Bargain buys – between XL and a Coin Toss

Greg Tobin - Tuesday May 9

We all get a little bedazzled at the massive prices forked out for bloodstock: indeed, there have been no less than 46 seven figure lots at the Gold Coast Magic Millions and Inglis Easter alone in 2023.

And, of course, there was the $3.6 million for Nimalee and $3.4 million for Montefilia in the space of an hour at the Chairman’s last week.

It’s all relative though … a well bred $1 million dollar yearling colt could easily be worth 30 to 40 times that amount if he ends up doing well on the track.

Savatoxl - $8,000 yearling to million dollar earner

Fortunately for those of us who get nose bleeds at the thought of shopping at that end of the market, there are still plenty of successful types that don’t require a second mortgage.

Advertisement

Take last weekend’s stakes races for instance where five of the winners were sold for $20,000 or less.

Group 3 McKay Stakes winner, Savatoxl, originally passed in for $14,000 at the 2017 Inglis Melbourne Premier was finally sold to the Alice Springs Turf Club for $8,000 at the VOBIS Gold.

Thirty nine starts … AND 19 wins later, the 5-time stakes winner has amassed $1 million in earnings and could easily bank another $300k if he wins Saturday week’s Group 1 Goodwood Handicap for the second time.

6YO, Lightning Jack, captured his third black type victory in the Great Easter Stakes at Riccarton Park and, although he’s by one of New Zealand’s leading sires in Per Incanto, he was snapped up at the 2018 NZB Karaka May Sale for NZ$8,000: which he’s paid back more than 50 times over.

Lightning Jack

Group 3 Ken Russell Memorial winner, Russian Alliance has won five from six and admittedly was knocked down to Paul Reedy as a yearling for $65,000 at the 2022 Gold Coast Magic Millions, but the year previously he was sold online at the Inglis Digital June Sale for $10,000.

The Mission’s headliner, Yellow Brick, took the bank to $1,268,100 with a Gold Coast Guineas win and is likely to target the $3 million Stradbroke Handicap in June.

Congratulations to Team Sears and Paul Moroney for going to $20,000 to secure the now 3YO at the 2021 Magic Millions National Yearling Sale.

And last but certainly not least is Flying Artie’s Coin Toss, winner of the Group 2 Singapore Classic.

Full marks to Two Bays Farm who sold Coin Toss to Bevan Smith and Kuldeep Singh Rajput for $175,000 at the 2021 Inglis Melbourne Premier … after Two Bays had snapped up the colt less than 12 months previously for $15,000 at the Inglis Weanling Sale.

No one said this game is easy, but it’s not impossible for the budget conscious either!

Advertisment
More Reading...
Melbourne Cup Winner for Extreme Choice – Rare Slice of History
This year’s $8.5million Group I VRC Melbourne Cup (3200m) produced a genuinely amazing fairytale result for the connections of five year-old Extreme Choice gelding Knight’s Choice, but part of that fairytale is his sire Extreme Choice, who has carved out something seriously special as being only the second sire in history to produce the winner of a Golden Slipper and a Melbourne Cup.
Magic Nick Strikes Again – Fastnet Rock x Galileo
The Fastnet Rock x Galileo nick has been on fire in Melbourne this spring producing Cox Plate winner Via Sistina (IRE) and leading Melbourne Cup contender Buckaroo (GB) and it struck again overnight in the UK with a brand new stakes-winner in Military Academy, who captured the Listed Floodlit Stakes (1m4f) at Kempton.
Knights Choice a True Underdog Story
Punters were left stunned when the Queenslander Knight's Choice and Japanese visitor Warp Speed (JPN) emerged from the pack to fight out a dramatic finish to the $8,560,000 Group 1 Lexus Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington.
2024 Melbourne Cup Result - It's Knights Choice
The 2024 Melbourne Cup has been run and won with Knight’s Choice, a five-year-old gelding by Extreme Choice victorious.
More Stakes Success for Air Assault
Group I placed last season in the SA Derby, talented gelding Air Assault kept the winning run going for Victoria Derby winning trainer Andrew Gluyas when taking out the Listed SAJC John Letts Cup (1800m) at Morphettville on Melbourne Cup Day.
Rosemont and Partners Stakes Quinella on Cup Day
Written Tycoon posted his second new stakes-winner on Melbourne Cup Day when promising three year-old gelding Catoggio took out the Listed VRC Amanda Elliot Stakes (1400m)  for Rosemont Stud and partners, who also race the second horse Bosustow.
Sires With Winners - Monday November 4
Here is the full list of 21 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
$6million Frankel Mare Tops Fasig -Tipton November Sale
The Fasig-Tipton November Sale, billed as the World’s Premier Breeding Stock Event, was held Monday at the company’s Newtown Paddocks in Lexington, Kentucky. Twenty-five offerings sold for $1,000,000 or more, led by a trio of Grade/Group 1 winners with international appeal.
Sires With Winners - Tuesday November 5
Here is the full list of 145 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
Melbourne Cup Pedigree Analysis - Do It Yourself
Breednet has produced a great page with click through to five generation pedigrees for all the Melbourne Cup runners, so for amateur pedigree buffs looking to have a Cup flutter based pedigree here’s your chance  to DIY it!