The curtain came down on the fifth and final session of the Magic Millions National Sale on Tuesday with overall turnover reaching $120 million for 900 foals, mares and yearlings on the Gold Coast.
West Australian vendors and buyers were active during all three sales with Group 2 winner Alsephina the Broodmare Sale leader at $1.1 million. The 6yo daughter of Star Turn was retired by trainers Grant and Alana Williams following an unplaced run in the G1 Coolmore Classic (1500m) at Rosehill in March and was purchased by Widden Stud.
Alsephina was sold through Newington Farm (as agent) on behalf of Williams Racing and her other part-owners in WA. “She’s a quality animal and it’s great to get such a fantastic result,” Newington Farm consignor Julian Blaxland told ANZ Bloodstock. “We put a conservative reserve on her and the market took care of the rest.”
Michael and Carolyn Grant bred her during a four-year stint in Victoria’s Macedon Ranges before returning to WA in 2023. They also raced her dam Delta Gee (Street Cry) to victory in the 2009 Natasha Stakes (LR, 2200m) at Ascot.
“She had a little issue on her x-ray so we kept her to race ourselves,” Carolyn said. “Grant was looking at some of his foals on the farm and liked her straight away. We agreed to sell him half and I’m really glad we kept the other half.”
Grant and Alana cut out their share with Tony Buhagiar, Chris Chalwell and Tim McLernon among others and, apart from carving up seven-figures on the Gold Coast, they all shared a dream ride winning 10 races to Group level in Perth (G3 La Trice Classic) and Melbourne (G2 Stocks Stakes) for earnings of $1.13 million.
Greenfields Lodge topped WA buyers at the Broodmare Sale with $160,000 for Hellavadancer (Hellbent) who won at Eagle Farm and Rosehill. She is a half-sister to Ascot black-type winner Minsk Moment (I Am Invincible) who has just been retired to stand in WA.
Other six-figure buys heading west were Avolonte (Star Turn) to Forest View Farm for $140,000 and Excessabeel (Savabeel) to Mogumber Park for $120,000.
Ascot trainer Simon Miller led a WA buying bench that spent more than $1 million on 15 lots at the Foal Sale. The most expensive of his four buys was an Ole Kirk filly for $180,000. Ridgeport Farm owner Santo Guagliardo weighed in with a total spend of $430,000 for colts by Toronado and Pierro plus a filly by Hellbent.
Williams Racing reinvested a slice of its Alsephina dollars with a $90,000 bid for the Pinatubo – Blackline yearling colt during the final session of the marathon auction on Tuesday. The Yearling Sale saw seven lots make $213,000 on the way to new homes in WA.