It was a record-breaking day at the 2023 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale on Wednesday, with one horse smashing the all-time record in the rich history of the sales event.
The full sister to former superstar sprinter Sunlight sold for $2.6 million after an enthralling bidding battle.
Offered up by Widden Stud, the Zoustar filly from group-winning and top-producing mare Solar Charged, was snapped up by Yu Long Investments.
The filly broke the previous all-time Gold Coast Yearling Sale record price of $2.2 million that was set back in 2008.
“It’s fantastic,” Yu Long Investment’s Sam Fairgray said moments after the gavel fell.
“Obviously she has a great physique and with a fantastic page. We’re delighted that she’ll be racing with the Yulong colours and eventually she’s got a great future as a broodmare also.
“To have access to a filly like that, it doesn’t come along very often and it’s great to be able to secure her.”
“Mr Zhang is delighted. We’ve bought some really nice pedigree mares and to be able to get a really nice yearling like this is exciting.”
Antony Thompson from Widden Stud said he was “delighted” with the sale result.
“Obviously very excited and relieved,” Thompson said.
“It has been an enormous build-up and a lot of media coverage… a lot of pressure but it really exceeded our expectations.
“We thought from where we were that she’s probably one of the best fillies we’ve ever bred and I said possibly I don’t think we’ve ever seen a better filly go through an auction ring in Australia this year or maybe even for a long time,” Thompson added.
More than $94 million has been traded across the two days, with 320 lots sold at an impressive average price of $293,781.
Day Three will commence at 10am this morning.
