The Newgate Consignment produced the two highest priced mares sold on a stellar first day of the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale on Tuesday with Forbidden Love selling for $4.1million and Sunshine in Paris selling for $3.9million.
Triple Group I winning mare Forbidden Love was purchased by Yulong and went within a whisker of the Magic Millions record price for a mare set by Sunlight in 2020 when she sold for $4.2million.
Offered on behalf of her ownership group as a breeding proposition, Forbidden Love was bought for just $150,000 as a yearling at Magic Millions by her former co-trainer and part-owner Richard Freedman before going on to win over $2.2million.
She attracted an opening bid of $1million followed by keen competition until Yulong won the day with their final bid of $4.1million.
“Brilliant. I remember standing over in the corner and buying her for $150,000. These guys (other co-owners) all came in and… $4.1 million,” said a delighted Richard Freedman, revealing she had sold above expectation.
“We were thinking maybe mid-three million was possible but this is fantastic.
“I’m very happy that she’s going to a great stud and she’ll be looked after. That’s the main thing.
“She owes us nothing. We owe a lot to her. She raced until she was five-years-old and she was sound enough for a long time. We owe her plenty.”
By All Too Hard from stakes-placed import Juliet’s Princess (USA), Forbidden Love claimed her Group I wins in the ATC Surround Stakes (1400m) at three and then at four against all comers at WFA in the ATC Canterbury Stakes (1300m) and George Ryder Stakes (1500m).
With a race record like that, Newgate Farm’s Henry Field was not surprised at her sale price.
“We knew that she was going to sell well. She’s a triple Group I winner, and beautiful,” he said.
“She had all the hallmarks of a top end of town mare. It was an international bidding duel between the three biggest players on the planet and Mr Zhang from Yulong was the victor.
“He’s bought himself a rare entity. She’s a special mare and they’ll have a lot of fun with her for many years to come. She’ll be a foundation mare. She’ll stack up at the top of any broodmare anywhere in the world and he’s been buying the best of the best.”
Consigned as a racing and breeding proposition, the Annabel Neasham trained three year-old Invader filly Sunshine in Paris filly sparked a tense bidding duel.
She was in high demand with James Harron placing the winning bid on a filly that has had just five starts with her last appearance in the autumn resulting in a narrow win in the $600,000 Group I ATC Surround Stakes (1400m).
On that occasion she defeated Group I winning fillies Ruthless Dame, In Secret and Zougotcha, a clear indication as to her undoubted class and potential going forward.
“It’s been something we’ve put together, we’ve got some clients and we’ve been working on it for a while,” James Harron said.
“We feel like she’s such a wonderful racing prospect. Very rarely do these sort of fillies come onto the market, we see the prices of yearlings these days and the prices of some of these yearling fillies.
“She’s already got a big win on the board but she’s only had a handful of starts and she’s got a massive future ahead of her.
“We’re going to enjoy racing her for the time being and then she’ll be into the broodmare barn later on down the track.
“There’s so many options and we’re so lucky here in Australia with the amazing prizemoney we’ve got on offer.
“If she maintains the form she’s shown and looks to even have improvement in her, I think the owners are going to have a lot of fun and potentially pick up a lot of prizemoney and we’ve got that fallback of that Group I already on the board.”
Newgate also offered the very first lot into the ring and Group II winning Vancouver mare Vangelic set the tone for the day when selling for $1.5million to Tom Magnier.
Prepared throughout her career by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, Vangelic was a very smart two year-old that won on debut in January and was second to Away Game in the Group II ATC Percy Sykes.
She trained on to be Group I placed at three and four and her highlight win came in the Group II ATC Golden Pendant with her total earnings topping $1.4million.
Bought for $400,000 as a yearling from the Segenhoe draft at Magic Millions by her trainers, Vangelic has been a great investment for her ownership group.
“It’s a good pedigree, she was just a lovely physical – she was one of the nicest physicals we saw – and she was well-rated by all the team,” Tom Magnier said.
“She’s a mare that has a lot of quality, she’s very good looking, so she’d be an asset to any stallion.”
The sale continues.
