The average at the Magic Millions National Select Weanling Sale rose by 38% to brush $60,000 and was 70% up on the same sale in 2013.
The selling of weanlings has become big business with x-rays and pre-sale images of these furry babies making what was once somewhat of a lucky dip into virtually another yearling sale.
The top lot was a colt by Medaglia D'Oro (USA) from well related Redoute's
Choice mare Starfish that made $500,000 for Wood Nook Farm when bought by James
Harron Bloodstock.One of the biggest buyers at yearling sales, James Harron bought this colt to race for his good clients Dr Edmund and Mrs Belinda Bateman, who share in the ownership of Medaglia D'Oro's Golden Slipper winning son Vancouver.
Yearlings by Medaglia D'Oro averaged $425,714 at Inglis Easter this year and only three yearlings by this sire made more than $500,000 this year (and not much more, two made $550,000 and one made $520,000), so essentially they have paid a yearling price for a weanling, but who is to say this colt wouldn't be a million dollar colt at the sales next year and in that case he's been well bought.
The top filly here was by Snitzel from Fashion Rocks and made $310,000 to the bid of astute Scone bloodstock agent John Hutchinson.
With no Black Type in the first two dams of her pedigree, but a strong Black Type family further back, she has a page that
would suggest she would have been more at home at a Magic Millions Yearling sale
next year rather than Inglis Easter and the average price for a Snitzel at the
Gold Coast this year was $243,488.Five fillies sold for more than $310,000, the highest $620,000 for a filly from Hokuspokus, a half-sister to two stakes-winners from the Singles Bar branch of the Easy Date family.
Would this filly make any more money next year? Probably not given she comes from a huge foal crop of 173 live foals, so expect the yearling sales next year to be full of Snitzels.
Last year we had the excitement of the first weanlings by Sepoy and So You Think and this year it's all about Pierro and All Too Hard.
The Golden Slipper winner led his peer on the averages with 11 youngsters averaging $190,909, while All Too Hard was not far behind with eight babies averaging $173,125.
Click here to see Pierro's results.
Click here to see All Too Hard's results.
We've barely scratched the surface of what these young sires have to offer, but we've seen sufficient to know they will be big players at the major yearling sales next year.
What this sale will do is make even more vendors think very hard about where they will sell their stock and what the advantages may be in taking the early money from a weanling sale.
Less risk being an obvious factor as to hold on to a young thoroughbred for another eight months for a January sale or 11 months for Inglis Easter opens the door to all the myriad of things that can go wrong - the x-ray issue, the scoping irregularity or it just doesn't grow the way you hoped it would.
If it's perfect right now and buyers are paying top dollar, you can see why this option has growing appeal.
