Boom stallion produces the top two lots of Gold Coast sale

Two-year-olds by boom stallion Justify were in hot demand when Magic Millions hosted its annual Horses in Training Sale on the Gold Coast on Tuesday.

The son of Scat Daddy had the two highest-priced lots of the sale; a colt out of Port Augusta who sold for $700,000 and a filly from Sacred Witness who realised $425,000.

Yulong secured the sale-topper, who is out of an Encosta De Lago mare, a daughter of top-producing Secretariat mare L'on Vite, the dam of Holy Roman Emperor, Milanova, Heart of Oak and Big Viking.

Kenmore Lodge prepared the colt, who breezed-up in 10.15 seconds, for sale on behalf of KO Racing and was thrilled with the result.

"He had so much quality, a beautiful pedigree and was just a ripping individual," Kenmore's Kellie Bond said.

"It was pretty easy to see he was going to be a quality lot. They (buyers) were all over him the minute he got here.

"His breeze up was exceptional - great stride length and he's by a horse who can get an absolute superstar.

"You could easily see why he would get a good result and it was nice that Yulong was able to secure him."

Nolen Racing offered the $425,000 Justify filly, who ran 10.8secs at the breeze-up stage, with the filly's dam a blood sister to former Hong Kong champion Silent Witness and the dam of multiple Stakes winner Religify.

She was purchased by Bartholomew and Co.

"She's a lovely, big-framed filly by Justify, and you can't get any more of them…he's not coming back from America," Bartolomew said.

Hong Kong's Magus Equine Ltd snapped up the next two highest priced lots; a colt by Ole Kirk and a Zousain colt who cost $280,000 apiece.

All up, more than $7 million was traded on a day that saw two-year-olds average almost $75,000 at a 66 percent clearance rate.

"We always thought it was going to be a polarising market and that's exactly what it was," Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch said.

"I thought when the quality horses with good confirmation and by the right sire walked in the ring, there was very buoyant bidding on them.

"I thought the top 20 horses sold particularly well. All in all, we've had a significant increase in gross and average price which is encouraging.

"We were hoping to have a clearance rate around 70 per cent and we are working toward that figure. We will keep working over the next 24 to 48 hours to get more sold."

TOP SELLERS

$700,000 - Justify-Port Augusta colt (bought by Yulong)
$425,000 - Justify-Sacred Witness filly (bought by Bartholomew & Co)
$280,000 - Ole Kirk-Antonia colt (bought by Magus Equine Ltd)
$280,000 - Zousain-Divine Chills colt (bought by Magus Equine Ltd)
$260,000 - Hellbent-Rambla de Flores colt (Amy Feng)

SALE STATISTICS (2024 in brackets)

Lots Catalogued: 187 (151)
Lots Sold: 96 (83)
Lots Withdrawn: 41 (41)
Lots Passed: 50 (27)
Top Price: $700,000 ($400,000)
Average Price: $74,666 ($60,380)
Median Price: $42,000 ($42,000)
Sale Gross: $7,168,000 ($5,011,500)
Sold %: 66 (75)