First Win for Happy Trails Half-Sister
/Newcastle, February 7 - Breaking her maiden with a dominant win at Newcastle on Saturday was the three year-old half-sister to recently crowned South Australian Horse of the Year Happy Trails, a triple Group I winner.
Retained by her breeders Brenton and Liz Parker and raced in partnership with other friends, the Kris Lees trained Danish Twist broke through at her second start to win comfortably be nearly two lengths over 1300 metres.
By the every reliable Dane Shadow, she was raised at leading South Australian nursery Mill Park and is the fifth winner from six foals to race from terrific producer Madame Flurry, whose best offspring Happy Trails has won over $2.8 million in prizemoney with highlight victories in the Group I VRC Mackinnon Stakes, Turnbull stakes and Emirates Stakes.
She is also the dam of stakes-placed Heart of a Lion and metropolitan winners Unique and Petraeus, so Danish Twist has a bit to live up to on her pedigree page!
Madame Flurry has a yearling colt by Bernardini (USA), a colt foal by All Too Hard and was covered last spring by Sebring.
Happy Trails Honoured as SA Horse of the Year
/Adelaide, January 31 - Mill Park graduate Happy Trails was crowned South Australian Thoroughbred Breeders' Horse of the Year for the 2014 calendar year at a glittering awards presentation at Adelaide's Intercontinental Hotel on Saturday night.
The seven year-old son of Cornerstone Stud based Good Journey (USA) was selected as the top performer from a list of 12 finalists including Group I winners Bounding, Kushadasi, Moment of Change, Fawkner and Go Indy Go, the latter two also given the benefit of an upbringing at Mill Park.
Bred by Brenton and Liz Parker, Happy Trails was sold to trainer Paul Beshara for $11,000 at the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale through the draft of Mill Park.
The gelding was one of the stars of last year’s VRC Melbourne Cup Carnival and scored an impressive and thrilling win in the Group I VRC LKS Mackinnon Stakes on Derby Day.
The Parkers and Happy Trails' connections, Adelaide's Dickmann family, were on hand to receive their respective awards at the function, presented by Tattsbet. In excess of 260 guests attended the function hosted by Sam Hayes and Richard Zachariah.
"The family is so honoured to have won this prestigious award," owner Erica Dickmann said. "We've come close to winning it a couple of times and to finally have got the nod is very special.
"Happy Trails is a very special horse to us and we're looking forward to his autumn campaign which will commence soon."
Brenton and Liz Parker, the proud breeders, were thrilled with the latest award for the star they bred.
"Madame Flurry has been a special mare to us. She has also produced another stakes performer and a Sydney winner and we have a couple more to come through," Brenton Parker said.
"We know Happy Trails is such a popular horse and Liz and I are thrilled he has been recognised again. He's won a Group One during the past three seasons and we hope there's more to come!"
The popular chestnut is working well and will head to the Orr Stakes on the way to a crack at the Group I VRC Australian Cup at Flemington - the scene of his three Group I victories to date.
Leading breeder Harry Perks made a number of visits to the presentation area - his awards including Claude Haigh Memorial Leading Broodmare for Elegant Eagle, Finniss Lodge Leading 2YO for Go Indy Go and the Newmarket Insurance Brokers Leading SA Breeder by Stakes Performers.
His Bernardini (USA) filly Go Indy Go, from Elegant Eagle, was raised at Mill Park and won the Group I ATC Champagne Stakes last autumn in Sydney.
Mill Park would like to congratulate all award winners on their success and look forward to another year of outstanding success for SA breds!
Hong Kong Winner for Mill Park
/Hong Kong, January 28 – Scoring his fifth win in Hong Kong at Happy Valley on Wednesday was Not a Single Doubt six year-old Victorius, a $105,000 Inglis Premier purchase for John Foote Bloodstock from the draft of Mill Park.
An easy three length winner at Wangaratta on debut for the Robert Smerdon stable as a three year-old, Victorius was subsequently transferred to Hong Kong into the care of John Size.
Out of the winner’s circle since scoring at Happy Valley in May last year, Victorius returned to form with a strong three-quarter length win under Nash Rawiller in Class Three company over 1200 metres and has now won five of 24 starts.
Bred by Brenton and Liz Parker, who also bred multiple Group I winner Happy Trails, Victorius is the first winner for Our Greta, a minor winner by Rory’s Jester from Group I Avondale Gold Cup winner Silky Oak.
Our Greta is also the dam of this season’s smart two year-old filly Atalanta Miss, who won on debut at Morphettville in October for Prime Thoroughbreds.
Mill Park’s Magic Moments On The Gold Coast
/When the Mill Park team left for their trip to the Gold Coast for the 2015 Magic Millions Yearling Sale, they were quietly confident that the nine-strong draft of well-bred yearlings would sell well, but once the sale had ended, the results simply blew the team away.
After some really positive pre-sale days where the draft appealed to the numerous ‘potential buyers’ who inspected the draft, the first lot through the ring for the team was early on Day 1.
Lot 13, an impressive looking chestnut colt by Northern Meteor out of the half-sister to stakes winner Victory Cry was knocked down to Scone Bloodstock Service’s John Hutchinson for $300,000.
From the final crop of his ill-fated sire, competition was extremely competitive on the progeny of the Group 1-winning and producing sire, with this colt being the fourth highest of the 20 yearlings sold.
After what was an outstanding first result for the team, we couldn’t have envisaged what happened next!
With the progeny of the first season sires touted early on to produce some outstanding results, Lot 143, our Sepoy filly out of the stakes-winning Starcraft mare Celebrity Girl recorded a Day 1 topping result of $850,000.
Knocked down to Michael Wallace on behalf of the China Horse Club, the filly set a then record, the highest price ever achieved by a yearling on the Gold Coast by a first season sire.
“She's a filly with an exceptional pedigree,” Wallace said.
“She has great similarities between her sire and her mother.”
“She's an outstanding first foal from some of the best breeders in Australia in Mill Park so she had plenty going for her.”
After the exciting results of achieving a then sale topping result, we then had what we expected to be our leading colt enter the sale ring.
Lot 185 was an absolute standout colt by Redoute’s Choice out of the Group 2 Villiers-winning Anabaa mare Dance On Waves.
From a pedigree the exuded black type winners highlighted by this season’s Group 1 VRC Derby winner Preferment and the Group 1 Salinger Stakes winner Ancient Song, the colt was secured for $575,000 by David Raphael’s Stallion Racing and Damion Flower’s Jadesky Racing.
The fourth highest priced seller on Day 1 of the sale, it capped off an amazing day for the farm as we had sold two of the four top priced lots!
After topping the sale on Day 1 of the sale, the team were back in action on Day 2, with Lot 219 our only yearling heading to the ring for the day.
A bay or brown filly by Snitzel, the filly was the third foal of the stakes performed Elusive Quality half-sister to Listed winner Tantra.
Purchased by outstanding judges Troy Corstens’ Malua Racing and Justin Bahen’s Bahen Bloodstock for $175,000, Corstens’ later tweeted “Love this Snitzel Filly. 2yo type purchased from one of the best breeders in Aus @millparkstud from @mmsnippets #hot”
By Champion Sire More Than Ready, out of Pushing Daisies, who has already produced the Group 1 winner Captain Sonador, Mill Park’s Lot 534 was the first yearling on Day 3 of the sale.
Purchased by Bjorn Baker Racing and Blandford Bloodstock, the same combination that secured the 2014 Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner Unencumbered, we wish these connections the best of luck with the colt they purchased for $160,000.
Our final lot of the day was a Manhattan Rain colt out of Rock On Madonna, a family that Mill Park knows extremely well and owes a lot to.
Sold as Lot 570, the colt is closely related to the four-time Group 1 winner Divine Madonna, as well as the Group 3-winning, Group 1 placed pair of Blessum and Angle Of Mercy, who were all raised and sold by the farm.
Going to one of the new wave of trainers in James Cummings, the colt was purchased for $150,000 and will get every chance at the Randwick stable he co-trains at with his legendary grandfather Mr JB Cummings.
With the next day of the sale being the night session, the team at Mill Park had a chance to take stock of the amazing results achieved to date and look forward to selling the final three yearlings from our draft.
Mid-way through the night session, Lot 651 from the first crop of Emirates Park’s Dream Ahead out of the stakes performed Subsequential went through the ring.
A half-sister to the Listed Tasmanian Guineas winner Moving Money, the filly found a home with Gerald Ryan and Jadeskye Racing for $55,000.
A handful of lots later the team sent Lot 679 through the ring, another filly by Dream Ahead, this time out of the seven-time-winning Tobougg mare Tobouggie Woogie, herself a half-sister to the Group 2 winner Majestic Music.
Purchased by Malua Bloodstock and Bahen Bloodstock for $90,000, the same team who had secured our Snitzel filly earlier in the sale, she is bound to get every chance at Corstens’ Melbourne Stable.
Effectively having some time off, with no yearling selling until right towards the end of the next day of the sale, the team putting everything into ensuring Lot 909 looked his best.
And they did…
A classy looking grey colt by Duporth out of the Volksraad mare Typify from the family of recent Group One Hong Kong Mile winner Able Friend, the colt was purchased by Magic Millions as agent for $170,000, and outstanding result for all concerned.
Ending Book 1 of the 2015 sale as the second leading vendor on averages, having achieved an average price of $294,375 with a top of $850,000, Mill Park’s Chris Watson was clearly overjoyed with the results of the sale.
“The Mill Park team not only here at the sale but at the farm need to be congratulated on preparing an outstanding draft.”
“It’s a bit of a commitment to travel all the way from home (South Australia) for the sale, but we felt we had the right horses for the sale, and our clients have been rewarded.”
“Best of luck goes out to all the purchases of our yearlings and we look forward to following their success on the track in the coming years.”
The next sale on the Mill Park calendar sees a draft of 6 yearlings head to the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale which commences on March 1, and then we will offer a draft of 17 at the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale which starts on March 9.
Magic Sale for MillPark
/Gold Coast, January 12 – Mill Park enjoyed spectacular results at the 2015 Magic Millions Yearling Sale finishing second on the leading vendors by average list for Book One with eight youngsters averaging $294,375.
Mill Park also sold a Duporth colt from Typify in Book Two for $170,000, so in total sold nine yearlings for $2.5 million with 100% clearance.
Star of the show was the Sepoy filly from Celebrity Girl that made $850,000 when bought by China Horse Club, while our Redoute’s Choice colt from Dances on Waves sold for $575,000 to the bid of Stallion Racing/ Jadeskye Racing.
We congratulate all successful purchasers and wish them the best of luck for the future.
Sepoy’s Girl Takes Centre Stage
/GOLDEN Slipper winner Sepoy created history on the opening day of the 2015 Magic Millions Yearling Sale on Wednesday when one of his daughters established a new highest price by a first season sire. The chestnut daughter of Celebrity Girl was knocked down to New Zealand-based bloodstock agent Michael Wallace for $850,000 acting for the China Horse Club.
Celebrity Girl (by Starcaft) won the Listed VRC Cap d’Antibes Stakes and SAJC Redelva Stakes. “She’s a filly with an exceptional pedigree and has great similarities to her sire and her mother,” Wallace told Sky Racing.
“She’s an outstanding first foal from one of Australia’s best breeders in Mill Park. “It was probably a bit more than we expected to pay, but diamonds don’t come cheap. There’s always going to be intense competition on a filly like that.”
The sale has so far proven to be a triumph for Darley sire Sepoy whose progeny have been highly sought after. “It’s a tremendous result for us, the team and Sheikh Mohammed,”
"It was probably a bit more than we expected to pay, but diamonds don’t come cheap. There’s always going to be intense competition on a filly like that." __Michael Wallace
Darley General manager Henry Plumptre said. “It is fantastic for people that supported him in his first year to start getting returns like this. “The counter side is that it carries an enormous weight of expectation when they run next but I’m happy to run with that downside because we’ve got such faith in the horse.” “It’s always above expectation when you get a filly go off and make $850,000 like that, it’s a pretty race occurrence. “We would have been happy
with the old mathematical equation of three or four times the service fee as an average and he’s doing a lot better than that,” Plumptre commented.
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