Agent pays $1,050,000 for Lonhro mare.
Right Chord (Lonhro) - a sister to multiple Group 1 winner and now top-class sire Pierro - was the headline act of the second day of the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale on Tuesday after she was snapped up by James Harron for $1,050,000.
Catalogued as Lot 384 and offered as part of the Godolphin draft, the mare is out of two time-winning mare Dyalami (Doyoun) mare Miss Right Note, who produced four winners including the aforementioned Pierro and Wakeful Stakes (Gr 2, 2000m) winner Ambience (Street Cry), who also finished second in the Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m).
Miss Right Note herself is a half-sister to Prix d'Ispahan (Gr 1, 1850m) winner Laverock (Octagonal), while further back this is the family of Listed winner Criquette (Shirley Heights).
The mare was offered in foal to Darley's star stallion Exceed And Excel (Danehill), meaning the resulting foal is bred on the same cross as five stakes scorers, including Group 1 winner Bounding and Group 2 Encryption, who now stands at Eureka Stud, and Harron said the fact she was in foal to the son of Danehill (Danzig) added to the mare's appeal. "She's a very exciting mare and she's obviously quite a rare commodity and Pierro is doing an incredible job at stud," said Harron. "I've been lucky to be quite closely associated with Pierro through the Kolovos family, so I was really excited to see this mare; she's such a beautiful type and I think she's in foal to the perfect mating in Exceed And Excel.
"The page is outstanding and there's a lot of fillies in the Godolphin system being bred to the best stallions in the country and being trained by one of the best trainers in the country [James Cummings], so you can look forward to lots of updates.
"With Pierro, he is just kicking so many goals for a young stallion, so she was a must-have and once we saw her, we fell in love with her.
"Exceed And Excel's going through a real purple patch and he's got some really exciting colts, so he could be a real run. Hopefully we get a nice foal."
Harron said he had yet to make a decision who the mare would be covered by and the bloodstock agent said he was impressed with the robust nature of the market.
"It's been very robust," said Harron. "People certainly know what they want and are happy to bid strongly on the mares they like. It's great that we're able to get here for the sale and Magic Millions has done an incredible job to put it on."
Godolphin enjoyed a good day in the sales ring having sold 31 lots for $2,973,500 at an average of $95,919 and managing director Vin Cox said he was pleased to see Right Chord realise that figure.
"It's a premium family, as evidenced, and we do have a lot of sisters and half-sisters to Pierro, but having said that, our view was to expose a branch of the family to the market," said Cox.
"They become partners with us in the pedigree, their IP is valuable to us and they are obviously going to invest very heavily in the mare and it's something that, together, we might be able to keep building the pedigree. That was part of our thinking.
"Coming up here I would have been delighted if someone said we were going to get a million for her we would have grabbed it with both hands, but it became evident that she was hugely popular during the week, as happens at a horse sale, but to crack seven figures is a remarkable result by anyone's chances."
