NEWS: Exceed And Excel and Lonhro in demand at Magic Millions on Day 1
Written by Mike Hedge
Lot 148: Filly by Exceed And Excel x Cerberus Girl sells for $600,000
Darley’s champion stallion Exceed And Excel proved that demand for his stock remains undiminished with his yearling filly from Cerberus Gal among the top lots on the opening day of the Magic Millions Gold Coast sale.
A half-sister to the dual Stakes winner Irukandji and three other winners, the filly (Lot 148) was knocked down to the $600,000 bid of Queensland-based All Winners Thoroughbreds.
The filly consigned by Yulong Investments traces to the family of G1 Golden Slipper Stakes winner and successful sire Danzero and the Stakes winners Permissive Indian Jewel and Gold Salute.
Australia’s champion sire of the 2012-13 season, Exceed And Excel is one of the world’s greatest sires of juveniles, having sired his 500th individual two-year-old winner in 2020 and carrying his total well beyond that mark since.
Lot 22: Colt by Lonhro x Ain't She Smart sells for $200,000
Accompanying Exceed And Excel among the list of top sellers at Magic Millions, as he has at Australian yearling sales for the past 16 years, was Lohnro, who he joined on the Darley roster in 2004.
Well into his second decade as a stallion and still one of Australia’s finest producers of winners, Lonhro attracted strong early interest through Lot 22, a colt from the unraced Smart Missile mare Ain’t She Smart.
The colt offered by Kingstar Farm made $200,000 bid by Victorian trainer Anthony Freedman and syndicator Blue Sky Bloodstock, his juvenile half-sister, Ain'tsheserious, is in the Freedman stable so they know the family well.
The second foal of his dam, the colt is closely-related to the multiple Stakes winner Ain’t Seen Nothing who was also placed at G1 and is one of a long list of Stakes winners on his page including Bacman, Singapore Horse of the Year Stepitup, Ain’tnofallenstar and the up-and-coming Hong Kong sprinter, Stronger.
Lot 168: Filly by Lonhro x Classic Vogue sells for $180,000
Lonhro’s second yearling into the ring, a filly from the Exceed And Excel mare Ambereen offered by Sledmere Stud, went to prominent syndicator Darby Racing and Will Johnson Racing who succeeded with bid of $180,000.
The filly’s dam is a half-sister to the French Stakes winner Alnadana and is from the family of the outstanding middle-distance performer Sakhee whose eight wins included the G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and the G1 York International Stakes.
The momentum was maintained by Lonhro’s filly from Classic Vogue, catalogued as Lot 168.
Dean Watt’s Dynamic syndications halted bidding on the filly out of a half sister to the G1 AJC Oaks winner Wild Iris, at $170,000.
The filly is also related to the Stakes winners Zanbagh, Fiancee and Zip Me Up.
At a sale where he has regularly achieved strong results, Brazen Beau got started with a colt from the winning Fastnet Rock mare Bingo Betty who was purchased by his sire’s former trainer Chris Waller.
The colt consigned by Kitchwin Hills and who is closely related to the multiple G1 winner Count Chivas made $150,000.
