Yarraman Park had the honour of consigning the top lot at the 2018 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale on Thursday with Courgette, the dam of Golden Slipper winner She Will Reign, selling for $2.1 million.
The 10 year-old daughter of Charge Forward produced She Will Reign as her first foal, the Manhattan Rain filly winning over $3.2 million in prizemoney with highlight wins in the Group I ATC Golden Slipper and Group I MVRC Moir Stakes.
Her next two foals, a filly by Shamus Award and a colt by Time for War have fetched $425,000 and $325,000.
Offered for sale in foal to I Am Invincible, it’s not hard to envision the result of that mating becoming a seven figure yearling in two years time.
Tony Bott bidding for E Thoroughbreds outbid Gerry Harvey’s Baramul Stud to secure Courgette at $2.1 million.
“It was a long day for everyone with her being the last lot,” Bott said. “But we thought she was the prized lot today.
“She’s the only horse we have bought (at the sale) for our syndicate at Evergreen Stud Farm in the Hunter Valley.
“She’s the dam of a Group One winner – a Golden Slipper winner – they don’t come along that often.
“We studied up the pedigree and we loved her on type and everything about her.
“She’s a young mare and to have thrown a Group One winner with her first foal, we believe is possibly the making of a very good broodmare and she’s in foal to the champion sire in I Am Invincible. She ticked all the boxes for us.”
Congratulations to her owner Gary Bachell and Jilly Henderson and her team at Noogee Park Thoroughbreds, who have cared for Courgette and raised her foals to date.
Mares in foal to I Am Invincible were in hot demand at this sale with six of them averaging $937,500 with other big results including Marianne, who made $1.1 million for Kitchwin Hills when bought by Tom Magnier and $800,000 for Gold and Diamonds, who made $800,000 for Newgate Farm when bought by Yu Long Investments.
