The Magic Millions Yearling Sale in January features 1401 entries and the break up of stallions is always interesting as it reflects the thinking of the sales company back at the start of spring when inspections were undertaken and entries being judged and finalized.
It also offers an insight into the popularity of individual sires in 2022 when these yearlings were conceived… and for some stallions their stocks have risen in the intervening years and for others they have not.
Most represented sire is Coolmore young gun Home Affairs with 63 entries and all of them are in Book 1 and while it is somewhat unusual for a first season sire to be the most represented, he’s got some serious credentials that were not lost on commercial breeders.
A Group II winner at two that trained on to win twice at Group I level at three in the VRC Coolmore Stud Stakes and Lightning Stakes, Home Affairs is the best credentialed son of champion sire I Am Invincible to go to stud and covered 203 mares at an initial fee of $110,000 making him the busiest first season sire in 2022 and also second busiest of all sires behind only So You Think.
That overwhelming popularity and the cracking foals that followed have put Home Affairs in the driver’s seat to make a very big splash at the Gold Coast.
Next on the list is reigning champion sire I Am Invincible (52) followed by Golden Slipper winning first season sire Stay Inside (43), Spirit of Boom (42), Snitzel (42) and Zoustar (39).
The Zoustar number is down a little on last year from 45 despite similar foal crop numbers, but these yearlings were conceived at a fee of $198,000 making them the most expensive of his progeny to hit the sale ring so far.
One stallion that never has big numbers due to his fertility issues, but is nevertheless one of the most highly sought after in the country is Extreme Choice and he has 13 entries.
First season sires are always interesting and four of the top 10 most represented sires are in fact first season sires with Home Affairs on top with 63 entries followed by the Newgate Farm duo Stay Inside (43) and Wild Ruler (37) followed by Coolmore shuttler St Mark’s Basilica (Fr) (34).
Second season sires are a gamble for the auction house with ‘a winner before Christmas’ seen as a pre-requisite for commercial success for these guys at the Gold Coast in January. Some of the most popular in this cohort - Ole Kirk and Farnan – have already obliged on that score, while Wootton Bassett (GB) has shot the lights out in the Northern Hemisphere with his first Coolmore conceived crop of juveniles earning him a fee increase to 300,000 euros.
His first Australian runner West of Swindon also did his prospects no harm with a close second to Farnan colt North England in the $1million ATC Golden Gift, while King Kirk won the Group III ATC Breeders Plate for Ole Kirk.
Wootton Bassett has 30 entries, Farnan has 27 and Ole Kirk 22, while Lucky Vega (IRE), who sired With the Law to win the $500,000 Inglis Banner has just five entries.
