Sun Stud stays home to offer all yearlings at Melbourne Premier

With a draft of 27 yearlings and a decision to bypass the Gold Coast Magic Millions and the Australian Easter Yearling Sale, Sun Stud is confident its decision to concentrate solely on the Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale will pay dividends.

And the stud is also looking forward to offering the first yearlings of its new stallion, Palentino, at next week’s sale.

Sun Stud’s sales and nominations manager Phil Marshall is confident that giving the Melbourne sale exclusivity has provided it with the strongest draft they’ve taken to Oaklands for a few years.

“In previous years we have spread our yearlings between Magic Millions up on the Gold Coast, Melbourne and Easter,” Marshall said.

“Whereas this year we still have got the same calibre of horses, if not better, but we have decided to solely concentrate on Melbourne. We have that really, really good standard of horse going to Melbourne whereas in previous years we might have sent those horses to both the Gold Coast and Easter sales.”

Marshall said one of the reasons for holding back from other sales was because Sun Stud wanted to be really pro-Victorian.

“We think that Victoria is the future and there is a great buying group that comes to the Melbourne sale every year,’’ he said.

“I personally think we have got the greatest racing in Australia and a lot of the best trainers buy their best horses from Melbourne.

“So we just feel that if we can make the sale strong then we can help the state as a whole as well. We are based here and it’s what we want to be acknowledged for, I guess.”

Asked if he expected to see Gold Coast type of prices at Melbourne Premier, Marshall said: “I think certainly the prices, given the way the sales have gone this year, I certainly believe Melbourne will be a strong sale.

“And there is every possibility that they will raise the bar again with the average as they have done. I mean the Melbourne sale has come a long way in the past few years and I think there is every likelihood that we will see the average increase again over the next few years.

“It’s probably not quite to Gold Coast average at the moment and you wouldn’t expect that to happen overnight but it is certainly closing the gap quite significantly and it’s closing the gap even faster with Easter.

“I personally don’t think there is much between the Melbourne Premier sale and the Easter sale.’’

Marshall said he couldn’t be happier with the quality of the first yearlings offered by Sun Stud’s stallion Palentino.

“They are certainly very impressive types,” Marshall said.

“It’s great for us given that he is a horse we have and it’s his first crop of yearlings going to the sale and we honestly could not be happier with the Palentino draft that we have got.

“Inglis has been very, very supportive of the horse through the numbers he has got in the sale and has got 25 yearlings and that number is only matched in terms of first season sires by Capitalist.

“It shows the high regard Inglis holds the Palentino’s in and quite rightly so as he has produced exceptional types and they have been stunning horses from day one and I do really anticipate that they are going to sell well.’’

Marshall nominated three Palentino yearlings, in Sun Stud’s draft, that he believes will make serious money.

He named the colt out of Evasive (NZ), the colt out of Tantalized and the filly out of Rock Idol.

“But I wouldn’t be surprised to see all of the Palentino’s we’ve got make really good money,” he said.

Marshall said he believes the Sun Stud draft comprises a really good blend of horses.

“We have got a beautiful Fastnet Rock filly out of a mare called Debutante (GB) who has got a nice pedigree behind her and she is really a nice style of filly,” he said.

“Everyone knows how good Fastnet Rock is with his fillies and I’m sure she will be very, very popular and we have a lovely Written Tycoon filly. Written Tycoon is flying and he is Victorian and I would say the filly will be popular not only with Victorian trainers but interstate trainers and bloodstock agents.

“And of the colts, we have got a beautiful Snitzel colt out of a mare called Madam Gangster.

“We had Inglis and few people up on Friday at the parade day and there was a lot of talk about him at the end of the day so he certainly caught the eyes of the buyers who were there.”

Marshall said a Not a Single Doubt colt, out of Vandancer (NZ), and although a late foal, had made a dramatic improvement and has kept going from strength to strength to develop into a beautiful horse.

“I think the person who purchases him with see any even better horse in six months,” he said.

“There should be something there for everyone. We have got the horses to suit the ready to run market and we have got that handful of horses that will suit that top end bracket and we have got those really nice racehorse types that will suit a trainer that wants to spend at the mid-range levels and syndicate them.”

Marshall said he believes the key to Melbourne Premier is having the right blend of horses and while it was good and necessary to have a few at the top end, he says Melbourne is incredibly strong at the $80,000 to $150,000 bracket.

He said with Palentino and other horses in the draft, they fit that category well.

And he said the VOBIS scheme was perfect for the Victorian trainers.

“And there’s where Palentino really ticks the box because he is VOBIS but he is also Vic sired so you get both schemes and you are also eligible for that huge race day scheme at Caulfield in April.” Marshall said.

The post Sun Stud stays home to offer all yearlings at Melbourne Premier appeared first on Thoroughbred Breeders Victoria.