Karuta Queen Filly Tops Buoyant Gold Coast Opener

Karuta Queen Filly Tops Buoyant Gold Coast Opener

The latest yearling from former Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner Karuta Queen topped a record breaking Day One of the 2022 Gold Coast Yearling Sale late this afternoon.
The Zoustar filly, presented as Lot 172 and just eight lots from the end of the day, attracted an opening bid of $400,000 and bids from around the auditorium before the hammer fell after a $950,000 bid from top Victorian based trainer Peter Moody.

A winner of over $1.8 million on the track, Karuta Queen has already produced the stakes winner Eawase and her previous yearling sold for $1.5 million on the Gold Coast last year. 

“She’s a really lovely filly,” Moody said of the Strawberry Hill Stud offering. “I had a bit of exposure to mum, I trained her at the back end of her career.”

“Just a queen – a magnificent filly. She was my horse of the sale, which is easy for me to say now but I’m very pleased to be taking her home.”

“She is a big, scopey filly – strong powerful and well put together. She’s just a bloody nice filly all round.”

“I’ve bought her on spec with the view of getting some stable clients into her. She’s a filly that’s got a lot of residual value, race performance aside.”

“We are a smaller operation now and just trying to find elite horses and hopefully she can fit that category,” Moody added.

Three other yearlings sold for $900,000 earlier in the day.

Coolmore Stud’s Justify filly from Global Glamour will head to the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott stable after they teamed up with Kestrel Thoroughbreds to secure the second foal of the former stable star.

Four lots later Ciaron Maher and David Eustace secured the Zoustar half sister to current Sydney based galloper Authentic Jewel (ex Gold and Diamonds) from the draft of Yulong.

The final $900,000 seller on the day was the I Am Invincible-Harlem River filly who was presented by Newgate Farm and knocked down to Melbourne based bloodstock agent Sheamus Mills.

Rounding out the top five sellers was the day’s highest priced colt – the Deep Field-I Am A Star at $800,000. He was purchased by the man who trained the Group One winning dam, Shane Nichols.

Across the day over $40 million was traded on 148 lots sold at an average price of over $272,000 – a record Gold Coast Yearling Sale opener. The clearance rate sits at a remarkable 91 per cent.

“It’s an extremely solid start to the sale,” Magic Millions Managing Director Barry Bowditch said. “If someone had offered that result at the start of the day I’d have taken it!”

“It was a deep, strong market and there were plenty of people bidding. We were finding buyers at all levels.”

“There’s a lot of water to go under the bridge but it’s a great start,” Bowditch added.

To view the results of the sale or to make an offer on a passed in lot click here.

Day Two of the 2022 Gold Coast Yearling Sale commences at 10am (Qld time) tomorrow.

SALE STATISTICS
(2021 Day One in Brackets)

Lots Catalogued: 180 (180)
Lots Sold: 148 (142)
Lots Passed In: 14 (26)
Lots Withdrawn: 17 (12)
Sale Gross: $40,262,500 ($35,240,000)
Top Price: $950,000 ($1,900,000)
Average Price: $272,043 ($248,169)
Median Price: $215,000 ($170,000)
Sold %: 91 (85)

DAY ONE TOP SELLERS

$950,000 – Zoustar-Karuta Queen filly (Lot 172)
Strawberry Hill Stud / Moody Racing Pty Ltd (Vic)

$900,000 – Justify-Global Glamour filly (Lot 78)
Coolmore Stud (As Agent) / Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott/Kestrel T’breds (NSW)

$900,000 – Zoustar-Gold and Diamonds filly (Lot 82)
Yulong (As Agent) / Ciaron Maher B’stock (Vic)

$900,000 – I Am Invincible-Harlem River filly (Lot 102)
Newgate Farm (As Agent) / Sheamus Mills B’stock (Vic)

$800,000 – Deep Field-I Am a Star colt (Lot 125)
Newgate Farm (As Agent) / Shane Nichols Racing (Vic)