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Te Akau Racing lands the top lot from Day 1 at Magic Millions.
Te Akau Racing wasted no time reinvesting some of the proceeds of its sale of glamour mare Imperatriz at last week's National Broodmare Sale, picking up the top lot on Day 1 of the Magic Millions National Yearling Sale on the Gold Coast.
The New Zealand operation went to $400,000 for a Baramul Stud colt by Zoustar out of No Evidence Needed, which makes him a half-brother to their star two-year-old Move To Strike.
"He's a cracking colt, he's got a lot of quality," Te Akau Racing principal David Ellis said.
"He's a half-brother to an I Am Invincible colt that we've just won a Group 1 with and expect to reach the top in New Zealand and Australia next season.
"(He's a) stunning colt and it's great to buy one off Gerry Harvey. We've had so much success buying off mares that he's got and I'm sure this will be another really good colt."
The purchase comes one week after Te Akau sold Imperatriz for an Australasian record $6.6 million and was one of four purchases, for a total spend of $665,000, for Ellis, who counts Princess Coup, Tell a Tale, Campionessa and Costa Viva as National Yearling Sale purchases.
"It's been a very lucky sale to me," Ellis said.
"I'm surprised that every trainer in New Zealand and Australia isn't here because there's a lot of good value here and there will be a lot of good horses come out of this sale, for sure."
Another Baramul Stud youngster by Zoustar was the second top seller of the day with the filly out of Fit And Ready, who is a half-sister to Golden Slipper winner Catbird, selling to the Two Old Men Syndicate for $350,000.
In a dominant day for Zoustar, the Widden stallion also provided one of the two $200,000 yearlings who were the equal third highest-priced lots of the day, a colt out of Ladybeetle who sold to Australian Bloodstock.
The other $200,000 lot was the lone I Am Invincible colt in the sale, who sold to Prime Thoroughbreds.
All up, a tick over $5.2 million changed hands on Day 1 at an average price of $47,454 with a 67 percent clearance rate, figures that are up on 2023.
The National Sale concludes with Day 2 of the yearling sale on Wednesday with bidding to commence from 10am AEST.
DAY ONE TOP SELLERS
$400,000 - Zoustar-No Evidence Needed colt (bought by David Ellis)
$350,000 - Zoustar-Fit and Ready filly (Two Old Men Syndicate)
$200,000 - Zoustar-Ladybeetle colt (Australian Bloodstock)
$200,000 - I Am Invincible-Loretta colt (Prime Thproughbreds)
$180,000 - So You Think-Fullazz filly (Eric Koh)
$180,000 - So You Think-Paris Match colt (Australian Bloodstock/Nick Ryan Racing)
DAY 1 SALE STATISTICS (Day 1, 2023 in brackets)
Lots Catalogued: 200 (202)
Lots Sold: 110 (97)
Lots Withdrawn: 36 (50)
Lots Passed In: 54 (76)
Top Price: $400,000 ($750,000)
Average Price: $47,454 ($46,438)
Median Price: $29,000 ($30,000)
Sale Gross: $5,220,000 ($4,504,500)
Sold %: 67 (56)