Inglis’s Oaklands Junction sale ring welcomed two millionaire colts in the space of 10 minutes on Sunday when the headline patch of Day 1 of this year’s Premier Yearling Sale lived up to expectations.
Bloodstock agent Andy Williams struck first when he went to $1 million for a colt by Toronado, who went through as Lot 197, four lots before John Stewart’s Resolute Racing paid the same amount for a son of Frankel.
They are the first seven-figure colts at Premier since the Written Tycoon-Gybe yearling sold for $1.1m four years ago.
The seven-figure duo shot straight to the top of the top lots leaderboard with a $500,000 Zoustar colt bought by Yulong at Lot 115 the only earlier yearling to sell for more than $360,000.
Williams bought his colt, who is out of the All Too Hard mare Hardly Surprising, in partnership with Hong Kong Bloodstock for a client and said he was the horse they had been waiting all year for.
“We purposely didn’t buy at Magic Millions, we purposely didn’t buy in New Zealand (or) Classic, we waited for this horse,” Williams said.
“James Price from Inglis told us to wait, I went and saw him, so it was worth it.
“I saw him here every day since Tuesday and he’s got better and better I think.”
Williams said the colt bore similarities to another Toronado youngster who was sold at a Premier Yearling Sale.
“I went back to 2018 when Masked Crusader sold here and found a picture of him and a walking video and they’re not too dissimilar,” he said.
Like Manikato Stakes winner and The Everest runner-up Masked Crusader, Williams’ colt was raised and sold by Gilgai Farm, while fellow Victorian farm Rosemont Stud was responsible for the $1 million Frankel youngster.
He is out of the Curlin mare Heavenly Curlin, a granddaughter of Redoute’s Choice’s dam Shantha’s Choice and Anthony Mithen was thrilled to see their bold play to send her to Europe to be served by the world’s top sire realise Rosemont’s second-ever $1m yearling.
“It takes a lot to take get the horse there and you hold your breath on multiple occasions and we’ve been holding our breath all week to get to about a minute ago and we got there,” Mithen said moments after the sale.
“It’s a sense of relief, but also a great sense of achievement.”
“To get seven figures for a horse – you can buy a lot of other stuff with $1 million – but for John Stewart and his team to invest it in our product, we’re extremely proud.”
Williams is unsure who will prepare his colt before he hopefully heads abroad, but Stewart bought his youngster in partnership with Damon Gabbedy’s Belmont Bloodstock and Tony Mcevoy.
