Segenhoe Secures Top Lot at Magic Millions Weanling Sale
Former Champion stallion Fastnet Rock (Danehill) dominated Day One of the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Weanling Sale yesterday with a top price of $525,000 in a session when six weanlings made $300,000 or more.
The highest-priced weanling on Day One was Lot 73, a filly by the Coolmore Australian based stallion who is a three-quarter sister to the 2015 ATC Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Gust Of Wind (Darci Brahma).
Offered by Coolmore Australia, the filly was purchaser Segenhoe Stud whose general manager Peter O’Brien told ANZ Bloodstock News the filly would be retained to race rather than being re-offered for sale as a yearling.
“I love Fastnet Rock, he is a champion stallion and she was the pick of the sale as a type,” O’Brien said. “She is a half to an Oaks winner. I thought she was the best foal I’ve seen in a couple of years and I didn’t want to leave without taking her home with us”.
The Fastnet Rock filly is the seventh living foal out of Listed-placed European-bred mare Starrystarrynight (Sadler’s Wells), who is a sister to Listed winner Starbourne (Sadler’s Wells), who also ran third in the Irish 1000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m). Further back this is the family of the Oaks (Gr 1, 1m4f) winner Lady Carla (Caerleon).
The filly will be grown out at Segenhoe Stud in the Hunter Valley, with O’Brien suggesting she would be given time to develop into what her new owners will be Oaks campaigns as a three-year-old.
He said the $525,000 paid to secure a filly with her residual value was not unexpected. “Fastnet Rock is a champion stallion and when you have one that’s a half to an Oaks winner, you have to pay for them. She has beautiful quality, is a beautiful mover with a lovely loose action and plenty of scope,” he said. “She is not really going to be a two-year-old the way she is bred and we are just hoping she will be an Oaks filly down the track.”
‘Times New Roman’;”>Coolmore Australia stud manager Jim Carey told ANZ Bloodstock News the filly was a quality individual and her price reflected her pedigree and physique. “The Starrystarrynight filly is all quality and her three-quarter sister was the last horse to beat Winx, which tells you as much as you need to know about how talented she was,” Carey said. “The reality is that Fastnet Rock has had 35 stakes winners around the world in the last 12 months. He is an exceptional stallion and it stands to reason that there is strong demand for his offspring.”
On the vendor side of things, Segenhoe took a draft of 11 weanlings to the Gold Coast, with a clearance rate of all bar one. The draft was highlighted by six lots fetching over the 100k mark, including a Not A Single Doubt filly out of Talimena securing $140,000.
Image: ANZ Bloodstock News