Coolmore win titanic battle with Yulong for A$250,000 yearling turned A$5.6 million record star

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Exciting juvenile Chayan is set to continue her career in the Coolmore silks after becoming the most expensive horse ever sold at the Inglis Chairman's Sale in Sydney, Australia on Thursday.

After a head-to-head battle between Tom Magnier of Coolmore and the Yulong operation, the former eventually gained the upper hand to secure the filly at A$5,600,000 (£2,984,000/€3,453,000). 

Singapore-based owner Eric Koh has had a terrific run of luck with the daughter of I Am Invincible, who was picked up at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale from breeders Longwood Park for A$250,000.

Chayan has had four starts for the Annabel and Rob Archibald stable, where she is set to remain. She finished second on her debut in the Group 2 Blue Diamond Prelude on February 7 before winning the Group 2 Reisling Stakes at Randwick and was last seen finishing a close eighth in the ultra-competitive Golden Slipper.

Koh was overwhelmed by the result.

"I came here thinking maybe A$3.6m, that would be tops. To go beyond four, beyond five to A$5.6, unbelievable,” he said. 

"From day one [at Magic Millions] we inspected her three times and then to see her today. She wasn't 100 per cent in front but that's why she was so cheap. I wouldn't have been able to afford her [otherwise] back then. To sell her tonight is amazing.”

Magnier said: “All the top people were on her. She’ll go back to Rob and Annabel, they did a great job with her. They’ve been ringing me about her during the week and they obviously hold her in very high regard but at the end of the day whatever she does on the racetrack will have upside.”

The Coolmore man added that her racing and breeding potential were both attractions.

“We’re trying to go out and really get behind [Coolmore stallion] Super Seth, the plan will be that she’ll race for Georg Von Opel, Derrick Smith and Dad [John Magnier] and then she’ll go to Super Seth. We’re just delighted to get her.

“It shows how strong the market is in Australia when a filly comes in like that. We’ll need a bit of luck with her, so fingers crossed.”

Of future plans, he added: “I’ll leave this to Annabel but they think she could be an Everest filly. We’re going to sit down next week and go through that but the one thing about her is they were very confident she’d be a Group 1 filly and I think we’re going to be looking at a lot of fast race with her and see how we go. The world is her oyster if it happens.”

Koh had been torn about the sale as he has aspirations as a breeder as well as an owner. However, he explained he had taken a call from Inglis inviting him to offer the filly at the sales and then another from Newgate Farm supremo Henry Field, who wanted to consign her.

"Having been put in a corner, I thought I'd put her in the sale,” he said. “This is the fairest way, I don't want to offend anybody. It was a three-pronged decision – Inglis, Newgate and my girlfriend. That's how it came to light.

“Having bought horses, attended the sales, this is obviously the biggest result and achievement for myself. Very happy, very satisfied. Heavy-hearted to lose her but I'm happy for Coolmore, for Tom, and I think she has huge potential ahead.”

Yulong did not leave the glamorous black-tie event empty-handed. The entity was responsible for purchasing five of the nine seven-figure lots headed by Group 1 Goodwood winner Benedetta for $1,900,000 and crack New Zealand mare Provence for $1,800,000. All told, they spent $8,450,000 at the session. 

Japanese bloodstock royalty in the Yoshida family stepped in for Philia, the accomplished All Too Hard four-year-old from the David Vandyke stable.

The very select breeding stock event offered just 108 individuals, which sold for a clearance rate of 79 per cent. The big numbers masked the fact that the statistics were down year-on-year. Some 79 horses changed hands for an aggregate of $39,085,000, down 28 per cent year-on-year when 77 lots sold for A$54,430,000. The average finished at $494,747, a 30 per cent drop, while the median dipped 25 per cent to A$300,000.

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