Daughter of young stallion readjusts National Yearling Sale filly record.
A half-sister to Group 1 winners Werther and Toffee Tongue stood out on Day 1 at the Magic Millions National Yearling Sale, setting a new mark for the highest-priced filly ever sold at the Gold Coast offering.
The daughter of The Autumn Sun and Zabeel mare Bagalollies was sold to Denys Chan from Golden River Investments for $750,000.
Along with being the record price for a filly at the National Sale, it was second highest amount paid in sale history behind the Dundeel colt who sold for $850,000 in 2019.
Like that Dundeel colt, Tuesday's The Autumn Sun filly was part of an Arrowfield Stud draft.
"She's a nice filly, the best filly you could find at the sale. She's outstanding I just had to have her," Chan said.
"Firstly, the pedigree, it really caught my eye. She's closely related to Werther in Hong Kong and her movement is phenomenal.
"We've got her syndicated and she'll go to Bjorn Baker and I'm looking forward to seeing how she goes."
Werther (Tavistock) performed well in both Australia before heading to Hong Kong, were he was crowned Hong Kong Horse of the Year, while Toffee Tongue won an Australasian Oaks.
The Autumn Sun filly sold for almost five times the day's next highest-priced lot, a colt by Spirit Of Boom from O'Reilly mare Jaunty who sold to Hong Kong's Francis Lee for $160,000.
Nine other lots sold for six figures on a day when most other of the key performance indicators were down on last year's figures.
A 56 percent clearance rate played a significant role in the $4,504,500 Day 1 gross being well down on last year's $6,642,000 with the average dropping slightly from $49,567 to $46,438.
"Obviously the clearance rate is disappointing at below 60 per cent," Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch said.
"It is never a sale that clears extraordinarily well but I think motivated vendors who were willing to meet the market found, in most cases, buyers to sell their horses.
"We're at the end of a big yearling sale series and there's a lack of domestic participation here but what is pleasing me is the traders and the international buyers who are here.
"It's a diverse buying group. There's buyers from many countries and if a nice horse walks into the ring you can get a huge result - in particular the good filly (by The Autumn Sun) today."
The National Yearling Sale continues with the second and final day on the Gold Coast from 10am Tuesday.
NATIONAL YEARLING SALE DAY 1 TOP SELLERS
$750,000 - The Autumn Sun-Bagalollies filly (bought by Golden River Investments)
$160,000 - Spirit of Boom-Jaunty colt (bought by Francis Lee)
$130,000 - Pride of Dubai-Blackflash colt (bought by John Foote Bloodstock)
$120,000 - Reliable Man-Always in Trouble colt (bought by Tartan Meadow Bloodstock)
$120,000 - So You Think-Danoiserie colt (bought by Roll the Dice Racing/John Foote Bloodstock)
$120,000 - Trapeze Artist-Fragrance filly (bought by TFI)
$120,000 - The Autumn Sun-Hayley Grace colt (bought by John Foote Bloodstock)
