New South Wales-based operation poised to offer first yearlings at Magic Millions

Tuesday’s Magic Millions sale will signal the dawning of an exciting new chapter for Kingstar Farm, as the operation looks set to offer their first draft of yearlings at the Gold Coast sale. 

It is not the first time Kingstar have donned their vendor caps, having offered yearlings at the Inglis Classic Sale and weanlings and mares on the Gold Coast during the Magic Millions National Sale, where they have enjoyed some good results, headlined when selling Missrock (Fastnet Rock) to John and Jake Warren for a sale-topping $2.3 million in 2019. 

However, the New South Wales-based farm, who offer will offer ten yearlings during book 1 of the Gold Coast Yearling Sale, took the decision not to sell any weanlings at last year’s National sale due to the coronavirus pandemic and Conor Phelan, nominations manager at Kingstar, told Racing & Sports Bloodstock, while it was hard decision at the time, it is one they are now counting their lucky stars they made. 

“We’ve been vendors before at Inglis Classic, but this our first draft on the Gold Coast,” said Phelan. “We have sold here before with mares and we have always had good weanlings sales here, but last year with the ongoing pandemic we decided not to bring a draft of weanlings up and we have pretty much rolled those nice weanlings over into the yearlings. 

“To be quite honest I am very glad we did, because a lot of these horses have really blossomed and I would have been very disappointed if we would have sold some of these horses as weanlings. So there has hopefully been a silver lining when we made the decision not to let them go. 

“Kingstar has been going for four years now, so we are at the stage where we can enter the market and there has been a lot of growth and the pandemic has given us the opportunity to bring yearlings up here.”

The farm’s ten yearlings are by a variety of proven sires such as Pierro (Lonhro) and Deep Field (Northern Meteor), but also includes youngsters by some promising young stallions such as Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) and his Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m)-winning stablemate Capitalist (Written Tycoon). 

Phelan is particularly excited to see Lot 542 enter the ring. 

By Coolmore Stud-based stallion Pierro, the colt is out of unraced Shamardal (Giant’s Causeway) mare Mischief Night, who was purchased by Hollymount Stud for $200,000 at the Magic Millions National Yearling Sale in 2019 when carrying the youngster in utero. 

On pedigree is not hard to see why the colt would garner such attention, being a half-brother this season’s Vain Stakes (Gr 3, 1100m) winner Our Playboy (Sebring), who will take his chance in the Magic Millions 3YO Classic (RL, 1400m) a week on Saturday. 

However, one of the biggest upsides of the youngsters pedigree lies under his Group 3-winning second dam November Flight (Flying Spur), who produced his Group 1-winning three-quarter brother Pierata, Group 3 winning half-brother Ashokan (More Than Ready) as well as stakes-placed winning two-year-old Jet Propulsion (Rubick).  

Phelan said the colt’s physical attributes certainly match his high-class pedigree and understandably has been well received by buyers on the sales complex. 

“The three-quarter to Pierata certainly lives up to his pedigree page and he has been extremely popular and he has been the standout,” Phelan said. 

“When we bought the mare she had this colt inside her and we were thrilled when he came out because he had always been a lovely type from the beginning. The mare has also produced Our Playboy and he won the Vain Stakes and he will run in the 3YO Classic next week, so she has just done everything right since we bought her and this colt is an absolute stunner. 

“He hasn’t disappointed anyone that has seen him, because of his pedigree they have high expectations when they pull him out. I am really looking forward to seeing him go through the ring and I have no doubt he will find a good home.”

Among the Kingstar draft are three yearlings by Newgate Farm-based Deep Field, who has not only made a significant impact in Australia through the exploits of his seven stakes winners, including Group 2 winner Cosmic Force, who now stands alongside his father at Newgate, but the stallion is starting to make a notable impact in Hong Kong, siring eight individual winners in the country, headlined by six-time winner Winning Dreamer.  

One of the standout among the trio of lots catalogued by the sire is Lot 919, a filly out of Unrevealed (Forest Wildcat), making her a half-brother to unbeaten colt Palamos (Extreme Choice), who was favourite for the Karaka 2YO Million (RL, 1200m) before he was scratched from the lucrative race on Wednesday. 

“We have three lovely Deep Fields and in particular the one out Unrevealed, who we have on the farm and her first foal is the very talented Palamos who is two from two in New Zealand,” said Phelan. “He was sadly pulled out of the Karaka Million earlier this week, but he looks a super horse and very, very talented.”

The farm will also offer a colt by the sire out of winning Commands (Danehill) mare Comingle, meaning he is bred on the same cross as the aforementioned Roman Consul Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) winner Cosmic Force. The colt is catalogued as Lot 178, and Phelan believes he looks the perfect type to fit the profile for Hong Kong. 

“Deep Field is a great stallion and he is doing well in Australia, but also now in Hong Kong he has some very talented runners up there and our first colt we will sell by Deep Field has have had a few people say: ‘This is a Hong Kong horse.’,” said Phelan. 

“He looks more like a Commands than he does Deep Field and that is a proven cross that works. He is the dark bay ready to run, get up and go type. I would imagine there will be a lot of people looking at his x-rays and putting their hands up for him.”

Over the past 12 months, global sales throughout the world have been thwarted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, but despite the difficult circumstances, Phalan describes feeling ‘cautiously optimistic’ ahead of the auction, which gets underway on Tuesday. 

“I think we are cautiously optimistic ahead of the sale,” he said. “Parades on the farm have been extremely good and Magic Millions have been amazing at getting people up in the Hunter Valley and we have done more parades than we ever have on the farm,” said Phelan. 

“We have had a lot of buyers already and certainly more than we ever have at this stage in previous years, it really is a credit to Magic Millions to get the bloodstock agents up on to the farms to have a look before the sale. I am cautiously optimistic the sale will be as strong as ever and I don’t think the pandemic will have as great an effect as we all first feared. 

“We were on the complex ten days before the sale and we have been busy already, there are a lot of buyers up here early just in case the borders shut, so a lot of horses have been seen and interest has been high. I think vendors can be confident ahead of the sale on Tuesday.”

While many international purchasers are not able to make the sale due to the travel restrictions, Phelan believes advances in technology means that buyers not physically at the sale can invest in horses with more confidence than ever before. 

“We have also had a lot of virtual inspections from the buyers that can’t get here, I have done a facetime or a zoom and we have done a lot of inspections via iPads and and iPhones,” said Phelan. 

“I think any hesitation buyers had in the past of judging horses off videos or online has certainly reduced. Even for the buyers that aren’t here they have enough information online and they will feel confident bidding online more than ever before.”