Aussie Bred Justify 2YO’s Showing Potential

It’s been an interesting week for Triple Crown hero Justify, whose first Aussie bred two year-olds have been in the news with an impressive trial winner at Warwick Farm on Friday and strong results at the NZB Ready to Run Sale where he was the leading sire by average.

Justify had three juveniles average $290,000 with his best result a colt from Santa Clara that made $520,000 for Ohukia Lodge when bought by Morgan Carter Bloodstock for Hong Kong.

The colt is out of winning Foxwedge mare Santa Clara – a half-sister to multiple Group I-winning champion New Zealand two-year-old Anabandana.

He was a super successful pinhook sourced from Inglis Premier for $60,000 from the Morning Rise Stud.

More than a dozen other stakes winners feature in the pedigree page, including the 2010 G1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas heroine King’s Rose, whose dam Nureyev’s Girl is a full-sister to the second dam.

“I can tell you right now, you feel nerves when you go up on to the rostrum as an auctioneer, and that’s one thing, but this is different,” Morgan Carter said. “I thought I was pretty relaxed right up until about two lots before the horse went through.

“I was a bit nervous, but it’s my first proper order from the Ready to Run Sale for Hong Kong, and now I’m really, really excited.

“My day-to-day role is mainly private sales off the track, so I hadn’t really given much time to buying from the sales until now, just because of the other business and my auctioneering work taking up that time as well.

“But we wanted one decent horse from the Ready to Run Sale today, and that was it.”

Justify also had a filly from Brilliant Bisc that sold for $210,000 and a colt from Jaipur Princess that sold for $140,000.

At the Warwick Farm trials on Friday, Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott took the wraps off Just Glamourous (2f Justify x Global Glamour, by Star Witness), a lovely filly by Justify out of former star filly Global Glamour, winner of the 2016 Group I Thousand Guineas and Group I Flight Stakes.

She surged to the line to win her 798m heat by a length held together.

Just Glamourous is a half-brother to smart three year-old Scientist and is the second foal of his dam. He was was sold to his trainers, the Waterhouse/Bott team, and Bruce Slade’s Kestrel Thoroughbreds from the Coolmore Stud draft for $900,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

That makes her the most expensive filly sold by her sire in this part of the world and the third highest priced overall.