'He's just a fantastic stallion' - Frankel colts provide stellar finish to National Weanling Sale

A A$1.65 million battle royale waged for two prized colts by superstar European stallion Frankel provided a drama-charged finish to the Magic Millions National Weanling Sale on the Gold Coast on Friday.

Powerhouse investor Yulong, owned by Chinese mining magnate Yuesheng Zhang, took home both late-session colts by Juddmonte’s champion stallion for A$925,000 (£495,000/€570,000) and A$725,000 respectively.

As is becoming custom across all facets of the live and digital sales across Australasia, Zhang’s imperious presence on the buyers’ sheet is increasingly evident, with Yulong signing for 12 weanlings at a cost of A$3.475m across Thursday and Friday.

The sale-topping Frankel colt was also vindication of the foresight and the financial bravery shown by Cornerstone Stud to make the investment in mares to send to Frankel, the sire of 15 stakes winners in Australia from just 80 runners.

Yulong will grow out both Frankel colts at Zhang’s Victorian stud farm at Nagambie before they enter the racing division.

Yulong chief operating officer Sam Fairgray who was operating without the boss who returned to Victoria after being at the sale on day one, said: “Mr Zhang has always had a great passion for Frankel, he’s just a fantastic stallion. We’ll keep him and race him, he’s just a great moving horse from a nice family. Hopefully they can end up in the stallion barn for us.

Sam Fairgray: 'You've got to pay for the quality'Credit: Laura Green

“Mr Zhang’s on the farm working the cattle and we just had him on the phone. He was here when we inspected him, and these sort of horses you’ve got to pay up, but having access to the progeny of Frankel is something that everybody wants to be able to get hold of and you’ve got to pay for the quality.”

Newgate’s Henry Field, swilling beer and sipping water in equal measure to no doubt help him maintain his composure, was encouraged to have at least two extra bids by auctioneer Grant Burns on the Cornerstone Stud-consigned top lot, but they were to no avail.

In 2021, Cornerstone Stud’s Sam Pritchard-Gordon sensed an opportunity to tap into Juddmonte’s champion stallion Frankel after Fairway Thoroughbreds’ filly Argentia won her first start at Flemington in June of that year, but even he couldn’t have forecast Friday’s result, the farm’s biggest “by a country mile”.

Confident the then Anthony and Sam Freedman-trained two-year-old Argentia was stakes class - she won a Group 3 last October on Derby Day at Flemington - Pritchard-Gordon rallied a group of Cornerstone’s supporters to invest in northern hemisphere mares to send to Frankel to southern hemisphere time and import them down under to foal at South Australia’s Barossa Valley stud.

Upside, an unraced half-sister to dual South African Group 1 winner Europa Point and champion European colt Harbour Watch, was one of those mares identified as being suitable on pedigree and type for the Australian market by Pritchard-Gordon’s agent brother Tom.

Tom Pritchard-Gordon: credited with buying the right mares to suit FrankelCredit: Laura Green

Pritchard-Gordon said: “My brother Tom was solely responsible for sourcing four mares off the track. A bit of Covid stress helped us to buy really well but, more importantly, he bought the right type of mares to suit Frankel and it’s amazing to think that we’ve been rewarded with a colt like that at that sort of price.

“We have a number of core clients and sadly one of our core clients, whose fund is managed by Rob Chapman, the former chairman of the Adelaide Crows, sadly passed away. 

“So, we’ve been asked to liquidate all their assets and that’s what forced our hand, but fortuitously it was an absolute godsend that Frankel keeps on doing it.”

Upside was to be sold next week but she is a late withdrawal owing to a temperature which meant she could not travel to Queensland.

The second Frankel colt to sell is the first foal out of Walk This Way, a half-sister to Listed-winning, Group 1-placed European mare Alluringly, who is already proven to be a black-type producing mare. 

Zhang’s first homebred elite-level winner was Frankel filly Hungry Heart, who took out both the 2021 Vinery Stud Stakes and Australian Oaks.

The Frankel colt out of Walk This Way with his delighted teamCredit: Magic Millions

Asked to separate the Frankel colts, Fairgray said with a sense of humour: “It’s interesting, Mr Zhang had his favourite and I had my favourite - mine was a little more expensive.

“We’ve got some really nice Frankels at home. There’s some we may offer, but the colts we’ll probably keep to race.”

Coolmore’s supplementary entered Frankel colt was underbid by Evergreen Stud Farm’s Aaron Bott, whose brother Adrian trains the sire’s Randwick Guineas winner Converge.

The bloodstock interests of Converge’s owner P K Sui are managed by Aaron and his father Tony Bott.

The late-session action surpassed the top lots sold on day one: a Zoustar colt who made A$550,000, a Snitzel filly who was knocked down for A$480,000 and a Zoustar filly who sold for A$425,000.

The frenetic finish also helped push the turnover for the sale to A$22.18m, marginally up on 2022, while the average of A$82,761 was down eight per cent year-on-year. The median of A$50,000 was down A$5,000 on last year’s sale.

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