The Magic Millions race day at the Gold Coast is awash in prizemoney offering an unparallelled opportunity for owners to collect serious prizemoney in an environment geared for serious fun, so what effect has it had on our sire tables and we look at how fickle the bloodstock world can be.
I Am Invincible and So You Think both sired the winners of $1million dollar races in King of Sparta and So United, while Zoustar also sired Zoumeteor to win the $500,000 Country Cup.
As a result I Am Invincible burst through the $20million mark in seasonal earnings and got his century of winners , while So You Think is a clear second ahead of Zoustar, but it’s going to be a hard slog for him to take the field up to the tearaway leader any time soon!
Justify (USA) sired brilliant colt Storm Boy to win the $3million Magic Millions 2YO Classic, while Trapeze Artist had the third placed horse in the race in Spywire and these guys have forged ahead in the second season sires division from their peers, although Harry Angel (IRE) does look menacing in third place.
Alabama Express leads the first season sires division, but for how long? Too Darn Hot (GB) and Brutal sired the winners of the $500,000 Debut races in Too Darn Lizzie and Lead Me On and both also had runners in the MM 2YO Classic in Arabian Summer and Jenni’s Meadow, who weren’t placed but acquitted themselves well.
Too Darn Hot now leads on the score of winners with four on the board, which must come as a surprise to yearling buyers.
The first crop of Too Darn Hot sold well at Magic Millions last year with 14 averaging $276,786, but that success was cast into the shade by the achievements of his Darley barn mate Blue Point (IRE), who had 16 yearlings average $378,125.
In the 12 months since that sale, Too Darn Hot and Blue Point have both been wildly successful in the Northern Hemisphere and particularly Blue Point with over 50 first crop winners including two Group I winners, yet in Australia there has been a clear shift towards Too Darn Hot resulting from his early success here.
In Book 1 this year, Blue Point had 13 yearlings sell at an average $215,000 with a top price of $500,000 for a colt from Group I winner Kenedna, while Too Darn Hot had 10 yearlings average $454,000 with his top seller the colt from A Time for Julia that made $1.9million. Too Darn Hot had 100% clearance and Blue Point had three passed in.
The bloodstock world can be a very fickle place!
