Mystery figure who bought 22 horses during 'medical episode' to sell up

Mystery buyer Louis Bloodstock made an eyebrow-raising splash at the Magic Millions National Yearling Sale in June when the hitherto unknown identity purchased a grand total of 22 yearling fillies for just shy of A$1 million (£588,000/€688,000), to be named the leading buyer at the season-ending auction on the Gold Coast.

However, it now transpires that the figure behind the free-spending Louis Bloodstock outfit is former Magic Millions and Torryburn Stud owner Rob Ferguson - and he is selling all 22 fillies having purchased them during what he described as a ‘medical episode’.

Ferguson, who suffers from a lung condition, was in the midst of being taken off a course of steroids by his doctor, the side-effects of which can be an experience of ‘invulnerability’ and ‘euphoria’.

“It was like having been at the Magic Millions bar all day and then deciding to buy some horses. It felt like a great idea at the time,” Ferguson said, who revealed he conjured up the name ‘Louis Bloodstock’ as it derives from the name of his dog, Louis.

“It was just one of those things that happened. I’ll probably end up famous because of it.”

Rob Ferguson's three-hour buying session included this A$160,000 Lonhro fillyCredit: Magic Millions

Ferguson began his irrepressible three-hour spending spree with Lot 1522, a filly by sought-after first season sire Trapeze Artist, bought midway through the opening session of trade.

Eight lots later, he added a filly by US Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and proceeded to have the gavel knocked down a further 20 times in the space of the next 79 lots offered.

At one stage Ferguson bought seven of the next eight lots through the ring to have met their reserve, after purchasing Lot 1578, a daughter of Reliable Man for A$45,000.

Ferguson also came away with fillies by champion sire Written Tycoon, Yarraman Park’s in-form sire Hellbent and Group 1-winning stallion Dundeel, while the most expensive of his 22 buys was a filly by Darley sire Lonhro for which Ferguson parted with A$160,000 to get his hands on.

The filly, who is out of a half-sister to Golden Slipper winner and former Widden stallion Sebring, was one of two six-figure purchases for Ferguson, who 26 lots later added a filly by Harry Angel, who is a granddaughter of Group 1 winner Barinka, for A$150,000.

Among Ferguson’s other purchases was a daughter of Lean Mean Machine, a half-sister to Macau stakes winner Gon Sai Baau out of a stakes-placed half-sister to, incidentally, King Louis, a stakes winner in Singapore.

The Harry Angel filly who will be sold by Rob Ferguson after his ‘medical episode’ spending spreeCredit: Magic Millions

The daughter of Written Tycoon, a A$70,000 buy, is a granddaughter of multiple US stakes race winner Sugar Bay, while fillies by Rubick, Headwater, a first foal by Vancouver, two fillies by Brave Smash and daughters of Smart Missile, Spirit Of Boom and Nicconi will also be offered for sale next week.

“I have had some feedback from a few good judges who have seen the horses and they tell me that there are some nice fillies in the group,” Ferguson said. “So, I may not have done too bad a job.”

All 22 of the fillies, who were promptly paid for by Ferguson and have since resided at Warrandale Stud at Biddaddaba, will now be offered for sale with reserves of 50 per cent of their purchase price in the next Magic Millions Online sale, which begins on September 5.

The fillies are all unbroken and will be available for inspection from September 6 through to the sale’s close on September 9. A clinical and laryngoscopy examination will be carried out upon arrival at the Magic Millions complex, with the reports of the vet’s findings to be posted on the Magic Millions sale pages.

Ferguson, who owned Torryburn Stud from 1989 until its purchase by the Cornish family in 2002, owned 25 per cent of Magic Millions since 1997 but, along with John Singleton, sold his share to majority owner Gerry Harvey in 2011.

He was part of the ownership group in Group 1 winners Tarzino and Velocitea and recently purchased metropolitan-winning mare Gabeira from the Magic Millions August Online Sale for A$67,500, also under the Louis Bloodstock banner.

“One of the vendors has already offered to buy their filly back at what we paid for her, as they felt she was sold too cheaply. I didn’t accept the offer, as I want the sale to be fair and transparent. We bought 22, so all 22 will be reoffered,” added Ferguson.

“Obviously it looks like I am going to show a loss, as I’m willing to take a haircut on each horse. But it was never my intention to own these horses. When I purchased these fillies I am sure I made a lot of vendors happy. This time around I will probably be making a lot of buyers happy.”

Entries for the Magic Millions September Online Sale will close tomorrow with the full catalogue posted thereafter.

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