The full sister to former superstar sprinter Sunlight sold for $2.6 million late today and in doing so smashed the all time record in the rich history of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
Offered up by Widden Stud the Zoustar filly from group winning and top producing mare Solar Charged was snapped up by Yu Long Investments after an enthralling bidding battle.
The filly broke the previous all time Gold Coast Yearling Sale record price of $2.2 million that was set by two sons of Redoute’s Choice in 2008.
“It’s fantastic,” Yu Long Investment’s Sam Fairgray said moments after the gavel fell.
“Obviously she has a great physique and with a fantastic page. We’re delighted that she’ll be racing with the Yulong colours and eventually she’s got a great future as a broodmare also.”
“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.”
“Mr Zhang is delighted. We’ve bought some really nice pedigree mares and to be able to get a really nice yearling like this is exciting.”
At this stage it is undecided who will be given the honour to train the record breaking filly.
“Not yet,” Fairgray said when asked about a trainer. “We’ll get her home and broken in and then see where we’ll progress from there.”
“With her residual value she was going to be worth a lot of money and with the prizemoney in Australia and the way she walked and her physique, hopefully we are here this time next year and, obviously, races like the Golden Slipper.”
“Mr Zhang wants to keep building the quality so it is exciting times for Yulong and the industry with the investment in it.”
“Quality, you can’t beat and she had all of that and whatever she does on the track will be a bonus with the residual she’s got there and with her sisters breeding. The family doesn’t need to prove anything.”
Antony Thompson from Widden Stud was delighted with the sale result.
“Obviously very excited and relieved,” Thompson said. “It has been an enormous build-up and a lot of media coverage – a lot of pressure but it really exceeded our expectations.”
“We have a great team. It’s been a really busy week as she’s had over 300 parades.”
“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,” Thompson added.
Meanwhile, the third last offering of the day, the I Am Invincible colt from Group One winner Spright proved the day’s second top seller at $1.6 million.
Coolmore’s Tom Magnier was able to secure the colt from the draft of Cressfield.
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