April to June 2008
Magic Millions 2008
14 April 2008 - The 2008 Magic Million yearling sale will be a sale that will be etched in history for a lot of different and varied reasons. These included the timing of the sale; Patinack's continued dominance of the market; the length of the sale and the announcement of Woodlands selling out to Darley. The later timing of the sale was largely well received given the extreme circumstances the industry faced with the EI crisis. It wouldn't surprise anyone if the sale slotted straight back into its usual January position. Full report and Purchases by Vin Cox Bloodstock at the 2008 Magic Millions are now on the sales results page
Sensational Slipper Day
19 April 2008 - Golden Slipper Day at Rosehill was about as good as racing gets in Sydney and after the gloom and doom of EI it was great to see we can still turn on a day of elite racing to rival anything in the world.
Gai Waterhouse is what Sydney racing is all about and to see her win the BMW and Golden Slipper was a great result for all, particularly those lucky owners of Sebring, who will all be instant millionaires when a stud deal for their outstanding colt is finalized.
Gai’s training performance to get that horse to the post after a setback and win the race was nothing short of sensational, while the effort of Von Costa de Hero from a wide gate was amazing and his turn will come.
Terrific to see Ross Stitt in the winner’s circle with Heavenly Glow, a bargain $10,000 purchase that is now a Group One winning filly and as such worth a small fortune.
Sent to Allan Denham after blitzing them up around Port Macquarie, the Heavenly Glow story is one to be chalked up for the battlers!
Not many horses give you goose bumps, but Weekend Hussler is one of them and I hate to agree with the Victorians on anything but that horse is a superstar!
Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale - Day One
20 April 2008 - It’s not Easter we know that, but the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale is in full swing at the moment and is as strong or stronger than ever before despite EI and the change of dates.
The opening Sunday afternoon session kicked off at 3pm and hit top gear immediately with Lot 1 fetching $550,000 and the pace continuing at a hectic rate thereafter.
The clearance rate of 85% meant for happy vendors, although from a buyer’s perspective the competition was hot to say the least.
We purchased a filly by Encosta de Lago from VRC Oaks winner Bulla Borghese for $500,000 from Brooklyn Farm, which I consider to be outstanding value.
I regard Encosta as the best stallion in the country and this filly is from a young Group One winning mare, so in comparison to some other prices being paid at this sale she looks value.
With two great sessions to come, plus Easter Part Two and Classic there are opportunities aplenty to be grabbed over the next week.
Sale Strong on Second Day
21 April 2008 - The market at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale was every bit as strong on day two with the average of $344,313, still up on last year and the clearance close to 84%.
We bought two fillies on Monday paying $460,000 for a Redoute’s Choice filly from Golden Slipper winner Polar Success and $280,000 for a More Than Ready (USA) filly from the smart Danehill (USA) winner Homecoming Queen.
The first filly has had a pedigree update with her two year-old half-sister Polaway gaining Black Type when second in the Listed AJC T.L. Baillieu Handicap prior to the sale, while the second is bred on this great More Than Ready (USA) x Danehill (USA) cross that has produced Golden Slipper winner Sebring and Group One winners Benicio and Perfectly Ready.
I was delighted to see Widden Stud get their first million-dollar yearling when their Encosta de Lago filly from the imported American mare My Moccasin (USA) was knocked down to Ingham Bloodstock for exactly $1million.
I had a hand in the result having helped find and secure the mare in America when her stakes-winning half-sister Queen of the Hill was just coming on to the radar.
Great result all round and congratulations to the team at Widden!
An Easter Boomer
April 22 2008 - Despite all the dramas and gloom and doom of EI last year, Easter this year was an absolute boomer, that’s all I can say about it!
The horses were fantastic and everyone knew it, as good a catalogue of horses as I’ve seen anywhere in the world.
Competition was fierce and the market amazingly strong, so to come away with half a dozen top quality youngsters for our clients was a great result.
Watching the action play out with Darley and Inghams was fascinating and added much to what was a memorable sale.
Easter Part Two
April 24 2008 - If there was a master plan behind the creation of Easter Part Two it didn’t work at all, from what I saw. The quality of horse was all over the place and there was no consistency, it was just appalling.
In saying that I did buy two very nice horses and was underbidder on the top lot, however only finished with the one when the More Than Ready filly failed the scope. There were some gems if you could find them, but the sale fizzled on the whole and to be fair Inglis were not helped by the weather with a thoroughly miserable day adding to the bleak atmosphere.
The dismal clearance rate of 68% reflected the quality of horse and Inglis need to have a good hard look at just what went wrong.
The Geese that Lay Golden Eggs
29 April 2008 - To breed a Golden Slipper winner is about as big a thrill as can be had by a thoroughbred breeder in Australia and this year’s winner Sebring and the 2005 hero Stratum, were both produced by mares selected and purchased for their breeders by Vin Cox Bloodstock.
Bred by George Altomonte of Corumbene Stud, Sebring is the second foal of the Flying Spur mare Purespeed, who was snapped up by Vin Cox for $70,000 at the 2004 Inglis Broodmare Sale when in foal to Peintre Celebre (USA).
She produced a colt from that mating which Corumbene Stud offloaded as a weanling for $15,000 and was sent to More Than Ready (USA) in the spring of 2004 at a modest fee of $16,500, the result Sebring!
Initially passed in at the Magic Millions Yearling Sale in 2007, Sebring was subsequently bought privately by Denise Martin’s Star Thoroughbreds and the rest is history.
“To be honest I didn’t have as much to do with the selection of this mare as I did for the dam of Stratum,” explained Vin Cox.
“George Altomonte has been a terrific client for me over many years and I try and help him out as much as I can and in this case he’d pretty much picked her out, although she was knocked down to me at the sale.”
Purespeed has a yearling colt by Tale of the Cat (USA), a colt foal by Charge Forward and was covered last spring by Choisir, with Mr Altomonte sure to be hoping for a filly after four consecutive colts.
Wind back the clock to 2002 when Vin Cox was still working for William Inglis and it was at the 2002 Inglis Broodmare Sale that he purchased a Luskin Star mare called Bourgeois for John Rippon of Reavill Farm, going to $55,000 to secure the young mare who was in foal to Redoute’s Choice.
That foal was of course Stratum, who proved a big hit in the sale ring at Magic Millions as a yearling when Reavill sold him for $320,000 to be the most expensive Redoute’s Choice youngster at the sale.
He went on to win the Golden Slipper and retired to Widden Stud where he has been extremely popular with breeders, his oldest progeny now weanlings.
“This was a mare that I was really keen on as I knew a few of her previous foals had more ability than their race record would suggest and when I saw John Rippon about to leave the sale I chased after him and talked him into staying,” said Cox.
“For the money, she was a great buy being in foal to Redoute’s Choice in his second season at stud.”
Bourgeois had a few issues in her breeding career after producing Stratum, but has a two year old colt by Choisir called Leaping and a yearling filly by Redoute’s Choice that made $800,000 at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale on Sunday when secured by Ingham Bloodstock.
She also has a Rock of Gibraltar (IRE) filly foal and was covered last spring by Redoute’s Choice.
“I love buying at the broodmare sales, it’s my ‘bread and butter’ so to speak and when you do the homework and see your clients get the rewards down the track it’s very satisfying,” said Cox.
“The dam of Racing to Win was another good purchase, I bought her out of an Inglis Sale in Melbourne for Richard Turnley for $60,000 and she has changed hands a number of times since then, most recently when bought by Coolmore for $1.6 million.”
The Inglis Australian Select Broodmare Sale starts on May 4 and is packed with opportunities Vin Cox will be looking to capitalize on for his many clients.
Value at Classic
April 29 2008 - The Inglis Classic Yearling Sale has always been a happy hunting ground for me and even though I came away with 10 horses (one failed the scope) this year, the quality across the board just wasn’t the same as in previous years.
Where in the past you had a short list of 50 or 60 horses for prospective clients, this year you might have had just 30 or so to work with and I can’t help but feel the horses shifted from this sale to the ill advised Easter Part Two were not well served by the move.
The sale average fell to $32,023 and although the clearance rate remained on a par with last year at 82%.
Sebring to Widden
19 May 2008 - What a coup for Widden Stud to secure Sebring, the soon to be crowned Champion 2 Year Old of 2007-2008 season.
This is a huge result for all Australian Breeders, it is important that we have stallion and stud farms that are competing against the big 2 international conglomerates. Widden Stud have secured the horse and are in the process of syndicating the horse to breeders. No doubt it is a lot of money for a share in the horse (1/71), but if you break it all down it is a good deal with very little downside. As a shareholder you get a part of all the action going forward, including prizemoney and earning potential of the stallion in both hemispheres; Southern Hemisphere rights include 2 nominations to the stallion for every SH seasonwhile Northern hemisphere rights are yet to be concluded. Do the sums, if he is a successful stallion in time like the locally raced stallions Encosta de Lago, Redoute's Choice, Flying Spur, your return will be the best part of your initial outlay or more.
Good luck to all concerned with Sebring.
Magic Millions Breeding Stock Sale
6 June 2008 - It was a case of chicken or the feathers.
If you had the right article to sell, you were well rewarded. However, if you were off the pace for whatever reason there was no one there or if there was the one interested party and the auctioneer bidding. On this count alone is of the biggest concern for the market.
What were the factors at play here. Was it the pain of EI coming home to roost a little, has the middle to bottom market completely collapsed or was there a general lack of interest in the sale. I have to say it is the latter, at both the weanling and broodmare sale there was a general lack of buzz in the sale and a disappointing attendance across the board. Magic Millions seem to think that people are capable of standing around for days on end waiting for the “selected” lot they are waiting for. People are busy these days and haven’t got the time or the interest to wait around, not even Gerry Harvey was waiting around through the sale.
The top end was outstanding, the good mares and weanlings sold very well. If you did a bit of work there was some good buying to be had, and even looking through the passed in lots there still seems to be some seriously good buying in there.
Vin Cox Bloodstock had a good weanling sale buying 3 fillies from the Swettenham Dispersal and some nice horses from other drafts. Largely these weanling are long term plays and will be kept to race by our clients. The mare sale was frustrating in that we chased some of the dearer mares along without any luck or should I say not enough firepower.
Port Isabel home at Sandown
19 June 2008 - A win for Port Isabel at Sandown makes it 2 wins in less than a month for the Encosta De Lago filly purchased by Vin Cox Bloodstock from the 2006 Easter Yearling sale, for $350,000 from the draft of Stratheden Stud.
It was a strong finishing run that got her over the line, coming from near last on the turn and coming along the inside rail to get the win. Owned by Helen Alexander of Middlebrook Farm, KY this filly has won 3 of her 11 starts and has 2 minor placings to her credit. Lets hope there is more to come from this filly in the near future
Haradasun, The Target and an Artist
24 June 2008 - A great result for the Australasian breeding industry, with Haradasun, Takeover Target and War Artist performing very well in their respective races.
Haradasun has given us credibility away from the perceived dominance of sprint races by winning over 2000 metres.
Takeover Target again performed brilliantly in running second on the Tuesday and backing up for a very credible 4th, he is nine years old. War Artist, the Australian bred South African race speedster finished up second in the Golden Jubilee in front of Takeover Target. War Artist was sold at the Gold Coast as a yearling for just $60,000.
It is little wonder that Sheik Mohammed, Johnny Warren et al have focused on our high class race mares to take back to the Northern hemisphere, we might be producing the best stock in the world.
Cool Win
30 June 2008 - Warwick Farm based trainer Matt Smith was in the winner’s circle at Rosehill on Saturday after the 1400 metre Ratings 81 event was won by three year-old colt Cool Duke, a $65,000 purchase for Vin Cox Bloodstock at the 2006 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale in Melbourne.
Sent to Brisbane for the Group Two QTC Queensland Guineas after finishing second twice previously in good company, Cool Duke acquitted himself well in finishing sixth to Turffontein on a heavy track and was always going to find this race an easier assignment.
He enjoyed a cosy run off the pace for Blake Shinn from barrier one and when a gap appeared the son of Viscount dived through to score a good win.
“He’s a nice horse that has always shown ability but can be his own worst enemy,” said Matt Smith.
“The Queensland trip has done him the world of good. He’s a two or three length better horse when he can get to their outside but it wasn’t possible today yet Blake did a fine job to urge him through the field.”
Raced by Mr David Fairfull and Mr Geoffrey Hill, Cool Duke was secured by Vin Cox from the draft of Bellerive Stud and is the first foal of the Canny Lad mare Freezing Point, a half-sister to smart stakes-winner Cool Choice.
It was the second winner in the last few days for purchases of Vin Cox Bloodstock with three year-old Canny Lad filly Letter Loose breaking her maiden at Goulburn on Friday for the Gary Portelli stable.
Letter Loose was purchased for $90,000 from the draft of Jacaranda Park Stud at the Magic Millions Yearling Sale and is a half-sister to stakes-placed Letter of Intent, another successful Vin Cox purchase that has won over $250,000 in prizemoney.
