The team at Torryburn Stud have had much to celebrate in recent weeks having bred and sold not only Hong Kong Derby winner Voyage Bubble, but also Group I ATC Coolmore Classic winner Espiona, whose half-brother promises to light up the sale ring at Riverside Stables next week.
With former flagship dual Group I winning graduate Home Affairs now enjoying life as the hottest young stallion in the country at Coolmore Australia, Torryburn have not had long to wait for the next star performers to emerge.
Voyage Bubble topped the 2020 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale for Torryburn when selling for $380,000 to his trainer Ricky Yiu and has emerged as a serious talent with five wins and four placings from 11 starts culminating in his Hong Kong Derby triumph.
Espiona was a savvy $190,000 purchase for Star Thoroughbreds and the Chris Waller trained mare turned in a career best performance winning the Group I ATC Coolmore Classic taking her prizemoney in excess of $800,000 with more G1 goals in store.
Lot 92 will garner plenty of attention being the half-brother by Capitalist to Espiona from superbly bred O’Reilly mare Dahooil (NZ).
It’s a powerful Black Type family packed with GI winners such as Vision and Power, Glamour Puss and Steps in Time.
Torryburn will also offer a yearling out of a Group I ATC Coolmore Classic winner with Lot 104 being the second foal of outstanding Street Sense (USA) mare Dixie Blossoms, a winner of seven races and over $1.5million with multiple Group wins and Group I placings sitting alongside her Coolmore Classic trophy.
Bred by the late Alan Osburg, who also bred and raced Dixie Blossoms, this lovely filly has a two year-old full sister called Al Flores that has been retained and is being trained by Ron Quinton, who also prepared her dam.
She is also bred on a similar Exceed and Excel x Street Cry nick to dual Group I winner September Run and Golden Slipper runner up Cylinder.
First into the ring for Torryburn will be Lot 27, a stunning I Am Invincible colt from Apamurra (USA), an imported Lonhro mare from one of Darley’s best female families that produced a new stakes-winner for them last Saturday in Amur.
Apamurra is a placed half-sister to blue hen Essaouira, the dam of Group I stars Astern and Alizees as well as Leopard, who is the dam of 2YO Snitzel colt Amur, winner of the Group III ATC TL Baillieu Handicap.
Lot 307 is another colt by Exceed and Excel, this one the third foal from Red Hearts, a winning half-sister to Group II winning course record breaking sprinter Deploy from multiple Group winner Crimson Reign.
He’s bred on the very successful Exceed and Excel x Lonhro nick that has produced six stakes-winners including this season’s brilliant Group winning juvenile Barber.
Last but not least is Lot 411, a colt that has Hong Kong written all over him!
He is by the reigning champion sire of Hong Kong in Deep Field and is the second foal of The Soloist, a winning half-sister to Group I winner Hot King Prawn, the Champion HK Sprinter of 2020/2021 and also dual Group III winner Siren’s Fury.
The full brother to this colt came to Inglis Easter last year and sold for $750,000 to the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
