Te Akau make million-dollar splash on the Gold Coast as David Ellis continues his Australian expansion

Four horses on the opening day of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale sold for more than a million dollars, two of them purchased by New Zealand powerhouse Te Akau Racing as David Ellis ramps up its permanent Australian presence.

Ellis used day one to make a statement, going to A$1.3 million (£684,000/€796,000) for a colt by champion sire I Am Invincible before swooping for a colt by Zoustar for A$1.1m.

Fillies by Snitzel and I Am Invincible also sold for seven figures, helping the 210-lot session average A$281,767, a record for the first day of a Magic Millions January sale, as buyers demonstrated their willingness to invest from the opening minutes.  

And Ellis didn’t wait long to enter the fray, either, linking with an international ally in Coolmore to buy the session-topping I Am Invincible colt. He will be trained out of Te Akau’s new Cranbourne stable in Victoria.

Te Akau’s current banner horse Imperatriz flew the flag for the fledgling Cranbourne base, which opened at the start of the season, by winning three Group 1s during the Melbourne spring for trainers Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson. 

The stable’s early momentum prompted Ellis to break new ground, buying seven-figure yearlings in Australia for the first time.

By the same sire as Coolmore’s dual Group 1-winning stallion Home Affairs, who was also raced by the the Magniers’ colts syndicate, the colt is a brother to Group 2 winner Shuffle Dancer, the stakes-placed Forbidden City and a half-brother to the stakes-placed Never Talk. He is the fourth foal out of Palace Talk.

“We thought he was a beautiful colt and we bought him for Coolmore Stud and we’re just delighted that we can train these sorts of horses at our Cranbourne stable for them,” said Ellis.

“Tom and MV [Magnier] and their father have been supportive for a long time and they want to take that to the next level now that we’re in Australia full-time.”

The majority of the Te Akau-purchased Magic Millions yearlings are set to be educated in New Zealand, but the high-priced Yarraman Park-bred colt will go through Coolmore’s breaking-in and pre-training system.

In buying Te Akau’s second million-dollar acquisition on day one, Ellis had to fend off underbidder James Harron as well as Newgate Farm’s Henry Field and agent George Moore, whose father John owned and then trained the colt’s close relation Eagle Way. 

The Segenhoe-bred-and-sold Zoustar colt is the first foal out of three-time winner Ready To Soar, a sister to Eagle Way who won a Queensland Derby for trainer Bryan Guy before being exported to Moore’s Hong Kong stable.

“I have had a great relationship with David for years, dating back to when I was with Coolmore, and I am absolutely stoked for him and Mark Walker,” said Segenhoe general manager Peter O’Brien. 

“You can see they are making a statement as far as setting up their Cranbourne stable and buying some nice yearlings. 

“We’ll definitely be supporting them by giving them horses to train.”

Ellis added: “We’ve been very impressed with the quality that is here and we want to train these horses, so if we want to train them we’ve got to come here and buy them.”

Earlier, the first seven-figure lot sold in 2024 was bought by Tony Gollan and widow Jennifer Acton, whose late husband Alan raced the I Am Invincible filly’s dam Outback Barbie to stakes success with Brisbane’s premier trainer.

Acton will retain a share in the lot 16-catalogued, Yarraman Park-consigned A$1.2m filly. The fourth million-dollar horse sold on day one, the A$1.25m Snitzel filly, was snapped up by agent Sheamus Mills from Newgate Farm.

Coolangatta’s sister stays in hands of breeder Warren

John Warren parted with Piping Hot, the dam of elite sprinting filly Coolangatta, for A$3m at the Gold Coast last May and on Tuesday he made a “spontaneous” A$800,000 decision to buy back into the family by purchasing the dual Group 1 winner’s sister.

Brit Warren, the Highclere Stud owner and the bloodstock and racing adviser to King Charles, bred the Written Tycoon filly, the fourth foal out of Piping Hot, on a foal share basis with Sheriff Iskander and put her through the Milburn Creek draft.

“We were very open minded and we didn’t have a particularly preconceived idea that we were all guns blazing to buy her, but we decided that when you can convert the dollars into pounds and then halve it with the foal share [it made sense],” said Warren. 

John Warren made a significant re-investment into his Australian portfolioCredit: Edward Whitaker

“As a potential broodmare down the line we thought she’d make a lovely addition to the few mares that we’ve got here in Australia. So, we’ll enjoy her hopefully long-term as a broodmare prospect and have fun racing her on the way there.”

Piping Hot and Coolangatta are both now in the hands of Coolmore, with the pair in foal to Home Affairs and Justify respectively.

Warren, whose spur-of-the-moment purchase means he is yet to choose a trainer for the yearling, admitted the filly was more in the mould of her now Yulong-based sire rather than Coolangatta.

He said: “She is much more like Written Tycoon than Coolangatta, but none of us know what the engine’s like inside, so how can you compare apples and oranges? In my experience, I have seen plenty of full-brothers and sisters that look different and perhaps were equally as good as one another.”

Warren also has a Lope De Vega filly out of Muchly selling through the Arrowfield draft on Saturday night, as lot 991.

Varied buying bench settles early market

The first hour of the sale was deemed as pivotal to dictating how the market may play out and syndicator Darby Racing, on the back of Ozzmosis winning the Coolmore Stud Stakes in the spring and Overpass winning The Quokka and Winterbottom Stakes in Perth last year, made its intentions clear early in the session, buying three horses in the first 11 lots and another three later on.

The China Horse Club, Newgate, Go Bloodstock and Trilogy Racing syndicate was the leading buyer on day one, spending A$2.67m on five colts.

Other buyers to make a strong start on day one included leading trainers Ciaron Maher (seven for A$2.605m) and Chris Waller and his agent Guy Mulcaster (seven for A$1.705m).

The early activity helped settle the market, which led to a clearance rate of 85 per cent through seven hours of trade, a session which achieved turnover of almost A$46m at an average of A$281,767 and a median of A$210,000. 

“We were very confident in our first 30 lots and to start with a very healthy clearance rate, and then the two million-dollar horses set the tone of the day,” said Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch.

“Having a median of A$210,000, a record day one average and a clearance rate of 84 per cent, it was a solid day.

“We had two exceptional fillies go through the ring today and sell accordingly.”

Bowditch is confident that there will be plenty of activity again on day two, which starts at 10am local time. 

“There will be ones who slip through the cracks but if we can find that median where the lower to middle end can raise it, it will be another good outcome,” he said.

Subscribe to make sure you never miss updates from Australia, New Zealand and beyond and to have ANZ Bloodstock delivered to your inbox every day