Few will be looking on more anxiously than Annabel Neasham when the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale kicks off on the Gold Coast on Tuesday.
The Sydney trainer doesn’t own Sunshine In Paris, but she is particularly eager to see who buys the last-start Group 1 winner.
The three-year-old daughter of Invader and the Zabeel mare Zenaida is one of the sale’s banner lots owing to her win in the Surround Stakes in February and Neasham is hoping she doesn’t have to say goodbye to the filly he considers a contender for the $10 million Golden Eagle.
“She’s done such an incredible job already in such a short time,” Neasham said.
“We’d always had quite a good opinion of her and what she achieved with the Group 1 so early in her career didn’t surprise us at all.
“(She’s a) once in a lifetime filly. Her looks match her record – she’s a cracking type with a massive hindquarter, she’s a very good mover, has strength and length – an ideal filly.
“It would break my heart if she ended up in another stable after the sale.
“I will be doing everything I can to get her back in my yard and set her for the Golden Eagle. She’s a beautiful filly and has such a bright future.”
Sunshine In Paris, who defeated subsequent Group 1 winners Ruthless Dame and In Secret in the Surround Stakes, is one of four Group 1 winners who will be offered at what is one of the Southern Hemisphere’s most anticipated sales.
Many of Australasia’s most expensive mares ever sold at auction have gone under the hammer at the National Sale, including Away Game and Tofane for $4 million and $3.1 million respectively last year.
Three-time Group 1 winner Forbidden Love, Memsie Stakes and Robert Sangster Stakes winner Snapdancer and star Kiwi mare Coventina Bay are the other elite-level winners who will be offered this week, alongside the likes of Isotope, Promise Of Success, Statement and Vangelic.
They will all be offered on an opening day that is restricted to fillies or mares who have recently retired with Wednesday and Thursday to see some of the most valuable broodmares in Australia offered, many in-foal to some of the world’s top stallions.