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Sunlight’s sister smashes Millions record

3 minute read

Yulong paid $2.6 million for a sister to three-time Group 1 winner on Wednesday.

The $2.6m sister to Sunlight.
The $2.6m sister to Sunlight. Picture: Magic Millions

A sister to Sunlight on Wednesday readjusted the record for the highest-priced yearling sold at Magic Millions after changing hands for $2.6 million on the Gold Coast.

The filly by Zoustar out of Solar Charged smashed the previously record of $2.2 million, which has stood since 2008, when bought by Yulong late on Day 2 of the Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

The purchase continued Yulong's hefty investment in Australian racing over the past few years and that organisation's chief operating officer Sam Fairgray said he was looking forward to a successful career before a fruitful stint in the breeding barn.

"We're delighted that she'll be racing in the Yulong colours and eventually she's got a great future as a broodmare also," Fairgray said.

"To have access to a filly like that, it doesn't come along very often and it's great to be able to secure her.

"We've bought some really nice pedigree mares and to be able to get a really nice yearling like this is exciting.

"With her residual value, she was going to be worth a lot of money."

Yulong's purchase is a sister to Sunlight, who won a Magic Millions 2YO Classic and three Group 1s after being sold for $300,000 at the Gold Coast Yearling Sale in 2017.

Sunlight returned to the Magic Millions Sale ring at the end of her racing career, selling for a Magic Millions record of $4.2 million at the National Broodmare Sale.

The $2.6 million filly comes less than a year after Widden sold a colt by Zoustar out of Solar Charged for $3 million at the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale and Widden Stud principal Antony Thompson said the result was beyond their expectations.

"It has been an enormous build-up and a lot of media coverage and a lot of pressure," Thompson said.

"We thought from where we were that she's probably one of the best fillies we've ever bred and I said possibly I don't think we've ever seen a better filly go through an auction ring in Australia this year, or maybe even for a long time.

"We love to have very high expectations and we would have been disappointed if she didn't sell well but with that expectation, but it exceeded our expectations."

The record lot was one of two seven-figure lots to go through late on Day 2 with a colt by I Am Invincible out of Group 1-winning sprinter Spright, a daughter of Hinchinbrook, sold to Coolmore for $1.6 million.

They were the two headline lots on a day that saw the sale gross rise to $93,810,000, down just over $3m on the same stage last year.

But the 2023 average of $295,931 is up on last year's $287,004 after two days, as is the $230,000 median compared with 2022's $227,500. Last year the clearance rate after two days was 94 percent with this year's figure sitting at 87 percent.

The Gold Coast Yearling Sale continues on Thursday where Sunlight could again be in the headlines with the first foal from the former Tony Mcevoy-trained star, a colt by Justify, to be offered in the first hour of selling.


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