Wanted … is wanted

Wanted colts topped the Magic Millions National Weanling Sale on the Gold Coast in Queensland and the first day of selling at the Great Southern Weanling Sale at Oaklands Junction in Victoria.

Wanted, winner of the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap as a three-year-old in 2010, is the first son of the sensational Fastnet Rock (by Danehill) to go to stand at stud. Eliza Park took a conservative approach with the stallion, who is a rig (one testicle), in his first season and covered a restricted book of 75 mares.

However, with stallion’s popularity growing and his fertility standing up to commercial requirements, he had a book of 112 mares last year at a fee of $38,500 which he handled with ease.

Henry Field’s Newgate Farm struck hard on Wanted colts. He bought the Melbourne colt, from the Danasinga mare Vestment, under the Ascot Heath Pty Ltd banner for $117,500 and he saddled up again at the Gold Coast to buy the top colt, out of the mare Regal Arena (by Arena), for $255,000.

Field, who pinhooked the colts to bolster his draft for the 2013 yearling sales, was enthusiastic about his Magic Millions colt. “Seriously, he is one of the best colts I’ve seen at a weanling sale in the last two or three years,” he said.

One of the underbidders on the colt, Ian Smith from Edinburgh Park, said he thought the Wanted youngsters offered everything a vendor would want in a sales’ horse. “They’re very similar to Wanted—for that matter, Fastnet Rock—quality types with plenty of bone,” he told elizapark.com.au.

Another Wanted weanling, a filly from Aquatint, by Supremo (USA), was sold for $190,000 to the bid of Boomer Bloodstock.

Wanted also had five mares in foal to him at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale for an average of $137,000, including the smart mare Satin Robes, who sold for $420,000.

Interestingly, it was a half-sister to Satin Robes (by Ne Coupez Pas (USA)), who produced Wanted’s promising colt in Melbourne. The colt also is closely related to the Eliza Park-bred Group 1 winner, Recurring.

Wanted, who is from the Snippets mare Fragmentation, and is bred on a similar Danehill-Snippets cross to Snitzel and Magnus, stands this season at a slightly reduced fee of $33,000.