On a weekend when China Horse Club announced it joined the ownership of exciting Golden Slipper prospect Stay Inside, the commercial credentials of its Australian breeding operation were franked in clear and unwavering terms.
Its decision to move swiftly to invest in Deep Field and Flying Artie in 2015 and 2016 respectively was rewarded when the duo secured their maiden G1 winners within 40 minutes of each other on Saturday at the feature race day in Melbourne, Australia. Flying Artie’s Artorious stormed home from near last to etch his name onto the honour roll of the time-honored G1 Blue Diamond Stakes, while Deep Field’s Portland Sky secured the most important win of his career when dead-heating in the G1 Oakleigh Plate, one of the feature races on the curriculum vitae of high-class stallion prospect Russian Revolution.
Last week’s 2021 Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale was a timely reminder of the undoubted appeal of the above-mentioned Russian Revolution whose only progeny topped the sale with a final bid of AUD325,000. China Horse Club has three yearlings by Russian Revolution among its draft for next week’s Inglis Premier Yearling Sale in Melbourne. The draft is part of an exceptional portfolio of yearlings set to be sold by Sledmere Stud. In recent years Sledmere Stud has sold a number of quality individuals for China Horse Club, among that list include weekend winners Equation and Holyhead.
Russian Revolution
Equation (AUD110,000 weanling sale) kicked off the exceptional weekend for the Club when saluting for the third time in only four career starts at Canterbury Park (Sydney). The athletic filly is one of the flagship performers for Press Statement who carried the Club’s red and yellow silks to victory in the 2015 Caulfield Guineas.
Press Statement
Holyhead, who was offered at the 2019 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale, showed a slick change of gears in the closing stages of her race at Ellerslie Park (Auckland, New Zealand) on Saturday afternoon, to improve on her last start second.
Sandwiched in between the Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale and next week’s Inglis Premier Yearling Sale was a rejuvenated Magic Millions Tasmanian Yearling Sale. It was a record-breaking edition of the sale for the island state and among the stallions to bolster its credentials was first-time sire Zululand.
Zululand
Raced in partnership by a high-profile collection of breeders, including China Horse Club and Coolmore, Zululand’s first yearlings were all the rage. At the close of the one-day sale he had the highest average of any sire with three lots of more with his average price of AUD42,067 supported by two AUD100,000 sales (equal fourth-highest price for the sale), and a total of five yearlings selling for AUD50,000 or more. The handsome son of Fastnet Rock enjoyed a 94 percent sale result with 15 of his 16 yearlings listed for sale changing hands. Head returns on his service fee of AUD5,500.
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