In Secret's full sister topped a successful second day of the 2025 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale when selling for $2.3 million this afternoon.
The filly by I Am Invincible from the top producer Eloping, was the subject of significant interest and after a fierce bidding battle with Chris Waller and Guy Mulcaster, it was Sydney trainer John Sargent and his owner Ian Moses of the Laguna Partnership who came out on top.
She now sits as the top selling lot for the auction, eclipsing the $1.8 million paid for Away Game's first foal, a filly by Written Tycoon.
"I've been training for Ian - a fellow Kiwi for a long time and he's now building a broodmare band," trainer John Sargent said. "You've got to buy the best and I think this was the best filly in the sale today."
"She probably has a bit more size than In Secret but a similar temperament and to buy a full sister to a Coolmore winner is very hard to get," he added. "A good investment in the long run and hopefully we can get some black type for her."
The filly was sold through the Segenhoe draft and was bred in partnership with Victoria's Longwood Thoroughbred Farm.
"She was the dominant filly," a delighted buyer Ian Moses said. "Great temperament."
"I realised that if you want to be in this business at the top end, you’ve got to put in the investment."
"The long term strategy is to have at least ten high quality broodmares stationed at Coolmore and I'm almost up to ten now on the track and at the stud farm."
Co-breeder Michael Christian was thrilled with the final price for the prized youngster.
"She's a beautiful filly. When you're selling - and full credit to Segenhoe - once you get around that million mark you've got to get lucky because there's only one player."
"When you get to that stratosphere and you've got two players, then you can get that sort of money."
"The two-year-old we sold here last year, she trialled-up sensationally recently behind the boom Coolmore Wootton Bassett colt at Warwick Farm during the week. Ciaron has a very high opinion of her and this filly was outstanding."
Segenhoe's Peter O'Brien was equally thrilled with the result - the filly far exceeding expectations.
"I thought she'd make between $700,000 and $1 million, in and around there, so it was an incredible surprise," O'Brien said.
"Ian Moses actually grew up 200 metres from our farm. Lovely man who has been looking at her every day and I'm just delighted for him because he was obviously very keen to buy her."
"The mare's thrown a champion by 'Vinnie', she's a full sister to In Secret, the two-year-old with Ciaron Maher, a full sister again - he thinks she’s his best two-year-old called Kerber, who trialled brilliantly last week. She's heading for the Slipper."
"I think everybody saw her trial last week, so we know the mare is not a one-hit wonder."
"We've got a beautiful brother to sell next year and unfortunately she missed to Vinnie, but she'll be going back to him. She's married to him."
"A lot of the big breeders are keeping the best fillies, so there’s very few truly elite fillies with pedigrees like that that come to market now. The mares are getting hard to buy so breeders are keeping some of their best fillies to race."
"She was unique in so far as she had the looks, the pedigree and I think her sister trialling last week was a big help."
"They’re both beautiful (O'Brien said when asked the similarities to her Group One winning sibling). In Secret, I would describe her as a yearling as more of a European type, she was beautiful but elegant. She wasn't a filly with a lot of substance."
"This filly is like the Mike Tyson on steroids. She has a massive hip, huge forearms and looks a real sprinter," O'Brien added.
The second top seller of the day and the highest priced colt was the Snitzel-Fashion Faux Pas offered by Newgate Farm who sold for $1.7 million.
The colt was snapped up by Coolmore's Tom Magnier and he can't wait to get him to the Chris Waller stable and race with his partners.
"Very happy to get that horse," Magnier said. "Snitzels work very well for us with an American mare and Switzerland was a very nice horse."
"All the team liked him and we're very lucky that the people who have raced the colts with us in the past - Home Affairs, Shinzo and those kind of horses - they are all going well."
"There’s Switzerland and Private Life - they want to keep going. This horse will be trained by Chris Waller."
"Newgate, they know how to breed a good horse."
"Chris thought that he could be a horse along the lines of Switzerland," Magnier added. "Very athletic, plenty of scope."
Three other yearlings sold for seven figure prices during the day.
Segenhoe Stud, as agent for Fairway Thoroughbreds, presented an I Am Invincible colt from Fiera Vista who sold to Tom Magnier for $1.15 million. Read about him here.
Earlier in the day Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott teamed up with Bruce Slade's Kestrel Thoroughbreds to secure Champagne Cuddle's third foal, a lovely Home Affairs filly for $1.05 million from the Coolmore Stud draft. Read about her here.
The fifth million dollar lot was Arrowfield Stud's Snitzel-Dream Date colt who sold to China Horse Club, Newgate Bloodstock and partners for $1 million. Read about him here.
With two days of the sale complete the sale aggregate has grown to over $97.5 million with an average price of $277,145 and clearance rate of over 81 per cent.
“Day Two, I thought it built upon the foundation set on Day One," Magic Millions Managing Director Barry Bowditch noted.
"You could see by the start of the sale – I think we went 25 lots before we passed one in – so there was a good confident start and that built off yesterday and then momentum during the day was really, really sound."
"I thought, all in all, to increase the clearance from under 75 percent to above 81 was a great effort and that was attributed to a better ring rate today and also deals being done outside the ring."
"It's great that equilibrium is being found between buyer and vendor and I think it's a good healthy genuine market."
Bowditch expected today's top seller to prove popular and was delighted with the final price of $2.3 million.
"She was a seven-figure price but you never know until they walk in the ring. Two or three of the right people were on her and they really wanted to buy her."
"It was an outstanding price and it's great to see diversity at the top of the buyers sheets," Bowditch added.
Day Three of the 2025 Gold Coast Yearling Sale will commence at 10am (QLD time) tomorrow. Click here for the likely top lots and sire break up.
To view the results of the sale or to make an offer on a passed in lot click here.
SALE STATISTICS
(2024 Day 1-2 in brackets)
Lots Catalogued: 480 (450)
Lots Sold: 352 (349)
Lots Passed In: 81 (60)
Lots Withdrawn: 46 (39)
Sale Gross: $97,555,000 ($101,713,000)
Top Price: $2,300,000 ($1,900,000)
Average Price: $277,145 ($291,441)
Median Price: $200,000 ($220,000)
Sold %: 81.3 (85)
DAY TWO TOP SELLERS
$2,300,000 - I Am Invincible-Eloping filly (Lot 353)
Vendor: Segenhoe Stud (As Agent) / Buyer: Laguna Partnership/John Sargent Racing (NSW)
$1,700,000 - Snitzel-Fashion Faux Pas colt (Lot 387)
Newgate Farm (As Agent) / Tom Magnier (NSW)
$1,150,000 - I Am Invincible-Fiera Vista colt (Lot 396)
Segenhoe Stud (As Agent for Fairway T'breds) / Tom Magnier (NSW)
$1,050,000 - Home Affairs-Champagne Cuddles filly (Lot 256)
Coolmore Stud (As Agent) / Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott/Kestrel T'breds (NSW)
$1,000,000 - Snitzel-Dream Date colt (Lot 335)
Arrowfield Stud / China Horse Club/Newgate B'stock and Partners (NSW)
LEADING BUYERS
(ranked by total spend)
$4,485,000 - Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott/Kestrel T'breds - 12 lots
$4,245,000 - Resolute Bloodstock - 10 lots
$4,065,000 - David Ellis/Te Akau Racing - 13 lots
$2,850,000 - Tom Magnier - 2 lots
$2,585,000 - KPW Bloodstock - 8 lots
LEADING VENDORS
(ranked by gross)
$9,375,000 - Newgate Farm - 24 sold
$9,340,000 - Segenhoe Stud - 17 sold
$5,170,000 - Widden Stud - 19 sold
$5,170,000 - Yarraman Park Stud - 15 sold
$5,110,000 - Arrowfield Stud - 14 sold
LEADING VENDORS
(ranked by average - 3 or more sold
$552,000 - Milburn Creek - 5 sold
$549,412 - Segenhoe Stud - 17 sold
$507,500 - Rosemont Stud - 4 sold
$467,000 - Baramul Stud - 5 sold
$427,778 - Yulong - 9 sold
LEADING SIRES
(ranked by average - 3 or more sold)
$739,688 - I Am Invincible - 18 sold
$738,462 - Snitzel - 13 sold
$598,571 - Wootton Bassett - 7 sold
$583,333 - Written Tycoon - 6 sold
$475,000 - Zoustar - 10 sold
