QUEENSLAND vendors made their presence felt on the opening day of the yearling auctions at the Magic Millions complex on the Gold Coast on January 8.
Ten different vendors parted with 23 youngsters on a hectic day when prices for "local" stock ranged from $70,000 to a high of $550,000.
Scott and Grania McAlpine, Eureka Stud, Cambooya, were the busiest of the group, selling seven yearlings for $690,000 to average $98,571.
The big earners from their consignment were Lots 225 and 244, colts by Written Tycoon from Darook Park and Diva Dee sold for $150,000 apiece to McKeever Bloodstock and Proven Thoroughbreds and Steven O'Dea Racing, respectively.
Foaled in Septenber of 2018, the Darook Park colt is directly related to Gypsy Diamond, a winner of black type events on three occasions and also placed in the Group 1 Queen Of The Turf Stakes.
Eureka's equal top buy is a son of Diva Dee, a three-quarter sister to Road To Rock, which was among the best of his year winning twice at the highest level in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the George Main Stakes.
The Beaudesert-based KBL Thoroughbreds averaged $136,000 for their trio, including Buffering's half-brother by the Golden Slipper Stakes winner Sebring from Action Annie, a daughter of the superb influence Anabaa.
Action Annie's ninth foal is a half-brother to five winners of which the resilient Buffering was the standout with top flight victories in Victoria, WA and Dubai and earnings above $7million.
He was bought by Robert Heathcote Racing and Steve Morley Bloodstock. Interestingly, Heathcote trained Buffering.
Glenlogan Park, Innisplain, held sway at the top of the heap averaging $290,000 for their three yearlings to a high of $550,000 for Star Turn's chestnut son from the Encosta de Lago mare Dukemore, whose family includes the Widden Stakes winner Superfly.
Ron Gilbert, Highgrove Stud, Darling Downs, accepted $220,000 from Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott for a filly with an international pedigree. A daughter of Magic Millions placegetter Not A Single Doubt, she is from the US mare A Brilliant Idea, winner of the Monmouth Junior Champion Stakes.
Historic Canning Downs, Darling Downs, offered a blueblood colt as agent and sold the son of unbeaten Frankel and the Captain Cook Stakes-Levin Stakes heroine We Can Say It Now, by the ATC Derby winner Starcraft.
Kenmore Thoroughbreds, Wyreema, sold offspring of Not A Single Doubt for $260,000 and Medaglia D'Oro for $120,000.
The former, from the successful High Chaparral mare Veloce Forte, was knocked down to Darby Racing and De Burgh Equine, Country Wicklow. Hubie De Burgh, once bloodstock manager for HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, has bought a string of quality horses including the Melbourne Cup winners Green Moon and Fiorente.
Element Hill, Innisplain, sold a colt by I Am Invincible for $110,000 and $200,000 for a son of the dual hemisphere winner Choisir.
Basil Nolan, Raheen Stud, Darling Downs, had two yearlings sell on the opening day, the first for $65,000 and the second for $160,000, the latter going to the Proven Thoroughbreds-O'Dea Racing partnership who were taken with the son of Coolmore Stakes winner Zoustar (Northern Meteor-Zouzou).
Rosari Farm, Warwick, sold a Nicconi youngster for $85,000 and a son of Medaglia D'Oro from the draft of Oaklands Stud, Darking Downs, went for $80,000.
The Queensland results fared well again the first day average of $239,386 for 202 lots and a gross of more than $48 million.
Alan Welburn
Lover of sport, particularly horse racing and all things Olympic. Have spent my entire working life in journalism, mostly with News Corp on its major metro mastheads. Done plenty of things but the best by far is having a teenage son who calls me dad.
Lover of sport, particularly horse racing and all things Olympic. Have spent my entire working life in journalism, mostly with News Corp on its major metro mastheads. Done plenty of things but the best by far is having a teenage son who calls me dad.
