‘We're delighted with how it all went and can only consider it a fantastic success’

The 2024 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, the southern hemisphere’s biggest trading market for breeding stock, was a confidence booster for the Australasian industry, the company’s managing director concluded as the mare element of the auction came to a close on Thursday.

After the final broodmare session, which followed the two-day weanling sale, Magic Millions’ Barry Bowditch described the sale as a “sensational week” of trade on the Gold Coast, headlined by the A$6.6 million (£3.4m/€4m) sale of Te Akau’s ten-time Group 1 winner Imperatriz.

Thursday’s final broodmare sale session concluded with three million-dollar mares – Rubisaki (A$1.4m), Single Blonde (A$1.2m) and Witherspoon (A$1.2m) – with turnover closing out at A$97.6m.

Bowditch said: “I think, all in all, it's a confidence booster. From weanling sale through to an epic race fillies section to a really solid and genuine broodmare trade over the last two days.

“We're delighted with how it all went and can only consider it a fantastic success.”

Overall, the average declined five percent year-on-year to A$206,422, while the median was down A$5,000 to A$95,000. The clearance was 84 per cent, while 15 mares sold for a million dollars or more this year, the same number as 2023.

Barry Bowditch: "Fundamentally, I think the market stayed strong from day one through to day five"Credit: Darren Tindale

The aggregate fell below A$100m for just the second time since 2016, the other being the Covid-impacted and delayed 2020 National Broodmare Sale, in part owing to 473 mares being sold, the fewest in the sale’s history outside the pandemic year when the sale was held in late July.

Bowditch said: “You can never judge apples completely with apples with this sale. What you get one year to what you get the next year aren't exactly the same, are they?

“I think we had an unbelievable race fillies session, but probably the mares in-foal this year was not as strong as last year. 

“But in saying that it was still very competitive and very good to clear well over 83 per cent of the stock and average $206,000 and gross $97 million.

“It was never going to be close to last year given the fact we had fewer horses in our catalogue. Fundamentally, I think the market stayed strong from day one through to day five.”

The most expensive mare sold in the final broodmare session was the Group 2-winning Rubisaki, who was offered in-foal to Snitzel carrying her second foal, and she was bought by B2B Thoroughbreds for A$1.4m.

The prized mare, a A$1m purchase from the same sale two years ago by Morningside Park, has a Written Tycoon weanling colt on the Rowsthorns’ farm near Nagambie in Victoria.

He will be one of just a few horses Morningside Park will offer at a yearling sale in 2025, with this week’s Magic Millions weanling and broodmare sales used to significantly reduce the Rowsthorns’ bloodstock interests.

They also sold stakes-winning juvenile Glistening, who is in foal to I Am Invincible, for A$950,000 on Wednesday.

Morningside’s Tom Rowsthorn said: “We’ll scale back a fair bit and hang onto some mares and just have a bit more fun with it, rather than have such a big broodmare band that takes up a lot of time and effort, and focus on some cattle and have fun with a smaller bunch of mares – about five to ten.” 

A Prime Thoroughbreds-raced and Patrick Payne-trained mare, the three-time Group winner and Group 1-placed Rubisaki is a daughter of Senro Kisaki, who also produced the talented Zizzis and Husson’s Kiss. Zizzis has produced this season’s twice stakes-placed juvenile Flattered, while Husson’s Kiss is the dam of Prime Thoroughbreds’ Tasmanian Derby winner The Nephew.

Ricky Surace Jnr revealed B2B Thoroughbreds was hellbent on landing Rubisaki.

Snitzel: the covering sire of sale-topper RubisakiCredit: Bronwen Healy

“She had a massive turn-of-foot and I like that she was really well tempered,” said the NSW Southern Highlands-based Surace Jnr. 

“She could come from behind and explode over the top of them. She’s a mare who can suit a range of different stallions.

“We’ll just get her home and foal her down then decide that in a year’s time. We like to sell most of our things but if it is a nice filly then there’s no reason why we wouldn’t race her.”

The rising eight-year-old Rubisaki will be at the pointy end of B2B Thoroughbreds’ broodmare band.

“She was the only one in the whole sale that we wanted so we did have to pay a little bit extra for her, but these horses are so hard to buy and the market is selective now,” said Surace Jnr.

“These are mares that you want to be breeding out of and selling them.”

Element Hill also closed out its dispersal sale on Thursday by selling Single Blonde – the dam of the A$800,000 I Am Invincible filly who topped the National Weanling Sale earlier in the week – for A$1.2m to Coolmore’s Tom Magnier.

Single Blonde, a stakes-placed half-sister to Group 3 scorers Colour and Boognish, is in foal to Coolmore’s northern hemisphere sire sensation Wootton Bassett.

Coolmore's Tom Moore said: “She is a lovely mare in foal to Wootton Bassett. We all saw the I Am Invincible filly top the sale here last week. She was a highly rated filly, so you can bid on them with confidence knowing that you can produce commercial types in the sale ring.

“Obviously the fact that she is in foal to Wootton Bassett is a big plus for us. We can take her home, foal her down and if she has a nice Wootton Bassett it is very easy to go back to him.

“Or we can take her to Home Affairs and breed a three-quarter to the A$800,000 filly that sold earlier in the week.”

Element Hill’s weanling draft grossed A$1,828,500, while its mares draft, including the A$1m Wootton Bassett yearling half-sister to Hong Kong champion Golden Sixty, achieved an aggregate of A$5,562,500 from 25 lots sold.

Coolmore underbid the third million dollar mare sold on Thursday, the Group 3-placed Witherspoon, but it was Widden’s Antony Thompson who won the bidding battle, going to A$1.2m to fend off the Irish outfit. The mare was offered carrying a foal by I Am Invincible for her third season at stud.

A sibling to Group 1 winner Manuel and Group 3 winners Taking Aim and Computer Patch, Witherspoon’s second foal, a filly by Home Affairs, was bought by Silverdale Farm for A$430,000 at the National Weanling Sale on Monday.

Antony Thompson (left): buyer of the Group 3-placed WitherspoonCredit: Magic Millions

Her first offspring, a colt by Zoustar, was bought by the Rosemont Alliance and Suman Hedge for A$400,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January.

“I thought [her first two foals] were two very good foals and she is a mare that I underbid as a race filly off the track, so I probably should have bought her a couple of years ago [when she made A$500,000],” said Thompson.

“It cost me twice as much to come back and buy her now but, having seen the foals she’s throwing, I’ve got more belief in her now than then.

“There is great cover inside her and hopefully she continues to throw those types. We bought her for the commercial mares venture so hopefully we can get a good return on the investment with the form she’s carrying.”

Witherspoon will return to Zoustar for a second time later this year.

“I bought her with David Redvers, so she’ll go back to Zoustar and some clients from our mare partnership are involved as well,” said Thompson. 

“We’ve had a lot of luck buying high-end mares with the Bonny O’Reillys, Prompt Response and Summer Sham, some of those mares.”

The National sale will conclude next week on the Gold Coast with a two-day yearling sale on Tuesday and Wednesday.

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