John Singleton has paid $3.85 million for champion filly Samantha Miss at the William Inglis Easter Broodmare sale in Sydney, the second highest price for a thoroughbred at public auction in the southern hemisphere.It is also a record price for a horse coming straight from the racetrack after Virage De Fortune went for $3.4 million in 2007.Singleton's bloodstock manager Duncan Grimley was successful in a bidding duel with bloodstock agent Tony Bott and the filly was knocked down to Magic Million
John Singleton has paid $3.85 million for champion filly Samantha Miss at the William Inglis Easter Broodmare sale in Sydney, the second highest price for a thoroughbred at public auction in the southern hemisphere.
It is also a record price for a horse coming straight from the racetrack after Virage De Fortune went for $3.4 million in 2007.
Singleton's bloodstock manager Duncan Grimley was successful in a bidding duel with bloodstock agent Tony Bott and the filly was knocked down to Magic Millions as agent.
Grimley said he was unsure whether Singleton's partner in the Magic Millions sales company, Gerry Harvey, would buy a share but the intention was for Samantha Miss to go to the breeding barn this spring.
The triple Group One winner was sidelined after one autumn start with a tendon injury which has since been treated with stem cell therapy.
"She was probably a little bit more than I thought but you don't get too many chances at that," Grimley said.
"She's a one and a half million dollar yearling who's won Three Group 1 races.
"From that point of view, what more can you ask for? She's got a great temperament, she's a great type."
The highest priced horse sold at auction in this part of the world is Milanova who fetched $5 million last year and went to Coolmore Stud.
Grimley said he felt Samantha Miss would have made much more before the global financial crisis but said the overall market had been stronger than expected.
"I think the market has been outstanding, he said.
"We've all come in expecting the worst and we're selling (about) 80 per cent of the horses and most people are happy so I think we might have dodged a bullet."
Ironically, the Magic Millions company had Samantha Miss listed for its own broodmare sale later this year but owner Ron Croghan decided to sell the triple Group One winner where she had originally been purchased for $1.5 million in the yearling ring.
"We are very grateful to Ron Croghan and the Samantha Miss team for entrusting Inglis with her sale and it was wonderful to see her set a new record for a race filly off the track," Inglis managing director Mark Webster said.