3 minute read

Hellbent headline act on day one for New South Wales farm.

Sledmere Stud's Royston and Treen Murphy were celebrating a rewarding day at the Magic Millions National Weanling Sale, selling six weanlings for an aggregate of $567,000 at an average of $94,500, with the headline act of their draft a colt from the first crop of Yarraman Park's exciting new stallion Hellbent (I Am Invincible), who was purchased by Darby Racing Pinhook for $160,000.

Catalogued as Lot 908, the colt is the first foal out of the winning Magic Albert (Zedative) mare Queen Of Kandy, who is herself a sister to Group 2 winner Master Harry and the dam of Stradbroke Handicap (Gr 1, 1400m) winner and now Grandview Stud-based sire Under The Louvre (Excellent Art). This is also the family of Listed-winning juvenile Momentaire (Marscay). 

Treen Murphy said she was over the moon with the result and they were keen to support Hellbent given they have a breeding right in the son of I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit).

"We have a breeding right to the stallion ourselves, so we are going to continue to support him," said Murphy. "He is a stallion that needs no introduction and he is smart and precocious and that is exactly what this colt was. 

"All he has to do is turn around and go back into prep for Magic Millions. He is an easy horse to do anything with and he has the most easy temperament, which is half the battle when dealing with these babies."

Murphy said she had expected the colt to sell well given the attention he garnered during the inspections and she was also encouraged that a first foal by a first season had been so well received. 

"Whenever he stepped out of the box he would turn heads," said Murphy. "He was just a classy quality colt. 

"He is out of a Magic Albert mare, who is a beautiful mare, but this was her first foal and you don't expect results like this to come from a first foal and it gives us a lot of confidence going back into the breeding season with her again to go back to Hellbent. This is everyone's dream to have a first foal to make $160,000 by a first-season sire. It was pretty amazing the result we got. 

"Obviously we knew he was pretty popular on the grounds. He had as many inspections as we would expect a yearling to have at a Magic Millions sale and as many X-ray hits. He was ticking a lot of boxes for everyone and it was just a battle at the end to see who was going to end up with him. We are delighted with Darby Racing, we have sold some great horses to them in the past."

Darby Racing - better known for the exploits with yearlings - have made a splash in their first year of the pinhooking business, picking up to at the Inglis Australian Weanling Sale earlier in the month and the Hellbent colt was one of two weanlings - the other a colt by All Too Hard (Casino Prince) - they added to their portfolio on Thursday. 

Scott Darby said he was pleased with the Hellbent and said he would now be aimed at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January and would be consigned by Yarraman Park - who were also very impressed by the colt. 

We are loving it so far, we got some nice ones at Inglis and we are very happy with what we purchased today as well," said Darby to Racing & Sports Bloodstock. "Hellbents have had a lot of good feedback throughout the industry.

We rated him on type as the best in the sale he was just a real standout on physical type. He is every bit an I Am Invincible. He has a strong pedigree as well, but on type you won't see much better at a weanling sale. 

"He will head back to Magics in January and it's great because he is going to be in the Yarraman draft, they wanted him to show off the stallion and that is obviously great for us." 

Darby was quick to pay tribute to the way he was prepared for the sale by Sledmere and said he wasn't sure the colt would fall in their budget, so was delighted to be leaving the sale with the colt in tow.

"Sledmere have done a terrific job with him and Darby have always had a lot of success buying off Roy and Treen and they do a fantastic job and this horse was well prepared," said Darby. 

"To be honest I didn't think we would have enough money to buy him and we paid a touch above, but I thought he may have even made a little bit more. He was just such a standout. He was a beautifully made horse with a big hip and hind quarter and you could have been buying an I Am Invincible just looking at him."

Earlier in the afternoon, the Murphy's were celebrating a good result after selling a colt by Darley stalwart Lonhro (Octagonal) to Suman Hedge Bloodstock and Grant Bloodstock for $150,000. 

The colt - who was catalogued as Lot 841 - is out of La Parisienne (Commands), who is herself a half-sister to Group 2 winner and Lyndhurst Stud-based sire Rothesay (Fastnet Rock) and Listed score Sensei (Dream Ahead). 

Further back, the colt's third dam is multiple Group 1 winner Canny Lass (Bletchingly) - who in turn produced Listed winning-duo Causeway Lass (Giant's Causeway) and Astute Angel (Godswalk), while this is also the same family as Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed mare Eckstein (I Am Invincible). 

"We are very happy with the result - the owner is delighted. He was one of the headline colts here at the sale." said Murphy. "He was a beautifully balanced and very athletic colt. Lonhro always gets good sales horses and he always gets you good results on the track. He throws a cracking type and this is exactly what we expected. 

"Unfortunately the mare died three months after he was born and the colt himself never took a backward step. To get that result today was very humbling for Philippa Duncan."

James Bester also provided Sledmere with another good result on Thursday, after he snapped up Lot 901 - a colt by Coolmore Stud-based stallion So You Think (High Chaparral) - for $130,000. 

Murphy said she was not surprised to see the colt realise that price because he is a beautiful weanling, but also because So You Think is such a consistent stallion and is no stranger to throwing a top-class racehorse. 

"He was just a really nice horse - he was lovely," said Murphy. "He has lots of quality about him and he is just a really classy colt who had a huge action that turned a lot heads at the sale.

"So You Think is doing a great job. He is getting lots of winners and getting lots of good horses out there by him. If you are coming to a sale and if there is a So You Think in a draft you would be crazy not to pull it out and when this colt came out he is a lovely outstanding type."

The colt is out of the Wakeful Stakes (Gr 2, 2000m) runner-up Placement (Savabeel) - who has produced three winners. 

Placement herself is out of winning O'Reilly (Last Tycoon) mare Lucida, who is herself a half-sister to the dam of Another Dollar (Ocean Park) who was purchased by Yulong for $700,000 during the broodmare session earlier in the week.

Further back this is also the family of Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed Strike The Stars (Savabeel) and Group 2 winner Adelaide Ace (Savabeel).