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Playing God colt tops Book 2 selling to Neville Parnham for $140,000
A colt by Mungrup Stud stallion Playing God (Blackfriars) topped Book 2 of the Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale on Tuesday when bought for $140,000 by Neville Parnham.
Parnham trained Playing God to win the Kingston Town Classic (Gr 1, 1800m) in 2010 and 2011 and trained the sires first Group 1 winner, Kay Cee, to win the Kingston Town Classic last December.
Consigned by Mungrup Stud as Lot 260, the session topping colt is out of the O'Reilly (Last Tycoon) mare Reillyanne and the pedigree enjoyed a recent update with the colt's brother Neat Action breaking his maiden over 1400 metres at Pinjarra last month.
The colt's second dam is the dual Group 3 winner Nat The Brat (Racing Is Fun) who has produced four winners headed by fellow Group 3 winner Pump Up The Volume (Savabeel).
"They're really beautiful types," Parnham said of the Playing Gods. "The one I really loved was the Reillyanne – he was a great type and really replicated Playing God himself.
"I was underbidder on the brother to Platoon (Lot 78) and while there wasn't a lot between them, I did actually think this one was the pick of his progeny," Parnham added.
Parnham also purchased the day's most expensive filly, a daughter of Playing God, for $90,000. Catalogued as Lot 238 and also from the draft of Mungrup Stud, the filly is the first foal from winning mare Mosstiara (Mossman) who is a half-sister to Group 3 winner Kencella (Exceed And Excel) being out of the Listed winner Kentiara (Metal Storm). This is also the family of Group 1 winning pair Arcadia Queen (Pierro) and Regal Power (Pierro).
Only one further lot sold for six figures on Tuesday, Lot 283, a colt by So You Think (High Chaparral) who was bought by Paul Jordan for $110,000.
Sold by Mogumber Park, the colt is the first foal out of the dual winning mare Steps To Stardom (Stratum) who is a half-sister to Group 3 winner and Group 1 placed Pillar Of Hercules (Rock Of Gibraltar) as well as the stallion Coats Choice (Redoute's Choice). His third dam is Fitting (Marscay), dam of Catbird (Danehill) and Danbird (Danehill).
Mungrup Stud finished Book 2 as the leading vendor by both aggregate and average having sold 14 yearlings for $838,000 at an average of $59,857.
Playing God was leading sire with nine lots sold on Tuesday for $636,500 at an average of $70,389. The sire of three stakes winners to date in Kay Cee, Lordhelpmerun and Platoon, Playing God stood for a fee of $11,000 (inc GST) last year.
"It's been a really fantastic sale," Mungrup Stud's Gray Williamson said. "And not just for us – but for the whole WA industry in general.
"To see the Playing God progeny so well received was fantastic. He's a former sale graduate and now his yearlings are proving popular in the sale ring."
Overall during Book 2 123 of the 146 lots offered were sold at a clearance rate of 88 per cent. The aggregate sat at $3,293,000, average at $32,089 and median at $28,000. Those figures were up on those achieved during Book 2 a year ago when 107 lots sold for $2,419,500 with a clearance rate of 74 per cent. The average was up 42 per cent from $22,612 a year ago and the median rose 40 per cent from $20,000 in 2019. WA-based buyers accounted for the majority of turnover having spent $3,331,500 on 107 lots.
"We're delighted with today's sale," Magic Millions Managing Director Barry Bowditch said.
"It makes a lot of sense – vendors brought nice horses to the sale and the local buyers got in behind them and supported the Westspeed product and rightly so with the prizemoney that they can race for.
"With an overall sale gross of $13 million – up from $9.5 million last year – it's a really fantastic result," Bowditch added.