The Magic Millions Yearling Sale (Book 1 &2) in January features 1280 entries (up slightly on 1221 last year) 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 2024 when these yearlings were conceived… and for some stallions their stocks have risen in the intervening years and for others they have not.
For the third year in a row, Coolmore young gun Home Affairs will be the most represented sire at this sale with 68 entries putting him more than 20 ahead of the next most represented sire which is first season sire Ozzmosis.
Champion sires I Am Invincible and Zoustar have 45 and 43 yearlings respectively, while the last crop of yearlings by reigning champion sire Snitzel, just 26 of them, will be in hot demand.
Extreme Choice is the stallion that can change the aggregate of a sale and has 16 yearlings on offer and seven of them in the Newgate draft.
Expect to see an uptick in the quality of pedigree for the 26 yearlings by Tassort, as these are the first bred after his fee was raised from $11,000 (first four seasons) to $38,500 when these guys were conceived.
Also be aware there are no yearlings by The Autumn Sun to be offered next year as 2024 was the season he did not cover due to injury. It’s an unfortunate piece of timing given he is riding high as the third leading sire in the country on the General Sires List this season with five SW’s to his credit headed by reigning Australian Horse of the Year Autumn Glow.
First Season Sires
Newgate based Ozzmosis was a $250,000 purchase from this sale back in 2022 for Darby Racing and after winning the G1 VRC Coolmore Stud Stakes the son of champion sire Zoustar earned himself a shot as a commercial stallion.
Ozzmosis covered 192 mares in his first season at a fee of $44,000, so his yearlings are plentiful and many have obviously impressed the MM inspection team as all bar four of his 47 yearlings will be offered in Book 1.
Coolmore’s Golden Slipper winner Shinzo covered 218 mares at a fee of $55,000, so he has very similar foal numbers. He has 39 in this sale that include a couple of pedigree standouts in Lot 669, the half-brother to Champion 2YO Colt and Golden Slipper winner Farnan from G3 winner Tallow and Lot 968, the half-sister to dual G1 winning mare Nettoyer from Cleanup.
Good looking I Am Invincible sons Hawaii Five Oh (Vinery) and King’s Gambit (Newgate) have been competitors for mares as they profile in a similar way and now the proof of the pudding will be judged in the sale ring.
Hawaii Five Oh has been priced at $16,500 in his first three seasons, while King’s Gambit has been at $22,000 and the former has had heavy support from MM owner Gerry Harvey, who bred and raced him. Of his 27 yearlings at this sale, 14 will be offered by either Baramul Stud or Westbury Stud, both owned by Gerry Harvey.
If you are interested in buying a yearling that might run further than 1200m, Newhaven Park based Mo’Unga (NZ) adds something different to the mix being an elite WFA G1 winning son of champion sire Savabeel.
One for the novelty factor is the lone yearling in this sale by triple Group I winner Militarize (Dundeel), who was gelded and returned to training after an aborted stud career at Newgate which produced just a small handful of foals.
Given the success of Dundeel sire sons Super Seth and Castelvecchio, Lot 925, a filly from Burning Need will no doubt spark interest.
Second Season Sires
Australian Horse of the Year Anamoe is the heavy hitter in this group of sires and has 26 in the sale down from 33 last year.
Anamoe has had plenty of action at barrier trials around the country suggesting his progeny are proving trainable and showing talent with his promising colt Nonu placing in the G3 Breeders Plate from four runners to date.
