Exceedance half-sister to Croatian Belle tops Book 2 opener at Magic Millions

Owner Sean Dyson will be barracking for Croatian Belle in Thursday’s rescheduled Magic Millions 2YO Classic after purchasing the juvenile’s half-sister by Exceedance for A$250,000 (£143,000/€161,000), the highest-priced lot on day one of the Book 2 session of the Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

Brett Howard was charged with sourcing a yearling on Dyson’s behalf, to help meet a plan by the Singleton-based owner to upgrade the horses he races, which are trained by his cousin Todd Howlett. The Randwick Bloodstock principal landed on the Baramul Stud-consigned filly from the first crop of Vinery Stud sire.

Since the release of the Magic Millions catalogue last November, the filly’s appeal increased significantly when Lindsay Park-trained Croatian Belle, the first foal of Croatian, won two in succession at Moonee Valley.

The unbeaten two-year-old is a A$19 chance for the A$2 million 2YO Classic, which was postponed from Saturday after the Gold Coast surface was deemed unsafe by jockeys and stewards after just two races.

“She was bought for a guy called Sean Dyson. He’s a guy from Singleton in NSW. He’s a young guy who has raced horses for a little while and he’s trying to get some nice horses around him,” Howard said.

“His cousin is Todd Howlett who will train all the horses and Todd’s based just out of Singleton.

“Sean is in process of developing a property just outside of Singleton, which Todd will eventually move to and operate his training business from. Obviously, it’ll be great to have a few extra nice yearlings for Todd to train.”

The emergence of Croatian Belle meant there was strong competition for her younger half-sister, the highest-priced of 17 yearlings to make A$100,000 or more in Sunday's 100-lot Book 2 opening session.

“It’s great if Croatian Belle runs a good race and if she wins it, that’s a bonus. It’ll appear on the page and it helps the filly’s residual value, but outside of that she is just a really nice filly,” Howard said.

“Lindsay Park, who obviously have Croatian Belle, were underbidders and James Bester said he was on her as well.

“I always feel if you hear from those sorts of people, it gives you a bit of confidence that hopefully you’re on the right track.”

Hong Kong owner takes shine to Churchill colt

Meanwhile, the effect of skyrocketing prices of unraced and tried horses suitable to race in Hong Kong, and the inability to buy them, was evident during the opening Book 2 session with owner Chi En Andy Fei turning to the yearling sale to fill his permit.

After purchasing colts by Brutal and Lonhro in Book 1, the owner added a son of Coolmore shuttler Churchill for A$170,000.

“He is for a new owner from Hong Kong and it is his first time buying at the yearling sales. He’s trying to buy three or four horses and send them back to Hong Kong, so we were lucky to secure two in Book 1 and there’s this one and hopefully another one later on,” said Magic Millions bloodstock consultant Nicky Wong, who signed for the colt.

“He’s a nice horse. They really like Churchill, so I tried to pick the best one and hopefully he is the best one.”

Valiant Stud’s Fergal Connolly raised and consigned the colt on behalf of European clients Stuart McPhee and Nigel Kelly, who bred the colt out of the unraced mare Bella Epoch, a half-sister of Fernhill Handicap winner Futooh.

“They purchased the mare in Australia and we have had her throughout and they have been happy with the result from Churchill and they are looking forward to her next progeny,” Connolly said.

“Australia is now seeing the merits of Churchill on the track. It has been taking time to understand what the breed is capable of, but… once people have worked that out, I think we will see more of the Churchill breed doing well here.”

Wong admitted the prices of tried horses who could be exported to Hong Kong had exploded in recent years.

“They’ve started buying at the yearling sales because nowadays the trial winners and raced horses cost at least A$500,000, so if they can buy three or four horses for A$500,000, then they can choose the best one [to go to Hong Kong],” he said.

Earlier, New South Wales country trainer Brett Thompson, a regular on the Gold Coast in January, shared the high opinion of the first crop yearlings by Widden Stud first season sire Zousain (by Zoustar), going to A$160,000 for a Riverdene Stud-bred colt.

Sydney trainer Matt Smith also joined in on the Zousain party, purchasing a Riversdale-consigned colt by the sire for A$150,000 early in the afternoon session.

Trading buzz continues

Overall, 70 yearlings changed hands for a total of A$4,640,500 at an average of A$69,621 and a median of A$60,000, all improvements on 2022. The clearance rate was 77 per cent.

It was evident there was a new wave of buyers who had arrived on the Gold Coast to complement the agents and trainers who had been active in Book 1.

Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch was happy with the level of competition.

“Walking around from midday onwards it felt really good leading into the sale and there were plenty of people on the grounds,” Bowditch said.

“As the first lot entered the ring at 2pm, the tables were full and there was a good buzz around and it kicked off with good momentum.

“The results from today are very much in line with last year, with a slight increase of median, average and gross, which gives good confidence to that lower and middle end of the market.

“I was pleased all the way to the finish. It was very solid trade.”

The final session of the sale starts at 10am local time on Monday.

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