‘Best mare’ Sunlight’s $4.2m smashes Magic Millions record

Mare Sunlight has fetched a sale record of $4.2m at the Magic Millions thoroughbred sale on the Gold Coast.

Travelling foreman Sarah Rutten has cared for Sunlight during her time with trainer Tony McEvoy. Picture: Russell Shakespeare

The “best mare” to go through an auction ring in Australia has fetched a sale record of $4.2m at the Magic Millions thoroughbred sale on the Gold Coast.

After two false starts caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the national broodmare sale finally got under way on Monday.

Among the horses reaching the magic $1m mark was three-time Group I winner Sunlight, selling for $4.2m and smashing the previous Magic Millions record of $3.4m to become the most expensive filly or mare ever sold off the track at auction in the southern hemisphere.

Purchased by a syndicate for $300,000 in 2017, the mare won the Magic Millions two-year-old Classic in 2018, followed by the Newmarket Handicap.

Dubbed a “collector’s item” and rated by Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch prior to the sale as the best racing mare to go under the hammer in the country, the bidding for Sunlight came from all corners of the globe.

The winning bid came from the Australian head of the Ireland-owned Coolmore Stud, Tom Magnier, who fought off a dogged US-based buyer and bidders from China, Japan and Australia

“It’s a common sentiment that she’s the best mare that’s gone through a ring here in Australasia off the track, ever,” Mr Bowditch said before the sale.

“She’s an outstanding prospect and is awesome to look at.

“Physically, she’s faultless.”

After the bidding war, Mr Bowditch said the price was an indicator of the strength of the horseracing industry in Australia, even in a struggling economy.

“ It’s a price that’s very fair,” he said.

“ It’s a fantastic result for Australia in these times and it shows how great this global industry is and how well-respected the Australian industry is.”

The broodmare sale, usually held at the end of May and followed by a weanling and yearling sale, was postponed until July 20 as a precaution to give vendors and buyers the best chance to get their horses and themselves to Queensland.

It was postponed again when the Queensland government declared the Sydney shires of Liverpool and Campbelltown as virus “hotspots”, preventing those from Warwick Farm stables from crossing the border into Queensland.

After a two-week quarantine in NSW, the stable hands and connections were able to journey north to take part in the sale.

“It’s great to be able to have our clients here and to be able to sell in a COVID-safe environment,” Mr Bowditch said.

Much has changed since the record gross at the Magic Millions yearling sale in January and COVID-19 influenced a sig­nificant decrease in lot numbers on previous years’ broodmare sales.

Other top-sellers included former Winx stablemate Unforgotten, which sold for $2.75m and another Group I winner Invincibella, which sold for $1.3m.