2016/2017 Season Review - Newsletter #2 / 04 . 08 . 17
Sale Season Success
With the completion of the 2016-2017 racing season and the commencement of the new breeding season on August 1, the Mill Park Stud team reflect on what a great season we’ve had not only with our graduates on the track, but how our yearlings have sold at the sales.
The sale season kicked off in January with Mill Park Stud heading to the Magic Millions Yearling Sale on the Gold Coast with a draft of seven select yearlings.
Averaging $280,000 a piece, our top price was $500,000 paid for our first through the ring, Lot 38, the I Am Invincible x Furline filly that was purchased by Stonestreet, Peter Leidel, Aquis Farm and Blue Sky Bloodstock.
Another yearling by I Am Invincible, this time out of You’re Discreet which sold as Lot 582, was knocked down for $350,000 to China Horse Club, Newgate Farm and Winstar Farm.
A colt from the first crop of Darley’s Dawn Approach (Lot 483) made $240,000 to Astute Bloodstock, and until we sold another colt by the sire at Easter later in the year, the price paid was the top price for a yearling by the Group 1-winning son of New Approach.
Next stop for the team was the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale where the six yearlings consigned all found homes.
Leading the way for the draft was Lot 110, a colt from the first crop of Epsom Derby winner Camelot out of the stakes placed Galileo mare Miss With Attitude. Knocked down for $280,000 to Heywood Bloodstock and Mayfair Speculators, the colt will head to the South African stable of Joey Ramsden.
Another who sold well was Lot 27, a filly from the first crop of dual Group 1 winner Zoustar. Out of the winning More Than Ready mare Lassie Mactavish, who has already produced the Group 1 performer Platinum Balos, the filly was secured by Kavanagh Racing for $165,000.
With what seemed like back to back sales, we took a large draft to the Adelaide Magic Millions with Lindsay Park going to $110,000 to take home Lot 298, our Choisir colt who is out of a half-sister to Group 1 winner Zip Zip Aray.
Group 1 Golden Slipper trainer Gary Portelli purchased the Not A Single Doubt x Melania filly for $100,000, while another to make the same figure in the ring was Lot 198, the flashy looking Mossman x Moreau colt secured by John Richardson.
Rewarded for our great draft, Mill Park Stud ended the sale as the Leading Vendor by averages – a great result for all the team.
Our final sale of the year was the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale where we presented a small but select draft of five. Averaging $400,000 Shadwell Stud secured the top lot from our draft, the Snitzel x Dance On Waves colt (Lot 96) for $600,000.
Likely to stay in Australia and go to the stable of Lindsay Park, the well-bred colt has stallion appeal, being by the Champion Sire of the current season, out of Group 2-winning mare who is herself a half-sister to the four-time Group 1 winner Preferment.
Great judges Darren Weir and John Foote Bloodstock parted with $360,000 for Lot 5, our Dawn Approach x Very Discreet colt, giving Mill Park Stud the highest selling two yearlings sold this season by the Darley-based stallion at $240,000 and $360,000.
All in all, at the four yearling sales we attended this year, the farm offered 31 yearlings and recorded 100% clearance – it was a job well done by all of the Mill Park Stud staff as well as a huge congratulations to the buyers who supported us – we look forward to tracking these yearlings as they head to their racetrack careers.
A complete list of our results can be viewed HERE.
Track Talk
We’ve seen some great performances from Mill Park Stud bred, raised and or sold graduates over the last twelve months, plus we were also represented by our first Group 1 performer in South Africa!
Guard Of Honour, Gretna, Pretty Punk, Girl Sunday, Mall It In, It’s A Myth, Booker, Cappadocia, Waging War, All Too Huiying and Danish Twist to name but a few have kept up the outstanding farm tradition by performing exceptionally well on the track.
Special mention must go to the talented Dane Shadow mare Danish Twist who is a possibility to head to stud this season for her connections. In the last twelve months she has finished in the top five in five stakes races including a narrow third in the Group 1 Coolmore Classic at Rosehill Gardens.
A stakes-winning half-sister to multiple Group 1 winner and Mill Park graduate Happy Trails, Danish Twist is a mare that any stud master would be proud to have on their farm.
Of the young brigade coming through, interestingly it is the half-brother to Happy Trails and Danish Twist in All Too Hard colt, All Too Huiying, who could prove an exciting three-year-old and one to watch.
While still a maiden, the Gary Moore-trained colt was stakes placed on two occasions including a third behind Whispered Secret at Listed level with that winner going on to record a Group 1 third next time out.
The Matthew Ellerton and Simon Zahra-trained Booker, a juvenile filly by Written Tycoon produced an exciting debut victory in May at Flemington before heading to Adelaide and finishing second in the Group 3 National Stakes, with fellow Mill Park Stud graduate It’s A Myth (Sepoy) taking third in the same race.
Morphettville Racecourse has always been a happy hunting ground for Mill Park Stud graduates and in the last 12 months two noteworthy stakes winners at the track were Listed Hill Smith Stakes winner Pretty Punk, a daughter of Rebel Raider, who is in turn himself a dual Group 1-winning son of Reset, raised and sold by the farm.
Speaking of Reset, another stakes winner by the Darley-based sire that has been raised at the farm is Mail It In, a four-year-old who defeated war horse Extra Zero to win the Listed Birthday Cup by almost four lengths before a length fourth in the Group 3 Lord Reims Stakes.
An exciting experience for the team was to see Naafer, a colt by Lonhro that we sold at the 2016 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale to Shadwell Stud put in some great performances in South Africa for the Mike de Kock stable.
Second on his debut, the colt was too good at his second start before being thrown into the deep end at his third. Finishing second to stablemate and Champion Two-year-old contender Mustaaqeem in the Group 1 SA Nursey, Naafer went to contest another two stakes races before being turned out for a break, and he should come back as three-year-old to watch!
As we head into the new season in a few weeks it is always an exciting, as well as nervous time awaiting the new crop of two-year-old’s to step out on the track, so stay tuned!
Set to Foal
In the coming months it will be a busy time for the entire breeding industry with thousands of mares to foal as well as many to visit stallions around the country and Mill Park Stud is no different, with our mares set to foal down before heading off to be covered – hoping produce the next Champion of the turf.
With so many new and exciting stallions heading to Australia this season as well as the current proven ones, it is such a hard decision as to where to send them…
Some of the mares under our care due to foal are listed below.
Dane Belltar, the dam of Group 1 winner Fawkner and Group 2 winner Tanby is in foal to More Than Ready, having produced a filly by Shooting To Win last season
Elegant Eagle (NZ), the dam of Group 1 winner Go Indy Go and Group 3 winner Essay Raider was covered by exciting New Zealand stallion Tavistock last season
Elusive Wonder, dam of juvenile stakes winner Modern Wonder is due to foal to this season’s soon to be crowned Champion Sire Snitzel
Hussy By Choice, the well related Hussonet mare will foal to Not A Single Doubt after producing an I Am Invincible filly at her first season last year
Molto Bene, the Group 3-winning half-sister to Group 1 winner Mourinho will foal to Hinchinbrook after producing a Redoute’s Choice colt last season
Pasadoble, a three-quarter sister to Group 3 winner Diamond Earth, will foal to Written Tycoon
The Quick One, lightly raced daughter of Group 1 winner Il Quello Veloce, from the family of Group 1 winners Terravista, Tiger Tees and Super Easy, will foal to Horse of the Year Dissident in his first season at stud
