Everest winner’s last bro at $900k
Whilst another yearling goes for $1.9m
Some yearlings made their way to the Gold Coast in hours, but Think About It’s half brother had to cross Bass Strait on a ferry in a three-day mission before going under the hammer for $900,000 on Wednesday.
Ex-Brisbane Lions draftee turned Grenville Stud boss Bart McCulloch made the trip from Tasmania to the Gold Coast for the Magic Millions yearling sale with three horses, including the highly sought after Wotton Basset colt.
After dealing with the heartbreaking death of Think About It’s mother, Tiare, last year, McCulloch and his family were determined to make the most of her last progeny and delivered in spades when Coolmore boss Tom Magnier went to $900,000 to buy him.
With his Grenville Stud farm tucked away west of Launceston, McCulloch made the 2300km to the Gold Coast, which included a trip on the Spirit Of Tasmania.
“It was a three-day trip in total, with young horses there is always a risk in travelling them that far,” he said. “It was on our mind in making the decision to come here, but we thought it warranted it. I ended up travelling up with the horses to take as much risk out of it as possible and I wanted to make sure they got up here in good condition.
“They couldn’t have travelled better, they have been really well received this week.
“We were on a truck on the ferry from Tasmania, it is about 15 hours from our farm to the Melbourne depot, they spend a bit over a day in Melbourne.
“Then we travelled up to here via Sydney, it was a bit over 36 hours on the truck for them, a three-day trip.”
Hoping to get $500,000, McCulloch said the bidding war far exceeded expectations.
“We had the mare but we unfortunately lost her last year, it was heartbreaking when that happened,” he said. “This was the last one out of her we had, it was great to get the big result. He is a lovely colt, Coolmore identified him, but there were plenty of others on him too.”
A remarkable 38 minutes on Wednesday afternoon at the Magic Millions saw $8m in horse flesh go under the hammer. Buyers flocked as five million-dollar lots were sold in the space of 15 horses, racking up an incredible $7.8m.
Star attractions were back-toback lots by Snitzel and Extreme Choice, who sold for $1.75m and $1.6m respectively.
“It’s been a really strong sale but you can see the quality is rising to the top,” James Harron said after purchasing the Extreme Choice colt out of Wanted Lady.
Later, Lot 392, a colt by Too Darn Hot out of Time For Julia, topped the sale selling for $1.9 million.