Maurice foal sells for $A2.05 million
Horse of the Year & Champion Sprinter-Miler Maurice is one of two 6-time Group 1 winners on the Arrowfield roster. (PHOTO: Bronwen Healy)
Buyers at The Foal Session of this week’s annual JRHA Sale have certainly expressed their enthusiasm for the first Northern Hemisphere foals of Japanese superstar Maurice.
His first entry, Northern Farm’s attractive filly out of Argentine Group 1 winner Mecha Corta (by Mr Greeley’s son El Corredor), was bought by owner Masaaki Kumeta for ¥42 million (~$508,000).
Thirty-two lots later, the first colt by Maurice, quickly dubbed on Twitter the “mini-Beast from the East”, was knocked down to KT Racing Co. Ltd for the Session’s third highest price of ¥170 million ($2.05 million). Also a product of Katsumi Yoshida’s famous Northern Farm, the colt is out of Lasting Song (by Fuji Kiseki) from the family of Group 1 winners Cheval Grand, Verxina and Vivlos.
KT Racing already owns the colt’s year-older half-brother, by Lord Kanaloa and Manager Yoshihiro Kunimochi said after his purchase that, although the price was higher than expected, he was happy to add the son of Maurice to the stable.
Sales at the Yen equivalents of $870,000 (for the colt out of Champion European Sprinter Fleeting Spirit), $850,000, $400,000, $360,000, $350,000, $340,000 and $250,000 followed.
In all, 10 colts and 3 fillies by Maurice sold for a total of ¥544 million ($6.5 million), averaging ¥41,846,153 ($506,000), above the sale average of $488,000 – some achievement in the world’s most extraordinary foal marketplace.
The six-time Group 1 winner covered 121 mares in 2017, his first Australian season, and Arrowfield is preparing to welcome a tribe of “mini-Beasts” this Spring. Their dams include Group winners Brazilian Pulse, Don’t Doubt Mamma, Soft Sand, Hollow Bullet, Platinum Witness and Cat By The Tale, sisters to Pakistan Star, Lankan Rupee and Tawqeet, and daughters of champions Merlene, Alinghi and Special Harmony.
