Has there been a better example of the ups and downs of the thoroughbred industry than the result of Saturday's $10 million TAB The Everest (1200m) at Randwick?
The euphoric scenes after Redzel held the challenge of Vega Magic contrasted to a markedly different mood a few years earlier.
After creditors grew impatient that the sale of Lee Fleming's Eliza Park Stud wasn't going as quickly as planned it was put in the hands of liquidators.
It was PPB Advisory As Receivers And Managers Of Lee Fleming Thoroughbreds that consigned a Snitzel colt out of the high-class Rubiton mare Millrich to the 2013 Inglis Australian Weanling and Bloodstock Stock Sale.
He was knocked down for $45,000 to Marquee Stud who would on sell the colt as a yearling at the 2014 Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale for $120,000 with Triple Crown Syndications signing the ticket.
That horse was, of course, Redzel but at the time of his sale, Magic Millions owner Gerry Harvey was also calling time on Nathan Tinkler's thoroughbred empire.
Among the wholesale sell-off of weanlings, yearlings racehorses, broodmares and stallions in September 2014 was lot 817, the striking chestnut stallion Lope De Vega (IRE) the sire of Vega Magic.
As Tinkler's Patinack Farm only owned the southern hemisphere breeding rights, Lope De Vega was whisked off back to Ballylinch Stud, Ireland where he is among the most sought-after stallions in Europe, standing at a fee of €50,000.
The ups and downs of racing.
