Frankel leading covering sire by gross at Magic Millions

Broodmares in foal to Frankel prove popular at the Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale.

Taken from TDN AusNZ, 26th May 2022

Mares in foal to Frankel attract Yulong

Yulong has been the story of the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale and when trade closed on Thursday, the auction house reported the Victorian Farm had bought 63 mares for an aggregate of $29.275 million and on the final day they added three more seven-figure lots to their collection, who were all offered in foal to Juddmonte’s star stallion Frankel (GB).

Of all the mares the operation has purchased all week, there would be few better bred than Group 3-placed mare Fantasy (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and because of her enviable pedigree Yulong were prepared to dig deep to secure her, eventually paying Coolmore Stud $1.7 million for the daughter of Invincible Spirit (Ire).

Catalogued as Lot 1084, Fantasy is herself out of dual Group 2 scorer Cassandra Go (Indian Ridge {Ire}), who has proved herself to be something of a blue-hen.

Cassandra Go has produced 10 winners, headed by Halfway To Heaven (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) and she, like her dam, has proved to be a top-producer, being the dam of multiple Group 1 winners Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Rhododendron (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), as well as Group 3 winner Flying The Flag (Ire).

Fantasy herself is a sister to Group 3 winner Tickled Pink (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and Theaan (Ire) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) - the dam of dual Grade 1 winner Photo Call (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Group 2 winner Land Force (Ire).

Yulong’s Chief Operating Officer Sam Fairgray said mares with a pedigree like Fantasy’s are highly sought-after and he believed she would be a good addition to their broodmare band.

“It’s one just one pedigree page and she was a beauty,” said Fairgray. “She has an early service date to Frankel and she was a beauty. She is a fantastic mare to add to the broodmare band if you keep getting fillies out of her, you keep building families. That’s what we want to do is build the families and strengthen our broodmare band.

“If she had a lovely colt and it won a Group 1 race, it would have serious stallion potential. She is just another fantastic mare to have and obviously you’ve got to pay up if you want to get in families like this."

Despite being knocked down to Yulong’s Lucky Vega Syndicate, Fairgray said the mare would most likely be covered by their resident Champion Sire Written Tycoon.

“It’s undecided yet, but I would think she will go to Written Tycoon. We will be supporting our own stallions, but that’s the idea with these quality mares. Obviously, Written Tycoon is proven, so they will go to him, but we will be spreading our mares across all our stallions. We are heading up over 350 broodmares, but want to keep building and we want to get more stallions, so will be out there keeping an eye on everything that moves.

Easton Angel to continue life at Yulong

Very early on in the session, Yulong purchased another mare in foal to Frankel when they snapped up the Glenesk Thoroughbreds-consigned Easton Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) for $1.35 million.

A dual Listed winner as a juvenile, Easton Angel is out of winning sprint mare Staceymac (Ire) (Elnadim {USA}) and she is herself a half-sister to Kalahari Gold (Ire) (Trans Island {GB}).

It was no surprise to see the mare offered in foal to Frankel, given her success when mated to his now late sire Galileo (Ire) with the mare being the dam of multiple Group 3-placed Lough Derg (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and her resulting foal will be a three-quarter sibling to the son of Galileo.

The mare was knocked down to the Written Tycoon Syndicate, but Fairgray said their G1 Blue Diamond S.-winning stallion Tagaloa (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) would also be considered for the mare.

“She’s a lovely physical and a good performer on the track herself and she’s produced a Group 3-placed horse with her first foal and is in foal to Frankel, so she’s another really nice mare to add to the broodmare band,” said Fairgray.

“What we’ve done in previous years is we’ve bought some nice quality mares and he’s seen those good quality mares produce nice stock and sell well as yearlings, so we’re just continuing that model.

“Obviously, with our younger stallions of Tagaloa, Lucky Vega and so forth, we want to give them every opportunity, so we’re adding some nice mares that will give them a good opportunity at stud.

“It’s not definite but it will be either Written Tycoon or Tagaloa, probably leaning towards Tagaloa at this stage.

“Obviously, Frankel is flying. We saw those weanlings last week sell extremely well and our love for Frankel with Hungry Heart and now My Whisper and we’ve got another couple of Frankels who are untested. He just wants to keep building the quality and giving our stallions a great chance.

Glenesk’s Brett Howard said the mare's reserve was $600,000, which he knew was under her value but he was pleased with what she made.

“She was on the market for $600,000 - I thought she would make more, but you just don’t know, but I love clients that are happy to put them below what they think they are worth, because you have to engage bidders to get them on the market - it is a risk, but they have been rewarded,” said Howard.

“She was a very good, fast race filly and has good 2-year-old form. She won a few Listed races over five furlongs. If you look at her she looks like she would have easily been born here in Australia, she looks like a five furlong Australian sprinting mare and I think that’s what people thought when people had her out, she was extremely popular.

“It is a good mating for Frankel as well and she just has the best temperament, I will be very disappointed for Yulong if they don’t get a good foal out of her and it will be a three-quarter to Lough Derg who was Group-placed. The page is already made. She has a great hip on her and was just lovely.”

A few lots later, Yulong handed Glenesk Thoroughbreds another fine result when they paid $1.05 million for US stakes-placed mare Excellent Sunset (Ire) (Exceed And Excel) and she was also offered in foal to Frankel.

Catalogued as Lot 1078, Excellent Sunset is out of the winning Street Cry (Ire) mare Sunset Avenue (USA) and she is herself a daughter of Group 3 winner Dearly (GB) (Rahy {USA}).

Strawberry Hill and Grimley hold the Key

Having missed out on a few mares this week, John Singleton’s Strawberry Hill and Duncan Grimley finally got their names on the buyers' sheet when they purchased New Zealand Group 3 winner Key (Exceed And Excel) for $1.1 million, with Bevan Smith Bloodstock/Andrew Williams Bloodstock (FBAA) signing for the mare on behalf of buyers.

Grimley said they had tried to get their hands on Easton Angel earlier in the day, but missed out when she sold to Yulong for $1.3 million, but he was happy to be leaving the complex with Key, who, like Easton Angel, was offered in foal to Frankel.

“I’ve had a crack at a number of them and been half a million light on a few of them. I have purchased the best mare in foal to Frankel in the Sale. She was a good race filly,” said Grimley.

Grimley said if the foal was a filly they would most likely race her, while if it was a colt they would sell him as a yearling.

Strawberry Hill has had success with the both selling and racing the progeny of Frankel, with the New South Wales-based farm having bred and raced Group 2 winner Miss Fabulass, while they sold stakes-placed Merovee (Frankel {GB}) to Chris Waller for $1.6 million at the 2016 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.

“We have been keen on Frankel for a number of years, we sent him his first mare from the Southern Hemisphere and we’ve sent mares to him most years and I just think he is a superstar." Duncan Grimley

“We have great results through Frankel, both through the sale ring and racing them, Miss Fabulass was a great filly for us. If she has a filly we will be racing her and if she is a colt we’ll be selling him, that’s the way we operate. I’m keener to have Frankels out of Southern Hemisphere-raced mares than Northern Hemisphere-raced mares, so she fits the bill.”

Of the strength of the market, Grimley said: “You have one big player at the moment and he is a really big fish, so when you come up against him it’s difficult and that is just the way it is. Coolmore has been blown away a few times this week and that hasn’t happened anywhere in the world.”

Catalogued as Lot 1145, Key is out of winning mare Vanilla Princess (Lonhro) and she is a daughter of multiple Group 1 winner Princess Coup (NZ) (Encosta De Lago), making her a half-sister to Hong Kong Group 3 winner Thewizardofoz (Redoute’s Choice) and fellow Group 3 winner Argentia (Frankel {GB}).

Mares in foal to Frankel proved popular throughout the week, with the 10 selling carrying progeny of the sire and they realised an aggregate of $8.8 million at an average of $880,000.