Well-bred Gooree colt by Shalaa comes up trumps at National Yearling Sale

The half-brother to Group 1-winning sire Hallowed Crown by Arrowfield Stud’s shuttler Shalaa, the last lot to be offered in Book 1 of the Magic Millions National Yearling Sale, sold for A$360,000 to put an exclamation mark on another show of the industry’s ability to defy wider economic factors.

The supplementary entry, the highlight of the unreserved dispersal of the late Eduardo Cojuangco’s bloodstock interests, was purchased by Andrew Williams Bloodstock on behalf of a client of Victorian trainer Matt Laurie who relied on the Sydney agent’s evaluation of the colt before committing to purchasing him.

Also a half-brother to the now Aquis Farm-based stallion Needs Further as well as Twin Hills’ Hallowed Crown, the colt is the tenth living foal out of Crowned Glory, the Group 3 winner who was narrowly beaten in the Golden Slipper Stakes.

Williams, bidding from the back of the Magic Millions auditorium for Laurie and fellow agent Justin Bahen, was in no doubt that the colt deserves to lead the Magic Millions National Sale honour roll.

"He’s got a stallion’s pedigree. He’s a horse who is a half-brother to Golden Rose-Randwick Guineas horse (Hallowed Crown) who is also from the family of Zabeel and we thought he might be a three-year-old style of horse,” he said.

"However, given he’s a Shalaa, he has a bit of Invincible Spirit blood there as well and, first and foremost, I thought he was a ripping sort with lovely size and scope and comes from one of the great nurseries in Australia."

Williams is a fan of the Shalaas, who have sold strongly at the southern hemisphere yearling sales this year.

He said: "This is the first horse (I’ve bought for Laurie) but because of Covid reasons he was stuck and couldn’t get up here, so he relied on my fantastic videoing and pictures. Matty’s over the moon.

"He’s definitely an Easter style of colt, so God knows what he could have made at that level and we put him in that bracket, so it’s great to secure a style of horse like him.

"He’s going to go straight down to (Laurie’s) and go through orientation and learn a bit more in new surroundings and go from there."

Gooree Park group of companies business manager Jeanette Tioseco believes Cojuangco would have been pleased to see such strong competition on the Gooree-bred horses at yesterday’s sale.

"(Mr Cojuangco) has always made an impression… he has always emphasised the quest for excellence, so am sure he would have been very happy with that result," Tioseco said.

"The family will continue his legacy of breeding good-quality, strong horses. I must admit, I had to make sure that the horses go to good quality farms. I think he would be happy.

"The farm remains in the family and we still have a few broodmares and racehorses as well weanlings which hopefully some will be sold here (at Magic Millions) in January."

A Snitzel filly, the last foal out of champion South African mare National Colour, was also hotly contested before making A$300,000 in a bittersweet moment for her breeders which brought to an end their association with a highly successful family.

On a day where buyers gravitated towards the better-credentialed new season two-year-olds in which vendors were prepared to meet the market to achieve a clearance rate of 75 per cent, there were 37 six-figure lots at an average of A$53,866. It was prominent Hong Kong-based owner Bon Ho who made a splash on the Gold Coast via the phone, continuing his large-scale investment in young stock this year.

Under the banner of Legend Racing, Ho bought the two highest-priced yearlings yesterday, the session-topping Snitzel filly and a A$270,000 son of Dundeel, who were both consigned by Arrowfield Stud.

The Snitzel filly hails from one of the most potent South African families of recent years, being a three-quarter sister to South African Grade 1 winners Rafeef and Mustaaqeem.

She was catalogued as lot 1276 by Arrowfield Stud, which has nurtured the family of South Africa’s 2005-06 champion older female sprinter National Colour who died in November 2018.

Arrowfield Stud bloodstock manager Jon Freyer admitted that it was a difficult decision for the breeders to part with the filly.

"She is owned by Klawervlei Stud in South Africa, who are friends and partners of ours in a number of mares and National Colour was a great race mare for them. She was a champion in South Africa and she competed really well at Group 1 level in England and she’s done an amazing job at stud," Freyer told ANZ Bloodstock News.

"She’s had two Group 1-winning colts who were both bought by Angus Gold for Sheikh Hamdan, and Rafeef had his first yearlings go through the sale only a few days ago (in South Africa) and everyone was super impressed with those.

"Having a filly out of that mare I think will be a great investment by Bon Ho for many years to come."

The figures achieved at the Book 1 sale once again surprised many vendors and not least Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch after 191 yearlings changed hands.

"We are seriously pleased with how today went, given what is going on in the world and it’s the last yearling sale of the season and obviously not being able to have any internationals here on the ground or Victorians or Sydney people, it was mission impossible going into it,” he said.

"So, to pull it off and the fact it statistically matches up with (the 2019 sale) and a clearance rate that is up on last year and an average that is comparable and a higher median - it is a fantastic result.

“Full credit to the agents and the Magic Millions team, who have gone out and done their work on the catalogue and called a lot of people and engaged with a lot of people who were not able to attend. You could see today they were participating on a lot of horses, which was fantastic to see.”

The final National sale session starts on Tuesday with the Book 2 yearlings followed by the Gooree and racehorse auctions which features a strong draft from Godolphin.

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