Strong Local Demand at Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale, Highlighted by Record-Breaking Playing God Colt

As expected, the decline in the bloodstock market experienced in the eastern States crossed the Nullarbor to the Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale, the only significant metric to hold up being the clearance of an excellent 88.5% for Book One.

The key numbers were the 9.1% fall in the Book One average to $87,175 and a drop in the gross of a tick under $1 million to $13.68 million, which equates to a 6.7% downturn. It should be taken into account that the Perth catalogue is always considerably smaller than the Gold Coast or Sydney auctions, meaning its makeup can vary greatly from year to year and make the stats look somewhat volatile. 

While the Perth market can never be called completely insular, its distance from the major breeding grounds in the Hunter Valley or Euroa means the majority of the catalogue will have a strong West Australian connection. One factor that can drive the market up is how popular yearlings carrying the blood of eastern State based sires are, but this week buyers only had eyes for one, local, stallion, Playing God.

Rising 18 and standing at Darling View Thoroughbreds at Mundijong for the Atwell family, Playing God has been a staple in the West Australian industry for nearly a decade now and his popularity is at its zenith with the son of Blackfriars supplying three of the top four lots, the interloper a blow-in from the east.

Heading trade was Playing God’s colt out of Clear Blue Sky, which fetched $450,000 when bought by local owner and businessman Idan Young. At that price, he becomes the most expensive colt ever sold in Perth this year, though it falls significantly short of the $625,000 record set by a Playing God filly at last year's sale. Bred by Robert and Ann Anderson of Anita Vale Stud, the colt went through the draft of John Andrew’s Alwyn Park Stud at Serpentine.

The colt is the first foal out of his unraced dam, a daughter of Sessions, a son of Lonhro who was raced by Godolphin for whom he won the Gr.2 The Shorts at Randwick. Clear Blue Sky’s appeal comes from being a half-sister to Widden-based stallion Portland Sky (Deep Field), also bred by the Anderson’s, and whose first yearlings have been sought after at the eastern seaboard sales. Portland Sky’s lone Gr.1 success was a dead-heat for victory in the Oakleigh Plate at Caulfield.

The colt carried a very West Australian pedigree, as under his fourth dam can be found the grand campaigner Scenic Shot (Scenic), who started his career in Perth before being campaigned in the east where he won three Gr.1’s - the Doomben Cup twice and the LKS MacKinnon Stakes. 

Interviewed after having signed for the colt, Young told the press, "With what the Andersons breed - everything they touch they turn to gold. As an individual, he's the best I've seen for a while. He just stood out to me and I had to have him. He's got the Lonhro/Octagonal cross and I like the Blackfriars with the Sessions cross - he just had all the ticks for me. I looked at him several times and I just had to have him - just a beautiful type.”

John Andrew was confident the colt would sell well. “He's just a cracking type, a good walking horse and such a lovely natured horse. The amount of times he has been out - he's taken the whole lot in his stride and he hasn't turned a hair. The horse will be entering the stables of local trainer Dan Morton, so the people that bred the horse would be over the moon. The fact the horse is staying here and he's going to a leading trainer in Perth, I think that is a massive plus for WA to be honest." Morton is no stranger to the family, having trained Scenic Shot throughout his career.

Playing God also supplied the colt that would share second spot on the table for the day at $400,000, Lot 141 coming from a family that has historically churned out precocious types. This fellow is out of the War Chant mare Super Stardom who won twice, both times as a two-year-old, while her grandam Born Priceless (Pricelessly) won Perth’s feature juvenile event the Gr.2 Karrakatta Plate.

In turn, her dam Born Rich (Beau Sovereign) counts the Listed Gimcrack Stakes, another Perth juvenile race, amongst her successes while her grandson The Heavyweight (Zeditave) won the Gr.2 Maribyrnong Plate at Flemington over the Melbourne Cup carnival.

This is also the family of the sprinter Imananabaa (Anabaa), winner of the Gr.1 Railway Stakes at Ellerslie. The colt will head for the Karnup training establishment of brothers Ben and Dan Pearce who signed for him out of the draft of Yarradale Stud.

This crop of Playing God yearlings were conceived at $25,000 plus GST, a figure that had increased to $45,000 for the 2024 breeding season, an indication of the popularity of the sire.

Breaking up the Playing God domination was a Zoustar colt, conceived at Widden Stud, but born in Western Australia and bought by trainer Neville Parnham at the $400,000 mark. He is the fifth foal out of Choisir’s daughter Leitfaden, dam of the Listed winner and Gr.2 placed Saintorio (Oratorio).

This is the family of Special Harmony (Spinning World), who counts the Gr.1 One Thousand Guineas/VRC Oaks double, along with the Gr.1 Storm Queen Stakes, amongst her ten wins.

Also prominent on the page is Special Harmony’s three-time Gr.1 winning granddaughter Fangirl (Sebring), last seen comfortably taking last Saturday’s Gr.2 Apollo Stakes at Randwick.

WA participants bought the vast majority of horses, although a handful will head east, including a $250,000 son of Toronado out of Keltara that is bound for New Zealand. Colts were very much in favour and we had to look down the list to $220,000 to find the most expensive pair of fillies, one by Safeguard out of Clarecastle and the other another Playing God, this one out of Miss Brandywine. 

Magic Millions Managing Director Barry Bowditch would have been well prepared for the fall in trade - Perth was unlikely to buck the Australasian trend as the general state of the economy still dictates what happens in the sale ring. Speaking afterwards, Bowditch said, "There's great thirst for horses here in the west and obviously the local market was out in force. The quality of horse on offer continues to improve." It’s a quick turnaround for the Magic Millions team as they back up for Monday’s 126 lot Tasmanian Yearling Sale.