When you have a client that has his heart set on finding an Oaks filly, Magic Millions at the Gold Coast in January might be seen as offering slim pickings, but astute bloodstock agent Damon Gabbedy of Belmont Bloodstock has filled the brief with a glorious filly by one of Europe’s best stallions in Frankel.
Consigned and bred by Yulong, the stylish grey filly from Of Good Cheer (GB) was knocked down Ciaron Maher Bloodstock/ Belmont Bloodstock for $900,000 and is the first foal of her Juddmonte bred dam, who is by the 2024 Champion European Sire Dark Angel, which explains her grey colouring.
“I had a client who wanted a real Oaks filly and she was what we identified in the catalogue,” said Damon Gabbedy.
“The client loved the filly. If she was in Europe, we’d be paying a million guineas being by Frankel out of that depth of pedigree. It goes back to one of the best pedigrees in the world
“How can you go past Frankel? He’s a superstar. His record speaks for itself so we decided to have a red hot crack. They want Ciaron to train it, so, all good.”
Of Good Cheer produced a filly last spring for Yulong by Alabama Express and is now in foal to Lucky Vega (IRE). She is a winning grand-daughter of dual Group I winner Heat Haze (dam of imported Australian Group I winner Mirage Dancer) and her third dam is the legendary blue hen Hasili.
Everything about the pedigree screams quality and the Frankel x Dark Angel nick produced last year’s elite Aidan O’Brien trained Group winning filly Bedtime Story.
“It's not the normal thing (to find an Oaks filly at this sale) but you’ve got to find the filly when they come and Frankel is statistically one of the best stallions in the world, if not the best, and it doesn’t matter where they come from. Subzero came from this sale!” Gabbedy added.
For the record, Subzero was also a grey!
Damon Gabbedy has been super busy at the sale, but found time to chat with Maree McEwan.
