Danehill Full Brother to Champion Brings $620,328 at Magic Millions Sale

A Danehill full brother to Australian champion Catbird brought $800,000 (approximately $620,328 in U.S. funds) Friday to top the second session of Conrad Jupiters Magic Millions yearling sale in Australia. Gerry Harvey of Baramul Stud purchased the colt, which is also a full brother to Australian group II winner Danbird. Their dam is the Australian stakes winner Fitting (by Marscay), who finished third in four added-money events, including 1993 Flight Stakes (Aust-I).

"In my opinion, he's the best horse in the catalogue," said Harvey of the $800,000 yearling, who is the new sale topper. "He's a great stallion prospect, he's by a champion, and (he's) closely related to some top gallopers. The mare's had three runners by Danehill -- there's Catbird and Danbird, both top class Australian gallopers -- while the other (Bearcat) I am told is racing very well in Hong Kong."

Harvey plans to talk to several trainers before deciding who will guide his purchase's racing career.

"I'm planning to keep half the horse for myself and sell four shares at $100,000 ($77,541) each," Harvey said.

Vinery Stud consigned the colt as agent.

In all, 164 horses were sold Friday for a gross of $18,442,500 ($14,300,500) and an average of $112,454 ($87,198).

"Today, we saw another strong day of selling, which was very encouraging," said David Chester, the Magic Millions' managing director. "Again, our average price and clearance rate were both positive, and we are on track for a positive result when the sale ends."

Chester said he thought the sale figures could slip slightly over the final two select sessions as buyers "fill their orders."

He added: "Saying that, we have a number of quality yearlings to be sold over the next couple of days, including a possible new sale topper."

The fourth and final select session is Sunday, and the fifth session is Tuesday.

The statistics for the sale's first two days are 331 horses sold for a gross of $37,020,500 ($28,706,066) and an average of $111,844 ($86,725).