A beautifully related daughter of The Autumn Sun topped Day One of the 2023 Magic Millions National Yearling Sale when selling for a record $750,000 on the Gold Coast today.

Offered at the auction as part of the Arrowfield Stud draft, the filly is a half sister to four group performers headlined by Hong Kong champion Werther.

Denys Chan, of Golden River Investments, outlasted fierce competition from around the ring before it came down to a bidding war with Luke Simpson from Glentree Thoroughbreds.

When the gavel came down at $750,000 it was Chan’s bid on the filly that came out on top.

“It’s just lovely weather,” a delighted Chan said. “It’s magnificent today – a good day to buy a good horse!”

“You never know (with auctions). Sometimes you have to go high – eventually we got her – so it’s good!”

“She’s a nice filly. The best filly you could find at the sale. She’s outstanding I just had to have her.”

“Firstly the pedigree – it really caught my eye. She’s closely related to Werther in Hong Kong. And her movement is phenomenal.”

“We’ve got her syndicated and she’ll go to Bjorn Baker and I’m looking forward to seeing how she goes.”

As well as being a half sister to Hong Kong Horse of the Year and that province’s Champion Middle Distance and Champion Stayer in Werther, she is also a half sister to Australasian Oaks winner Toffee Tongue, group winner Gobstopper and NZ Oaks placegetter Milseain.

Their dam Bagalollies, a two time winner by Zabeel, is turning out to be one of Australasia’s great producing mares. Her five runners are all winners including the aforementioned four group performers.

The $750,000 filly is from the second crop of the Arrowfield Stud based sensation The Autumn Sun, a five time Group One winner from just nine starts, who has made a great start to his stud career.

As well as being the highest priced filly ever sold at a National Yearling Sale she sits second on the overall list behind a Dundeel colt who sold for $850,000 in 2019 – also sold by Arrowfield.

The top selling colt of the day was the Spirit of Boom youngster from Jaunty who sold to the bid of Hong Kong’s Francis Lee for $160,000.

That colt, catalogued as Lot 1569, was presented as part of the Eureka Stud draft and he’s the second foal of a twice winning daughter of O’Reilly. The dam’s first runner, Big Sky Country (Spirit of Boom) is already placed in Brisbane.

Across the day some 11 lots sold for six figure prices as the demand for quality lots proved strong. Over $4.5 million was traded on 97 lots sold at an average price of $46,438. The clearance rate was a disappointing 56 per cent.

““Obviously the clearance rate is disappointing at below 60 per cent,” Magic Millions Managing Director Barry Bowditch said. “It is never a sale that clears extraordinarily well but I think motivated vendors who were willing to meet the market found, in most cases, buyers to sell their horses.”

“We’re at the end of a big yearling sale series and there’s a lack of domestic participation here but what is pleasing me is the traders and the international buyers who are here.”

“It’s a diverse buying group. There’s buyers from many countries and if a nice horse walks into the ring you can get a huge result – in particular the good filly (by The Autumn Sun) today.”

“I think there’ll be buyers who aren’t here who will be looking at the results and thinking, ‘I should be making offers on some of these passed-in lots’ and the buyers who are here are finding value and will be buoyed by today’s sale and be coming back and looking to participate in the auction,” Bowditch added.

To view the sale results or to make an offer on a passed in lot click here.

Day Two of the 2023 Magic Millions National Yearling Sale commences at 10am (Qld time) tomorrow.

Tomorrow’s offering will include a supplementary catalogue of yearlings before the National Racehorse Sale – featuring the TFI Gelding Reduction and exciting freshman sire Performer.

SALE STATISTICS
(2022 Day 1 in brackets)

Lots Catalogued: 202 (240)
Lots Sold: 97 (134)
Lots Withdrawn: 50 (26)
Lots Passed In: 76 (78)
Top Price: $750,000 ($450,000)
Average Price: $46,438 ($49,567)
Median Price: $30,000 ($30,000)
Sale Gross: $4,504,500 ($6,642,000)
Sold %: 56 (63)

DAY ONE TOP SELLERS

$750,000 – The Autumn Sun-Bagalollies filly (Lot 1452)
Vendor: Arrowfield Stud (As Agent) / Buyer: Golden River Investments (NSW)

$160,000 – Spirit of Boom-Jaunty colt (Lot 1569)
Eureka Stud (As Agent) / Francis Lee (HK)

$130,000 – Pride of Dubai-Blackflash colt (Lot 1450)
Newhaven Park (As Agent) / John Foote B’stock (HK)

$120,000 – Reliable Man-Always in Trouble colt (Lot 1434)
Westbury Stud Ltd (As Agent) / Tartan Meadow B’stock (NZ)

$120,000 – So You Think-Danoiserie colt (Lot 1498)
Baramul Stud / Roll the Dice Racing/John Foote B’stock (Vic)

$120,000 – Trapeze Artist-Fragrance filly (Lot 1533)
Newhaven Park (As Agent) / TFI (Qld)

$120,000 – The Autumn Sun-Hayley Grace colt (Lot 1549)
Lime Country T’breds (As Agent) / John Foote B’stock (Qld)

LEADING BUYERS
(ranked by total spend)

$750,000 – Golden River Investments – 1 lot
$515,000 – John Foote B’stock – 3 lots
$160,000 – Francis Lee – 1 lot
$140,500 – Dequan Wang – 3 lots
$120,000 – Roll the Dice Racing/John Foote B’stock – 1 lot
$120,000 – TFI – 1 lot
$120,000 – Tartan Meadow B’stock – 1 lot