Arrowfield Stud's Dundeel led the sire averages with 10 yearlings averaging $272,500, his results boosted considerably by his show stopping colt from champion filly Miss Finland that made $900,000 when bought by Boomer Bloodstock.
The commercial success of Dundeel is interesting given his profile is not
typical of what we expect of a popular Magic Millions first season sire.He is by Epsom Derby winner High Chaparral (IRE) from a daughter of Zabeel and as his pedigree would suggest was very much a classic three year-old whose 10 wins came from 1200 to 2400 metres with 2000 metres probably his optimum trip.
His archrival Zoustar is more typical of the type of sire that traditionally finds favour at the Gold Coast.
The Widden Stud based dual Group I winning son of Norther Meteor was heavily courted by the MM sales team and had 32 yearlings sell at an average $265,156 generating a whopping $8.4 million in turnover.
In terms of aggregate sales, only Snitzel and I Am Invincible were ahead of Zoustar, so Magic Millions would be thrilled with his performance.
Zoustar's top three yearlings – filly Combat Kitty ($550,000) sold by Widden,
colt Rossarita ($510,000) sold by Sledmere and colt Queen of the Falls
($450,000) sold by Turanggga were all bought by David Redvers/Mulcaster
Bloodstock.David Redvers is the bloodstock manager / agent for Qatar Bloodstock, who are in the ownership of Zoustar and Guy Mulcaster is the bloodstock agent for Chris Waller, who trained Zoustar.
Zoustar's stock were popular across the board and snapped up by all the big buyers with 23 selling for $200,000 or more.
The top two sires had quite a margin over their peers in terms of average with Widden Stud's Shamus Award the next best with nine yearlings averaging $170,556 and a top seller of $400,000.
The two stallions at the top of this list last year were Pierro with 37 yearlings averaging $262,568 and All Too Hard with 38 yearlings averaging $221,842.
Both recorded significant drops this year, Pierro with 27 yearlings averaging $177,222 and All Too Hard with 38 yearlings averaging $138,553.
The fortunes of young sires can fluctuate wildly once their first runners hit the the track, ebbing and flowing on the back of racetrack results, so vendors selling their progeny at upcoming sales will be watching their progress closely.
