Racing
Chayan’s sister tops Perth Sale
Half-sister to Blue Diamond runner sells for $525,000 in Perth.
A half-sister to a filly who chases Group 1 glory in Saturday's Blue Diamond at Caulfield was the headline lot from the main session of this year's Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale, which was held on Thursday.
Sheamus Mills went to $525,00 for the daughter of Zoustar and the Snitzel mare Lubiton.
That makes her a half-sister to Chayan, who was runner-up in the Group 2 Blue Diamond Prelude on debut and runs in the $2 million Blue Diamond this weekend.
"I'm not sure she (Chayan) can win the Blue Diamond, but she was a good second and it's an endorsement that the mare can get a good one," Mills said.
Mills' filly, who was bought out of the Ridgeport Holdings draft, is the fifth foal from Lubiton, a Group 3 winner who has had four to race for four winners.
"She's a medium sized, athletic filly - just the style I like, particularly by the stallion," Mills said.
"She stands over plenty of ground. I really loved her demeanour. I saw her the morning I got to the complex and then checked her again as my last inspection before I left, when they were virtually packing up.
"She'd had a heap of parades, probably done 100 laps of the complex and she was asleep in the box. But when she came out she took off and paraded so well and that sealed the deal."
She was the headline lot of a sale that saw $14,737,500 change hands, up $1.4 million on last year despite fewer lots catalogued and sold, while the average rose from $88,378 to $106,793.
A contributing factor to that was a slight drop in clearance rate – 86 percent to 82 percent – but the median was up $10,000 to $80,000.
"The clearance rate was very encouraging, the gross is up on last year and the average is up almost $20,000. They are great figures," Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch said.
"The local buyers are very spirited. This is their Grand Final and it's the big week to buy their new horses and they compete in good spirit here.
"From an interstate and international respect - the spend doubled on last year and that was the difference on gross. Those visitors were very willing to get involved and spend across the board.
"A real pleasing aspect today was the number of horses selling for $200,000 or more - last year it was 11 (lots) and today it was 20 - that shows great confidence in the Western Australian product."
The second highest-priced lot for the day was the Playing God sister to Bustler who sold for $475,000 to Pearce Racing in conjunction with Geisel Park Stud and Boomer Bloodstock.
Playing God also had a colt out of Amthaal sell to Pearce Racing for $360,000, the same price Idan Young paid for a colt by Pinatubo.
SALE STATISTICS (2025 Book 1 in brackets)
Lots Catalogued: 182 (190)
Lots Sold: 138 (152)
Lots Passed In: 30 (25)
Lots Withdrawn: 14 (13)
Sale Gross: $14,737,500 ($13,433,500)
Top Price: $525,000 ($450,000)
Average Price: $106,793 ($88,378)
Median Prince: $80,000 ($70,000)
Sold %: 82 (86)
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