Three Bridges Thoroughbreds
Victoria’s Three Bridges Thoroughbreds will take a strong draft of 10 yearlings to the Gold Coast Magic Millions Yearling Sale next month on the back of what was a successful breeding sale period in May for the team.
Located in Eddington, Three Bridges Thoroughbreds have seen sales’ success for a number of years, but in May this year, the Liston family sold Zenaida, the dam of Group 1 winner Sunshine In Paris for $1.4 million. This result was the first seven-figure result from the farm’s own horse.
Of the 10 yearlings set to go through the ring for Three Bridges, five are by Victorian stallions Toronado and Blue Point, and Toby Liston believes that both sires’ will make an impact in his draft, and at the sale.
“We just love Toronado and always have,” Liston said. “They just sell, and now he’s getting these better books, it should be fun in these next five years having supported him so heavily.
“On Blue Point, we have had to cut back the mares we send to him due to his popularity. We still believe in the sire because they race at two and of course he raced on himself, so we are hoping that his progeny do the same.”
Lot 351, the colt by Toronado out of triple stakes winner Wawail is ‘a star’ according to Liston, and should catch buyer’s eyes at the complex.
“This colt is a star,” Liston stated. “We sold him as a weanling for $200,000 and the buyer decided to send him back through us this sale. We did keep a little bit of him.
“We have sent the mare to Toronado again so hopefully we end up with a filly this time so that we can keep one.
“The best part about selling Toronado colts is that he has Group 1 winners such as Masked Crusader and Shelby Sixtysix, but now Hong Kong loves them, so there’s a bit of a double market for them.”
Lot 217, the Blue Point filly out of Solar Moon is bred to pack plenty of speed being by a world champion sprinter out of a mare by star sprinter Pivotal.
The dam has already produced some incredible results for Three Bridges Thoroughbreds, including a $700,000 Inglis Easter graduate and $700,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast graduate, both sold to Hong Kong connections.
“She (Solar Moon) has probably been my best broodmare,” Liston said. “Although the Blue Point’s are yet to win a race in Australia, they are still out winning trials and hitting the racetrack, so they are going early.
“I’m looking forward to seeing what the market thinks of them come January.”
What comes with buying the progeny of a Victorian-based sire is also the opportunity to indulge in the riches of the VOBIS scheme, including the VOBIS Platinum vouchers that are offered on all VOBIS Gold races.
Liston said that VOBIS offers incredible value for Victorian racing participants and is crucial to keeping the Victorian racing and breeding industry lively and attractive.
“The Platinum bonus is massive now and I think around $2.3 million in vouchers have been won,” Liston said. “This money goes straight back into the industry where people can use them on service fees or buying the progeny of our stallions, importantly a Victorian product.
“VOBIS Sires was changed to help the breeders invest in Victoria and I think that’s now really starting to work.
“In January, we will see a lot of Victorian product and I encourage everybody to keep investing in the state with this program. On top of that to currently have the leading first season sire in the country (Alabama Express) and the investment from Yulong, it’s really paying dividends.”
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