A$6.6 million Imperatriz breaks record at Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale

Just as she did time and time again on the racetrack, Te Akau’s ten-time Group 1 winner Imperatriz delivered an impressive result in the sales ring, smashing the Australasian record on Tuesday for the highest-priced mare sold at auction. 

International heavyweights battled it out for the right to own the world’s highest-rated sprinter and recently retired champion mare, with Zhijun Zhao, a close friend of Yulong owner Yuesheng Zhang, prepared to pay A$6.6 million (£3.44m/€4.05m) for the privilege of owning the recently retired mare who was sold in absentia at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale.

The record-breaking Imperatriz, the most expensive of five mares to sell for A$2m or more during the Gold Coast’s race fillies and mares more than seven-hour session which grossed almost A$52m. 

The bidding on Imperatriz opened at A$4m and progressed in A$250,000 increments to A$6.5m, when Coolmore Australia principal Tom Magnier held the bid for the rising six-year-old mare. 

Zhao responded to auctioneer Steve Davis’ urgings by placing the A$6.6m winning online bid. 

It was soon evident that Imperatriz was heading to Victoria when Magnier hung up the phone, ending the high-stakes duel for a rare equine commodity, forcing the Coolmore army to be content with its A$7.6m spend on three prized fillies and mares earlier in the session headed by Platinum Jubilee, the half-sister to this year’s Golden Slipper winner Lady Of Camelot, who they secured for A$3.5m. 

There were three players bidding on Imperatriz above A$6m – Zhao, Magnier and the Arrowfield table which included Northern Farm representative Shingo Hashinoto – in the hope of securing her. 

Imperatriz: brilliant champion broke another record at Magic MillionsCredit: Vince Caligiuri

Zhao’s representative Vin Cox believes Imperatriz’s race record puts her on a pedestal alongside some of the world’s greatest ever race mares.

“There are very few horses that win ten Group 1s, so she’s in the top half-dozen," he said. "Certainly in the top ten mares of all time. She’d have to be.

“The Zenyattas, the Sunlines, and things like that come to mind and she punches up there with them.”

Imperatriz’s price surpasses the 2008 record held by Milanova, who made A$5m to Coolmore ,while she also broke Magic Millions’ own National Sale record of A$4.2m for champion sprinter Sunlight, who was bought by Coolmore in 2020.

The experienced Cox, former managing director of Magic Millions, reasoned that the prices paid for Australasia’s premier race mares off the track were now catching up to what similarly performed horses realise in the northern hemisphere.

“I’ve always thought mares in Australia are undervalued compared to the northern hemisphere,” he said.

“If you look at what elite mares can make in America or Europe, we’ve always been, in my view, about half price. Conversely, our stallions are probably valued more than they are in the northern hemisphere.

“It has always intrigued me having spent a lot of time in the northern hemisphere that our mares don’t get to these levels. In how much time we’re going to catch up, I’m not sure. Probably years.”

A A$360,000 Magic Millions purchase in 2020 by Te Akau’s David Ellis, Imperatriz was victorious in 19 of her 27 starts, emerging from a successful two-year-old season to win the Levin Classic and the New Zealand Breeders’ Stakes at three, when she was trained by Jamie Richards. 

But it was at four when Imperatriz truly came into her own, winning The Railway, the BCD Sprint and the William Reid Stakes at her second Australian start. This season, she enjoyed an unbeaten spring, winning the AJ Moir Stakes, Manikato and Champions Sprint.

In the autumn, in what would be her final racing campaign, the Mark Walker-trained Imperatriz won the Black Caviar Lightning Stakes and a second William Reid. She retired the winner of A$6,955,527 in prize-money. 

Ellis and his wife Karyn have been playing host to numerous prospective buyers who have visited Te Akau Stud in New Zealand to inspect Imperatriz.

Cox was one of them, enjoying the Te Akau hospitality last week while casting his eye over Imperatriz.

“She’s in the paddock at the farm at the moment; it is dark right now at Te Akau,” said David Ellis, who was seated ringside to watch the drama unfold. 

David Ellis: "We’ve got a photo of it so it is quite priceless, really"

“The young lady who looks after her is in the paddock and she had an iPad and was showing Imperatriz being sold. We’ve got a photo of it so it is quite priceless, really.”

Zhijun Zhao also bought recent TJ Smith Stakes winner Chain Of Lightning for A$2.5m and the mare’s new owner is almost certain to resist the temptation to campaign her in the UK.

Instead, the striking grey mare Chain Of Lightning is set to stay in Australia, with her new owners strongly considering concentrating on the remainder of the Queensland Winter Carnival rather than taking up an invitation to race at Royal Ascot.

Cox, who will consult with the mare’s senior trainer Peter Moody, suggested that the top hats and tails would likely remain in the cupboard.

“I don’t know if we’ll put her on the plane to go to Europe at this stage,” he said.

“We’ll have a chat to Peter, we haven’t spoken directly to him yet, but there are some good options here in Australia as well. We’ll just wait and see.”

The Stradbroke Handicap and the Tatt’s Tiara is the preferred option for the rising six-year-old following her breakthrough TJ Stakes success and in doing so becoming the first mare to win the race since Black Caviar in 2013.

She subsequently ran sixth in last month’s All Aged Stakes before heading north to Queensland for the Doomben 10,000, in which she finished sixth behind Bella Nipotina.

Chain Of Lightning has been nominated for the King Charles III Stakes and Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, while she also holds a nomination for the July Cup at Newmarket.

A homebred for Turangga Farm’s Stuart Ramsey and sold through the Kenmore Lodge draft, she is a daughter of Magic Art and a granddaughter of Group 3-winning juvenile Mardi’s Magic. She is also from the same family as champion three-year-old Racing To Win and last season’s MRC Autumn Stakes winner Glint Of Silver.

Chain Of Lightning: TJ Smith Stakes winner sold to Zhijun Zhao for A$2.5 millionCredit: Brett Holburt

Cox added: “There is a little bit of serendipity. Stu said this has been a 20-year project, having bought the grandmother – I sold him the grandmother.

“As a private agent we drove down to Boscobel Stud to buy her, so it was kind of fun.”

A matter-of-fact Ramsey didn’t let sentiment get in the way of selling his mare, just as he did when he parted with Champagne Cuddles for A$2m at the same Gold Coast sale in 2020.

Ramsey also sold Rose Of Kingston winner Life Lessons, who is a daughter of Group 3 winner Brockman’s Lass, for A$1m later in the session, with that mare also going the way of Zhijun Zhao.

“That’s the sort of money those mares are worth, they don’t come along very often – we’re happy to move on and breed the next one,” Ramsey said of Chain Of Lightning.

“We’re breeders, but there’s a lot you can’t sell. At the end of the day, we couldn’t even get her mother into the sale, but we’ve turned her into A$2.5 million, plus A$2.5 million prize-money. That’s A$5 million. 

“It’s hard to get with a pick and shovel, isn’t it, so you’ve got to be satisfied.”

As for potential matings for Chain Of Lightning when she is eventually retired, Cox said: “When they win the Group 1 sprints and, outside of that race [TJ Smith Stakes], she has got a very good race record as well, so whether you’re selling them or trying to produce a racehorse out of them, they set you up very well.”

Coolmore goes Platinum

The most expensive of Coolmore’s Gold Coast haul was A$3.5million Group 3 Gimcrack Stakes winner Platinum Jubilee, who will not race again, with the stallion farm’s shuttler Wootton Bassett already earmarked as her maiden mating. 

Wootton Bassett: pencilled in for Platinum Jubilee's debut coverCredit: Colin J Kenny Photography

As well as being a sibling to her stablemate and Slipper winner Lady Of Camelot, the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained filly is also a half-sister to multiple Group 3 winner Queen Of The Ball, Platinum Jubilee was runner-up in both the Group 2 Silver Slipper and the Magic Millions 2YO Classic to go with her Group 3 victory. 

“Obviously the mother has done more than most will ever hope to do; she’s the dam of a Golden Slipper winner [and] all first three foals are Group winners,” said Coolmore’s Tom Moore.

“This particular filly won her Gimcrack on debut and she’s the type of filly that we want to home in on to send to stallions like Wootton Bassett.

“We think that she can produce a commercial yearling, hopefully a top-class two-year-old in the future, and she was one of the mares here that we really wanted to get home.”

Champagne flows after Madame Pommery realises A$2.7m

The 2022 Group 1 Thousand Guineas winner Madame Pommery will also be covered in her first season at stud by Wootton Bassett, who has been a revelation in Europe from humble beginnings. His first crop southern hemisphere-bred yearlings will race next season.

The now retired Madame Pommery, who won at two and was also twice placed at Group 2 level during her 18-start career, was a A$150,000 purchase by her trainer Chris Waller and agent Guy Mulcaster at the 2021 Magic Millions Yearling Sale for a women’s only syndicate put together by the trainer’s client relations manager Sophie Baker.

Such was the nervous anticipation ahead of the selling of Madame Pommery, Baker was unable to watch the sales ring theatre unfold, revealing: “I haven’t been able to to watch her for about half an hour”.

an emotional Baker said after Madame Pommery fetched A$2.7m: “We’ve got so many loyal supporters behind us. They paid A$150,000, she’s won a Group 1, she’s won A$800,000 and she’s done this today. It’s unbelievable

“They’ve all had a great time, now they’re great friends, they’ve had a few champagnes – especially a lot of Pommery – and they’ll be celebrating tonight.”

The all-female syndicate behind Madame Pommery enjoyed seeing her sell for A$2.7m on TuesdayCredit: Magic Millions

The rising five-year-old mare is a daughter of dual winner Cancel, the sister to Blue Diamond-winning champion two-year-old Earthquake, which makes her a half-sister to the New Zealand Group 3-placed Moet Down.

Hailing from a deep Godolphin-developed pedigree, Madame Pommery’s family also features stakes winners Pandemic, Palomares and the black type-placed Sumatra, Namazu and this season’s stakes-placed juvenile Trembles.

“She’s a lovely mare, we’ve obviously got a lot of No Nay Never fillies at home and they’re good producers,” said Magnier.

“She was an unbelievable race filly, Chris Waller did a great job and Sophie Baker is a big help to our team and she’s a superstar and I was delighted for her and all her connections.” 

Five lots earlier, Coolmore partnered with Victorian breeder Rob McClure to buy Rosemont Stud’s stakes-winning juvenile Legacies as a racing and breeding proposition for A$1.4m.

The rising four-year-old mare, who is in training with Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman, could tackle the Group 1 Tatt’s Tiara at Eagle Farm in late June.

“I’ve never had such belief in a stallion like I have in Justify; that is well known,” said Coolmore confidant James Bester.

“She was a beauty. She has a great head, a fabulous hip on her and the most awesome action. She just glided across the ground. She has a huge overstep reaching out in front, quite my idea of the best physical specimen at the sale.”

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