Champion mare Melody Belle tops Magic Millions Broodmare Sale at A$2.6 million

It promised to be a day like no other and it delivered, so much so it prompted industry figures to label yesterday’s opening session of the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale as the most extraordinary they had witnessed in decades.

Eighteen mares sold for A$1 million or more, 11 of them in the Shadwell Stud Australasia dispersal sale, and champion New Zealand mare Melody Belle could lay claim to being the head of the pack one more time when she topped the day at A$2.6 million (approximately £1.4m).

There was A$68.888m (£37.8m) spent on 210 lots in the race fillies and mares, the highest single day’s trade in the southern hemisphere at a breeding stock sale, at an average of A$328,038 (£180,000), up 59 per cent year on year.

The median of A$145,000 (£80,000) was up 93 per cent on last year and up from A$70,000 (£38,000) achieved in 2019.

The clearance rate was at 91 per cent as breeders looked to cash in on the booming market after record yearling and weanling sales.

“I am speechless. We’d hoped to achieve something extraordinary, but to do so is a remarkable result. It’s a remarkable result for the team and it’s a remarkable result for the industry here in Australia,” an elated and clearly emotional Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch said.

“The industry’s in great shape here, isn’t it? It’s buoyant, there was so many people trying to get in and bidding was healthy from start to finish.

“It just shows that if you bring a premium product to a horse sale and we’ll ensure that the buyers are here to bid on these horses. Today reflected that like never before.

“I think we’ve had ten lots make over $1.5 million and I’d hate to know how many made over seven figures. It’s a huge number - 18 in one day.

“I don’t think that’s been done in the history of a mares sale and definitely not here.”

The figures, even taking into account the once-off Shadwell dispersal sale, could have been greater had Arcadia Queen been sold.

Onlookers were left stunned when Arcadia Queen, arguably the sale’s biggest drawcard, was passed in for A$3.4m after her Western Australia owner-breeder Bob Peters was unwilling to part with the star homebred mare. Her reserve was listed at A$4m.

Further underlining the dramatic day, the sale was halted for about 45 minutes after a car crash nearby cut power to about 370,000 residents from the Gold Coast to Caboolture and also brought the Magic Millions sales ring to silence.

A back-up generator was called upon to allow the sale to resume.

The first big-name mare through the ring on day one was star mare Melody Belle and it was Yulong’s Written Tycoon Syndicate which landed the brilliant six-year-old for A$2.6m to liven up a remarkable day’s trade.

She was the most expensive of 26 mares bought by the partnership on day one which also included Greysful Glamour for A$1.5m and another Stratum mare Positive Peace for A$800,000. They spent a total of A$12.2m.

With Kiwi Steve Davis ushered onto the rostrum to auctioneer New Zealand’s champion 14-time Group 1 winner Melody Belle, the bidding opened at $1m before an investor bidding online went toe-to-toe with Yulong Investments which is buying under the Written Tycoon Syndicate in support of their acquisition of the champion stallion.

“We are looking at mares of this quality now we have got Written Tycoon standing at the farm,” Yulong’s chief operating officer Sam Fairgray said.

“She was an obvious mare that we will look to put to him and we think she will suit him ideally.”

Catalogued as Lot 510, the Marie Leicester-bred Melody Belle won 19 races and she is one of two winners for Meleka Belle, a half-sister to four stakes-placed horses.

“We thought she would be around that [$2.6m] mark,” Fairgray said.

“She's a Group 1 winning two-year-old and went on to win 14 Group 1 races, so a mare of that quality doesn’t come on the market very often.

“She was bred by a very good breeder in New Zealand. She's been trained by New Zealand's best trainer.

“She came over and raced against the best in Australia as well.”

Buyers make most of Shadwell dispersal

Expectations were high for the Shadwell Stud Australasia dispersal, but 11 million dollar mares changing hands in not much longer than an hour still had many experienced participants in awe of what had just occurred.

Such was the appetite from buyers to take advantage of the rare event, brought on by the ill health and then death of Shadwell founder Sheikh Hamdan, it led to major players joining forces in order to secure their chosen lots.

South Australian Derby winner Qafila, who was offered in foal to Dundeel, garnered the most attention with GSA Bloodstock’s Jonathan Munz partnering with Coolmore to buy the talented mare.

“You’ve got to pay for these nice mares. It’s been strong all day, hasn’t it? Everyone seems to be partnering up, so it seems, and we’ve partnered with Coolmore,” Munz’s representative, agent Dean Hawthorne said.

“Qafila was a hell of a racemare who we followed [on the racetrack]. She is a good type and [$2 million] is the market, really, and I can’t really see it stopping.

“She's a good long-term investment.”

Munz has a share in Coolmore’s dual Group 1-winning two-year-old and first season sire King’s Legacy and Hawthorne indicated the two parties are likely to do more business together in the future.

“We’ve also been trying to buy mares together for King’s Legacy and we’ll be involved with Coolmore from now on,” he said.

“We will sit down with the [Coolmore] boys but she will go to one of the Coolmore stallions, I’d imagine. There’s all sorts of options on the table for her.”

Go Bloodstock’s Sir Owen Glenn also combined with Coolmore to land a Shadwell mare, Minhaaj’s dam Telaawa for A$1.7m.

She was sold in foal with an early service date to Exceed And Excel. Dean Hawthorne paid A$900,000 for Telaawa’s Exceed And Excel yearling filly at the Inglis Australian Easter Sale last month.

“Sir Owen thought it was a great opportunity with the Shadwell Dispersal to add to the very top end of our band and she is a Lonhro mare,” Go Bloodstock’s Steve O’Connor said.

“We loved the yearling back at the Easter Sale that Dean Hawthorne bought, and of these Shadwell mares, she was our pick.

It was great to partner with Coolmore, who we own some great horses with, like Merchant Navy. She's a lovely mare to have and she is an outcross to all these Danehill-line stallions that will be retiring for us.”

Yarraman Park, where the Shadwell stock had been kept for many years, consigned the draft which grossed A$25.135m.

Despite the startling figures, Yarraman Park’s Arthur Mitchell was not completely shocked by what occurred in the sales ring.

“It’s been the culmination of 25 years of growing a broodmare band and nurturing them and buying the best yearlings,” Mitchell said.

“[Shadwell representative] Angus Gold has done an amazing job and this is the culmination. It's sad to see the end of Shadwell's investment in Australia. Maybe there's a chance they may come back, but it was obviously a phenomenal sale.

“The mares sold really well, and we are so proud of our staff, they have done an amazing job.”

As for the overall race fillies and mares session, Mitchell backed up many opinions shared as the day progressed.

“I've been around the world for many years, and I've seen big markets in America, and this is as strong a sale as you’d see, all the way through,” he said.

“It wasn't just the Shadwell dispersal and it’s not just Australians buying, it’s people from across the world and this seems a very buoyant market to play in at the moment.

“Australia is in a good place, racing is in a good place and breeding is in a good place. It’s wonderful to see all these different people investing in these mares.”

Bowditch said: “Shadwell’s stock selling was one of the most emotional things you’ll see at a horse sale.

“It was truly special and we’re extremely grateful to be given the opportunity to sell these horses and it is a big reflection on Yarrman, Angus Gold and Sheikh Hamdan’s investment worldwide.

“These horses commanded respect and the buyers got behind them and gave them the respect.”

Day two, featuring broodmares in foal, starts on the Gold Coast at 10am local time.

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