Winx's Brother Tops Easter Opener

Hussain Lootah of Emirates Park Stud admitted he had his eye on buying El Divino (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}) from breeder John Camilleri after that half-brother to current superstar mare Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) won by nearly five lengths on debut three weeks ago. When that transaction failed to materialise, Lootah turned his attention to El Divino's full-brother, offered by Camilleri through Segenhoe Stud as lot 135 at Inglis Easter.

Lootah's new plan came to fruition when he secured the prized colt for A$2.3 million in Sydney Tuesday, with the bidding conducted by the colt's future trainer Gai Waterhouse.

“He was the colt of the sale and from a strong family, so why not?” Lootah reasoned. “He's a lovely type.”

With six more horses sold compared to the opening session 12 months ago, figures held steady. The day's aggregate rose 4.7% to A$40,292,500, and the clearance rate was 78% (it was 73% after day one last year). The average remained virtually the same at A$291,975, while the median dropped marginally (4.8%) to A$200,000. The catalogue is organized alphabetically by dam, making cumulative statistics more meaningful than session-by-session statistics. Tuesday's session topper surpassed the A$2.2 million paid for the top lot–another Snitzel colt–at last year's Easter sale on day two.

At the time of cataloguing, lot 135 already had one of the pages of the sale, being a half-brother to Winx, who has proven unstoppable over the last year, winning eight straight races including the G1 Cox Plate, G1 Chipping Norton S., G1 George Ryder S., and last Saturday the A$3 million G1 Doncaster H. at The Championships at Randwick. The Gai Waterhouse-trained 'TDN Rising Star' El Divino pushed the pedigree to the next level, however, when dead-heating for the win in the G3 Kindergarten S. earlier on the Randwick card, providing a rare double for the dam Vegas Showgirl (NZ) (Al Akbar {Aus}) on one of racing's greatest stages.

“[El Divino] adds a lot to the page,” Lootah said. “We hope [lot 135] is in the [G1 Golden] Slipper next year.”

Waterhouse recalled the moment Lootah called her after El Divino won at Gosford Mar. 17.

“Hussain rang me the moment his brother crossed the winning post in his debut and he said, 'let's buy him,'” the trainer reminisced. “We couldn't secure El Divino, so he said, 'let's go for the yearling.'”

Lootah clearly wasn't the only one with that idea at Inglis's Newmarket complex Tuesday. The bidding opened at A$500,000 and quickly cleared seven-figures. Waterhouse initially indicated she was out when her A$2.1 million bid was cast aside, but reconsidered and landed the winning blow at A$2.3 million.

“After much discussion, Hussain made the executive decision that we'd go with it,” Waterhouse explained. “He said 'Gai, we must have the colt.'”

Emirates Park Stud, which is based in the Hunter Valley with a satellite in Victoria, is owned by Lootah's father Nasser Lootah, a Dubai-based businessman who purchased the property about 20 years ago. Emirates Park stands four stallions including shuttlers Dream Ahead and Artie Schiller, the latter of which has enjoyed a standout season thanks to the exploits of the G1 Blue Diamond and G1 Golden Slipper-placed Flying Artie (Aus) and group winners Good Standing (Aus) and I Love It (Aus). Emirates Park also raced the 2014 Golden Slipper winner Mossfun (Aus) (Mossman {Aus}).

The sale of the Snitzel colt is the latest chapter in the success story that is Fairway Thoroughbreds. John Camilleri, who boards his broodmare band of about 25 at Segenhoe and sells most of his yearlings, parted with Winx for A$230,000 at Magic Millions three years ago and a year later, he sold last year's G1 Golden Slipper winner Vancouver (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro) for A$185,000 to Waterhouse on the Gold Coast. Camilleri began to reap the major updates to his families when Vancouver's Pierro (Aus) half-brother made A$1.5 million at Magic Millions in January, and the quinella was completed by the Snitzel colt Tuesday.

“I thought he'd make around A$1.4 million or A$1.5 million, based on the interest in him,” admitted Camilleri, who a short time earlier sold an Exceed and Excel (Aus) filly (lot 126) to Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum for A$750,000. “We set a reserve of A$1 million, so I'm thrilled to say the least.”

The colt is the fourth foal out of the New Zealand stakes winner Vegas Showgirl, who was barren last year after being covered by Snitzel but is back in foal to the Arrowfield sire. Asked if that resulting foal would be sold, Camilleri said, “ask me in a year's time.”

The owner/breeder admitted the 13-year-old Vegas Showgirl has become something special.

“She's only had three to race and two group winners, both last Saturday,” he said. “Winx speaks for herself, I don't need to talk about her, and the 2-year-old colt, El Divino, is a full-brother to this yearling and he dead-heated on Saturday, so he's certainly done the job and I think enhanced the price of this horse. She's proved herself to be a superstar mare and probably a blue hen mare.”

Camilleri, who has been breeding Thoroughbreds for around 12 years, said he doesn't have a specific formula for what he retains and what gets sold; he simply aims to pay the bills.

“It's got to be run commercially as far as I'm concerned,” he said. “Service fees have to be paid and the rest of it. I try to retain two or three fillies each year and sell everything else. I don't necessarily pick and choose the best. When I have fillies from a family already I'm happy to offer those for sale. The business plan is it has to fund itself, and I'd like to continue to increase the broodmare band and get into families with nice, deep pedigrees.”

Stallion Prospects For Shadwell…

Snitzel has been an integral part of the success story of his sire and Arrowfield Stud barnmate Redoute's Choice. In addition to Snitzel, Redoute's Choice is responsible for highly successful sire sons Not A Single Doubt (Aus) and the ill-fated Beneteau (Aus), who have all made waves this season with significant stakes winners. It should have come as no surprise, therefore, to see a Redoute's Choice colt with a stallion's pedigree cause a bidding war Tuesday, and that materialized when lot 113, a colt from Arrowfield out of Top Cuban (Aus) (Anabaa), made A$1.5 million from Shadwell's Angus Gold.

The bay is the third foal out of the winning Top Cuban, who has made a very encouraging start at stud. Her first foal, Havana (Aus) (Starcraft {NZ}), cost Blue Sky Thoroughbreds A$290,000 here in 2012 and went on to win the G3 BTC Classic. Her second foal, another son of Starcraft, was bought by the Hong Kong Jockey Club for A$360,000 here two years ago and sold for a sale-topping HK$8.5 million (£767,148/€982,659/US$1,103,896) at Hong Kong's International Sale last month. The colt was bred by Paul Rowe and Paul Favretto in partnership with Arrowfield.

“The mare's a lovely producer,” said Arrowfield's Paul Messara. “He's been an outstanding individual since he was born, and right through his life to this stage he's always impressed us. We always had him as our top lot for the sale.”

Top Cuban has a Snitzel weanling colt and is in foal to Redoute's Choice.

Shadwell were fast off the mark during the opening session of the Easter sale, buying 11 yearlings for A$5.41 million. That included a mix of colts and fillies, but Gold admitted he is hoping to buy future stallions for Sheikh Hamdan.

“My job is to make it as profitable as possible for Sheikh Hamdan, and when you're spending this kind of money you're looking for him to recupe some of his investment,” the agent explained. “I want to find a horse to stand at stud and make a bit of money back for him.”

Gold noted he has missed out on a few future stallions at Easter in recent years, which encouraged him to stretch for his choice lots.

“The last few years I was underbidder on Wandjina, I missed out on Deep Field, and I've been trying to get him some stallions here, so you've got to stick to the ones you like,” he said. “We're trying to buy quality, not quantity this year.”

Of the Redoute's Choice colt, he said, “I thought he was a beautiful horse from the first time I saw him. He has a fabulous mind on him, he's a well-balanced horse and out of an Anabaa mare, which isn't going to stop him either. He never turned a hair any time I saw him. We've had a few of them [Redoute's Choices]; we were lucky with Nadeem, who won a Blue Diamond, and we've had plenty of good fillies, and I just got a feel about this horse.”

The colt will be trained by Shadwell's regular Australian conditioner David Hayes, who added, “He's a really lovely colt. It's the one we wanted, so we're thrilled. The brother is well-regarded in Hong Kong, but I think he's a good enough horse to make his own pedigree.”

Gold went to A$900,000 earlier in the day for lot 44, a Snitzel half-brother to G1 Spring Champion S. winner and Spendthrift shuttle sire Hampton Court (Aus).

“He's a November foal so he's not going to be early, but he's a lovely horse with a great mind and he's a brother to a Group 1 winner,” Gold noted.

Fastnet Colt Blooms At Easter…

Never does a major Australian yearling sale go by without champion sire Fastnet Rock (Aus) making an impact, and the Coolmore stalwart did not disappoint Tuesday, notching the first millionaire of the sale late in the morning. That colt was lot 42, and he was hammered down to Coolmore, in partnership with South Africa's Markus Jooste, for A$1.2 million. The Newgate Farm graduate will be trained by Gai Waterhouse, who also handled the bay's G3 Manfred S.-winning full-brother Bull Point (Aus). Coolmore purchased Bull Point for A$960,000 at Magic Millions in 2012 and raced him in the early part of his career in partnership with Sir Owen Glenn's Go Bloodstock.

“All the lads really liked him,” said Coolmore's Tom Magnier after signing the ticket Tuesday. “Being by Fastnet Rock, and related to Bull Point, it's a family we know well. It's a pretty exciting partnership we're going to be racing with, so we'll just hope we're lucky.”

The bidding opened at a bold A$500,000 but progressed slowly to the eventual selling price, and Magnier said, “When you get to those kind of prices you have to be thinking about what you're doing, but we really wanted him and we've got an exciting partnership. Gai trained Bull Point, so there's only one trainer we'd give him to.”

Rose Of Cimmaron is a full-sister to Group 3 winner Mica's Pride (Aus), now better known as the dam of Sir Owen Glenn's four-time Group 1 winner Criterion (NZ) (Sebring {Aus}), who defends his title in Saturday's A$4 million G1 Queen Elizabeth S. at The Championships. Rose Of Cimmaron's Foxwedge (Aus) colt was bought by the China Horse Club for A$425,000 at this sale last year. The 11-year-old mare produced an Exceed and Excel (Aus) colt last year and is barren for 2016 after being bred back to that champion sire.

Rose Of Cimmaron is owned by the Bateman family, which raced Group 1 winners and young Newgate sires Foxwedge (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) and Wandjina (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}).

“She's owned by the Bateman family, who have been our greatest supporters,” said Newgate's Henry Field. Of the Fastnet Rock colt, who was born and raised at Newgate, Field added, “He was a good colt, just top-class. He was a horse who was always going to be a big ticket at a sale. You never know with those really good horses how long the piece of string is, to what they're going to make, but he had 18 vets and vetted perfectly. He was an awesome specimen. So when you have all those boxes ticked, you're in for a good show.”

Newgate currently stands seven stallions in the Hunter Valley, with Criterion set to join the roster later this year upon the conclusion of his racing career, and this year's G1 Blue Diamond S. and G1 Golden Slipper winners Extreme Choice (Aus) (Not A Single Doubt {Aus}) and Capitalist (Aus) (Written Tycoon {Aus}) also set to join the roster after their racing careers. Newgate has been aggressive in building up its roster, of both sires and broodmares, and is reaping the rewards.

“We're very, very focused on trying to get the best horses we can,” Field noted. “We've worked really hard on building up a good broodmare band and we're supported by so many great clients. The Batemans have been with us from the start and really gave me my first opportunity. It's nice to see the clients that we're consigning our yearlings for get rewarded like they deserve to. They're producing a lot of good horses off the farm and we've got a beautiful pool of mares now. That has taken a lot of hard work to build up and we're in a very privileged position.”

“We've had a very good run but you're only as good as the next month, not the last month, so we have to stay focused and build and do the best we can,” Field added.

Snitzel Colt Fits O'Sullivan Order…

Hong Kong trainer Paul O'Sullivan said he was given a rather straightforward order by a Hong Kong-based client for the Easter sale: “If you can find a nice colt, go buy it.”

O'Sullivan found that nice colt yesterday in the form of lot 99, a Snitzel colt out of Subsequent (Aus) (Encosta de Lago {Aus}), a winning full-sister to Singapore stakes winner Order Of The Sun (Aus) and a half-sister to stakes winner Get To Work (Aus) (Snippets {Aus}).

“He's a lovely colt and he looked an ideal type for Hong Kong,” O'Sullivan noted. “Up in Hong Kong its very much an individual thing; pedigree always counts wherever you go, but for Hong Kong its more about type, and he looks like the right type. We hope we're right.”

O'Sullivan noted the colt would get his early education at his brother Lance O'Sullivan's New Zealand yard.

“My brother will take him back there and try him and if he's good enough he'll go to Hong Kong. If not, we've made a big mistake,” O'Sullivan quipped.

O'Sullivan went to A$1 million late in the session for lot 166, a colt by last season's champion Australian first-season sire Hinchinbrook (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}). The late August foal was consigned by Yarraman Park Stud, which stands Hinchinbrook, and is the second foal from the stakes-placed Al's Magic Miss (Aus) (Magic Albert {Aus}). Hinchinbrook's best progeny to date has been last year's G1 Caulfield Guineas winner Press Statement (Aus).

Sweet For Street Cry At Easter…

The Australian sire ranks suffered a severe blow when Darley shuttler Street Cry died suddenly two seasons ago, and the void left is exacerbated by the fact that Street Cry is currently the country's leading sire, his progeny this season headed by the peerless mare Winx (Aus), the winner of the A$3 million G1 Doncaster H. at Royal Randwick last Saturday. The final yearlings by Street Cry, therefore, have been keenly sought after at this year's Southern Hemisphere yearling sales, and he enjoyed one of the early highlights Tuesday when the China Horse Club bought lot 10 in partnership with Vinery Stud and WinStar Farm for A$650,000.

Consigned by Sledmere Stud, the strapping bay is the first foal out of the G1 New Zealand Thousand Guineas winner Planet Rock (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}). The China Horse Club's Michael Wallace said that while the colt is not a precocious type, he thinks he will be worth waiting for.

“He's not such an early horse, but he's a magnificent individual,” Wallace said. “He's by a stallion we're not going to see any more of and out of a champion mare. She had some real early toe; she stepped out as an early 2-year-old over 1000 metres in track-record time, so she could really go.”

Wallace noted the colt is one he has had his eye on for a while.

“He ticks all the boxes for us and handled the week perfectly,” he said. “I've seen him a number of times through the year at Sledmere and he's just been a quality colt right from day one. I think we'll look back on this and he'll represent great buying considering the package he offers. It's nice and early and the market will toughen up no doubt, so we're pretty happy to get in early.”

The China Horse Club race last year's G1 Caulfield Guineas winner Press Statement (Aus) in partnership with Vinery, and Wallace added, “We've developed a good relationship with the Vinery team through Press Statement, and we hope this colt will be another one like him.”

The China Horse Club also bought a handful of yearlings at Magic Millions this year in partnership with WinStar, and is a partner in young Kentucky-based WinStar sire Daredevil (More Than Ready).

Sheikh Khalifa bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, who raced one of Street Cry's more recent Australian luminaries in last year's G1 Blue Diamond S. and G1 Sires' Produce S. winner Pride Of Dubai (Aus), later in the morning went to A$700,000 to add another by the leading sire to his collection. That colt is lot 34, a son of Reggae (Ire) (Danehill), from Kia Ora Stud. He is a half-brother to the G2 Danehill S.-third Unique Quality (Aus) (Elusive Quality), and the dam is a full-sister to stakes winners Johan Cruyff (GB) (Danehill) and Meteor Shower (Ire) (Danehill). Reggae is also a half-sister to the dam of G1 Hong Kong Derby winner Super Satin (GB) (Danehill Dancer (Ire) and Hong Kong's G1 QEII Cup winner Blazing Speed (GB) (Dylan Thomas {Ire}).

Sheikh Khalifa and his team remained active throughout the session, buying four for A$2.855 million. His most pricey purchase was lot 158, a More Than Ready colt bought for A$925,000. That colt is the second foal out of Absolute Joy (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}), a half-sister to Group 1 winners Tuesday Joy (NZ) (Carnegie {Ire}) and Sunday Joy (NZ) (Sunday Silence), the latter of which is the dam of Australian champion More Joyous (NZ) (More Than Ready).

Harron Capitalizes On Success…

This time last year, agent James Harron was in the midst of buying up well-bred and conformed colts as part of a venture aimed at purchasing future stallions for his clients. That venture came to fruition last month when Capitalist (Aus) (Written Tycoon {Aus}) became one of the most valuable colts in the country when adding the G1 Golden Slipper to his Magic Millions 2YO Classic win in January. Harron is chasing the same goal at this year's sales, and he will no doubt be hoping lot 59, a Redoute's Choice colt he bought for A$700,000 Tuesday, will work out just as well as Capitalist. Consigned by Arrowfield Stud, the August-foaled bay is the first foal out of Secluded (Aus) (Hussonet), a half-sister to G1 TJ Smith winner Melito (Aus) (Redoute's Choice {Aus}).

“He's been bought for a group of my owners with that in mind, to try to produce stallion prospects,” Harron said. “He ticked all the boxes; Redoute's is really proving himself to be a sire-of-sires. He's had Snitzel and Not A Single Doubt really stepping up this season, and Beneteau sadly passed away and left a great couple crops behind him. He's a nice, neat type with great strength about him and looks like an early type of horse.”

Like Capitalist, lot 59 will be trained by Peter and Paul Snowden. Harron also provided an update on Capitalist, who headed for a spell after winning the Slipper Mar. 19.

“He's great,” the agent said. “He went to the paddock in great order and is just having a break. We're looking forward to getting him back in the spring. We're probably looking towards the sprint races, with the [G1] Coolmore [Stud S.] in mind at this stage, but we'll take it as it comes.”

Easy Decision For Yoshida…

All Too Hard has made a big impression with his first-crop yearlings this year, and the Vinery resident also got his name high on the board early Tuesday courtesy of lot 35, a colt from Cressfield. The son of Australian champion 3-year-old filly Regimental Gal (Aus) (General Nediym) was scooped up by agent Marie Yoshida on behalf of an undisclosed Hong Kong-based client.

The bay is the eighth foal out of the G1 Lightning S. and G1 Australia S. winner Regimental Gal. She has produced four winners, including G3 Triscay S. winner Lilliburlero (Aus) (Redoute's Choice {Aus}) and Tasmanian Oaks-second Vimy (Aus) (Redoute's Choice {Aus}), and Yoshida noted her 2-year-old, the placed Regimental Force (Aus) (Sepoy {Aus}), is well- regarded.

“He's a first-time sire, All Too Hard, but the mother is a champion 3-year-old filly and there is a 2-year-old, Regimental Force, by Sepoy, who is a nice 2-year-old,” Yoshida noted. “We loved the horse physically and he passed all the veterinary examinations very well. He was a beautiful mover and just had A++ all over him.”

The colt will be trained by Peter and Paul Snowden, who have handled two of the top juveniles of the last two seasons in Pride Of Dubai and Capitalist. Yoshida said the door is also open for the colt to go to Hong Kong later in his career.

“We're very happy with the Snowden team, so if he shows a lot of potential he'll stay here and race here,” he explained. “After that we may think to take him to Hong Kong, but at the moment the priority is Australia.”

Session two of the Easter sale begins Wednesday at 10 a.m. local time.