s very feminine and she moves very freely.”

Despite winding back his bloodstock interests, the former Magic Millions co-owner has maintained his rekindled racing relationship with Waterhouse in recent years.

“I think John, until the day he dies, will always be buying," she said. "He just loves the sport, he just loves it. He’s just a truly a great enthusiast.

“Most people, as they get older, give up certain passions, but he hasn’t.”

Another filly by an elite international stallion, Juddmonte’s Frankel, is also heading to Waterhouse and Bott’s stable after they parted with A$1m for the Yarraman Park-consigned youngster. 

Dual-hemisphere agent Matt Houldsworth combined with the trainers to buy the half-sister to promising multiple US dual stakes-winning filly Ozara, who is the fourth foal out of juvenile winner Cercle D’Or, a half-sister to Europe’s champion colt of 2015 Golden Horn.

Frankel is the sire of nine individual southern hemisphere-bred stakes winners in Australia from 39 runners, the best being Group 1 winners Hungry Heart and Converge.

“She’s got an immaculate pedigree and physically she’s one of the loveliest fillies in the sale,” said Waterhouse.

“We identified her a long time before the sale – several months before – and we had a group of people and an agent also, Matt Holdsworth, who was very keen that one of his owners would become involved as well, so we are able to make a marriage, we believe, in heaven.”

So far this week, Wootton Bassett has had 25 yearlings sell for total receipts of A$11.775m, while Frankel is averaging A$825,000 for his four lots to sell.

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