One of the country’s most talented, untapped and lightly raced fillies will provide buyers with a rare opportunity in the upcoming Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale at the Gold Coast.
Sunshine in Paris, with just five starts to her name and a last start Group One winner, has joined the supplementary catalogue and will be offered as part of the Newgate Consignment.
The highly regarded three-year-old is a winner of three of her five starts and the form out of her last start has stood up at the elite level around Australia.
After being narrowly beaten in the Light Fingers Stakes in February she backed up a fortnight later, charging late between runners for the bravest of victories in the Surround under Ryan Maloney.
The minor placegetters from the Surround, Ruthless Dame and In Secret, have subsequently both won Group One races – the Robert Sangster Stakes and Newmarket Handicap respectively.
From the easiest of maiden wins at Canberra to a Group One at Randwick in five starts and just a few months – the Sunshine in Paris rise through the grades has been meteoric under the training of Annabel Neasham.
“She’s done such an incredible job already in such a short time,” Neasham said. “We’d always had quite a good opinion of her and what she achieved with the Group One so early in her career didn’t surprise us at all.”
“A once in a lifetime filly. Her looks match her record – she’s a cracking type with a massive hindquarter, she’s a very good mover, has strength and length – an ideal filly.”
“How good she is we don’t know yet – there is no ceiling. She is one of the most exciting horses and the form around her is elite with the likes of Ruthless Dame and In Secret.”
“She is a horse who could stretch in distance. She’s tough and tenacious – she can sprint or head to middle distances.”
Neasham has a very high opinion of Sunshine in Paris and is keen to be training her for new connections at her upcoming campaign.
“We put her out after the Surround Stakes and immediately circled the date for the $10 million Golden Eagle and then were starting to work back from there.”
“It would break my heart if she ended up in another stable after the sale. I will be doing everything I can to get her back in my yard and set her for the Golden Eagle. She’s a beautiful filly and has such a bright future.”
The latest headline entry for the auction will be offered during the racefillies and maiden mare supplementary on Day One of the National Broodmare Sale on May 23.
“Sunshine in Paris is the first current Australian three-year-old Group One winner to be offered in a decade,” Newgate’s Henry Field noted.
“She won a cracking edition of the Surround Stakes beating the subsequent Group One winners Ruthless Dame and In Secret.”
“Newgate have had the privilege of presenting a large majority of the elite fillies and mares at public auction in Australia in recent years, but we’ve never had an opportunity to offer such a talented and lightly raced three-year-old filly with substantial upside as Sunshine in Paris,” Field added.
Sunshine in Paris’ entry in the National Broodmare Sale completes a wonderful trio of offerings for her immediate equine family.
Her Group winning half sister Macroura (Snitzel) is being offered by Vinery Stud as Lot 991 with an early cover from Deep Field while their dam Zenaida (Zabeel) is a member of the Three Bridges Thoroughbreds draft as Lot 751 with another early cover, this time to Maurice.
“The National Sale is one of the great events on the world’s bloodstock calendar and the 2023 line up is packed full of quality,” Magic Millions Managing Director Barry Bowditch said.
“Sunshine in Paris is a remarkable supplementary for the sale – she’s a filly that has burst onto the scene in such a short time and looks to have such a bright future. The Surround is a race that only the best fillies win and what fun the successful purchaser is going to have programming her with the huge prizemoney on offer here in Australia during the spring.”
“The form around her is faultless and she will present a unique opportunity for buyers in a couple of weeks time,” Bowditch added.
The 2023 National Sale will commence with Day One of weanlings going under the hammer on May 18.