12 minute read
SUNLIGHT
KRISTEN MANNING
She was only a few months old but already knew that she was special. When the camera came out she posed, standing proudly next to her mother before putting on a show, grabbing a bit of hay and prancing around the paddock. Click, click went the lens and she loved every second of the attention being bestowed upon her.
Weighing in at a healthy 61kg, she was the product of a straightforward foaling and it was not long until she was making her presence felt.
“From early on she commanded respect,” Thompson said, recalling that she was prone to “putting her ears back and letting you know who was boss.”
It was the year of the arrival of the first crop of the dual Group One winner Zoustar and so impressive were his youngsters that Thompson was keen to arrange a photo shoot. Renowned equine photographer Sharon Chapman was engaged and she embarked on creating a series of “awesome images.”
And one of the stars of those images was the daughter of the dual Group Three winning Charge Forward mare Solar Charged. A filly who developed quickly and beautifully... “she was a lovely foal and a stunning yearling,” said Thompson who remembers her being so popular with those carrying out inspections at the 2017 Magic Millions Yearling Sale.
She handled the process well though her handlers knew that they could not just open her box and charge in. “You just had to open the door and let her come to you,” Thompson laughed, “otherwise she might chase you out!”
Taking a particular shine to her was Tony McEvoy... “I loved her!” he said when asked of his first impressions. “She was just such a lovely, Australian sprinting type - deep, strong, powerful, classy.”
Strong bidding ensued for the well related filly whose “swagger and style” impressed all. “We had to fight to buy her,” McEvoy recalled, delighted when the winning bid of $300,000 was, along with Aquis and Blue Sky Bloodstock, his.
“She was our pick of the sale and we would never have forgiven ourselves if we did not get her,” he said.
Speaking with McEvoy after the purchase, Antony Thompson expressed his admiration of the filly whilst suggesting that she would be an ideal candidate for the Magic Millions Racing Women’s Bonus. “I said if he was interested in that Katie would love to come back in as an owner.”
And so it eventuated, Katie Thompson joined by Robyn Parker, Irene Mitchell, Loretta Fung (Aquis Farm) and G1G Racing & Breeding as well as by Sunlight’s co-breeders Rae, Shannon and Jordan Fletcher (of Telemon Stud) and Qatar Bloodstock.
Watching on with interest the day Sunlight went through the ring was Magic Millions’ media manager Greg Irvine. “The word going around that year was that Widden had a quality line of Zoustar fillies at the sale and she was a most admired yearling.”
“She was a once in a lifetime horse who gave us the best ride of our lives”
As an unabashed lover of all things thoroughbred, Irvine was keen to follow Sunlight (whose clever and attractive name was bestowed upon her by Katie Thompson), especially after hearing early whispers.
“There was soon talk around that she was very good and whilst beaten at her first start, she quickly established herself as one of the most exciting young horses around.”
Sent out favourite at her debut in the Maribyrnong Trial-Listed, 1000m, Sunlight was a close-up third, a run good enough to see her sent out odds-on favourite in a Gold Coast 2Y0 Handicap in late December 2017.
Travelling well throughout, she was urged along by Luke Currie with 250m to go and she exploded, her winning margin a soft 4 3/4 lengths. “She just toyed with her rivals,” Irvine recalled, “and you just knew that you had seen something special.”
Accompanying Sunlight to Queensland was a passionate member of the McEvoy team, Sarah Rutten who up to that stage had not had a lot to do with the promising youngster. But something clicked from the first time they got together.
Destined to work with horses, her father owning a saddlery, Rutten was just four when her first pony came into her life. At 15 she was working in racing stables part time whilst still at school and since 2015 she has been working for McEvoy Racing.
Stabled with Tony Gollan during her Queensland sojourn, Sunlight had Rutten by her side day in, day out for three months. So dedicated was Rutten to her favourite horse that she refused to be replaced for even just a short trip home for Christmas, the McEvoys generously flying her mum Christiane to Brisbane for the holiday.
Favourite in Magic Millions’ showpiece despite a tricky outside gate, Sunlight mustered early speed, sitting off a fast pace. Ridden along a little to chase as the leader Ef Troop skipped clear turning, she responded - picking up quickly and sensationally, racing away to a memorable two length victory.
“She’s a star filly,” Tony McEvoy enthused on the day whilst Luke Currie noted that “she came here with the weight of expectation and she’s proved all of her fans right.”
It was onto Sydney for Sunlight, Rutten of course still with her (“from when we got to Queensland until her retirement, apart from when she was spelling, I pretty much didn’t leave her side,”) as she duelled with Estijaab in the Silver Slipper Stakes-Gr.2, 1100m, then adding to her resume the Magic Night Stakes- Gr.3, 1200m.
“That was incredible,” Calvin McEvoy said in the wake of the Silver Slipper, “that was all class.” And after the Magic Night Tony McEvoy was just as happy - “she is tough, and she is the sort of two-year-old you dream of.”
All was set for a crack at the Golden Slipper-Gr.1, 1200m and whilst she did not win, Sunlight lost no fans where her gutsy third - “she was gallant in defeat,” Luke Currie reported.
The Melbourne spring saw Sunlight make her way into the winners circle on three occasions; the Quezette Stakes-Gr.3, 1100m, the Thoroughbred Club Stakes-Gr.3, 1200m and the Coolmore Stud Stakes- Gr.1, 1200m down the famed Flemington straight.
It was a particularly determined victory in the latter, Sunlight engaging in a battle with Zousain and putting her nose down where it mattered. And what a memorable moment it was for the Widden crew, an all Zoustar (Lean Mean Machine third) finish. And an all Magic Millions finish to boot.
“It was a big call to take on the colts,” Tony McEvoy told the press, “but I have such faith in her. She was there for the fight today and they had their chance to get her. She’s a courageous superstar and I couldn’t be more proud of her.”
“This is one of our greatest moments,” Antony Thompson said. “For Zoustar to have three runners from his first crop in this race was incredible, to trifecta it is next level!”
Another two elite level sprints for Sunlight in the autumn, the Newmarket Handicap-Gr.1,1200m and the William Reid Stakes-Gr.1, 1200m. Both times she outsped her rivals, both times illiciting admiration from all including a proud Tony McEvoy.
“I’m in awe of her, what a star. She just rises to the occasion.”
McEvoy loved Sunlight’s personality as well as her talent. “Like all good women,” he joked, “she knew what she wanted and you did not want to get in the way of that. We learned pretty quickly not to fight with her, she was a very purposeful filly.”
Sarah Rutten agreed - “she definitely had plenty of personality and could be very sassy, she could pin her ears back, sometimes lift a leg if someone she didn’t know touched her. But she could also be so loving, she enjoyed a cuddle and most of all loved having her ears and her tail scratched. I always trusted her, she never ever made me feel that she would hurt me.”
“And as far as riding goes, she was amazing - quiet and so smart. You could ride her at any track and she just took it all in, always the professional.”
Whilst the final of her 11 victories would come in the 2019 Gilgai Stakes-Gr.2, 1200m, it was a second in the Golden Eagle that provided a highlight for connections who were saddened by criticism of Sunlight’s unplaced Everest run.
“I was taking a chance stepping her up to the 1500m off that flat run,” McEvoy said, “but I trusted in her and she didn’t let me down, she showed everyone how tough and courageous she was.”
“The Golden Eagle is a race I will never forget,” Sarah Rutten said. “For her to nearly win it was amazing... it was like a win to me and I could not have been any prouder, I was so emotional that day!”
Delighted to pay Sunlight a visit at Coolmore in October, Rutten is still emotional when discussing her favourite girl - “I miss her more than anything everyday. She was, and still is my world.”
Each great run by Sunlight was appreciated and celebrated by her connections including Shannon Fletcher whose parents Dan and Rae of Telemon Stud are proud co-breeders.
“She was a once in a lifetime horse who gave us the best ride of our lives,” she said, adding that racing her was also a wonderful bonding experience, one that “brought all of our family and friends together.”
It was sad news for all involved when Sunlight’s retirement was announced but there was a chance for a spectacular goodbye on Monday July 27, 2020 at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale.
Aptly part of the Widden Stud draft, led through the ring by Sarah Rutten, Sunlight was the talk of the sale. Bidding kicked off at $1 million, increasing in $200,000 and $100,000 increments before reaching a record breaking $4.2 million into the hands of Coolmore Australia’s Tom Magnier.
Widden Stud had themselves bid, getting a group together in the hope of holding onto their prized mare, but they could not match the price. “We were happy and sad,” Antony Thompson said. “It was an emotional day, she had been such a big part of our lives for the previous few years with Katie and the kids getting such a kick out of her career but you just have to be thrilled with a result like that.”
Telemon’s Rae Fletcher described the experience as “heart wrenching... I bought a lot of lottery tickets hoping I would get lucky and win enough to buy her!”
Magnier meanwhile was beaming. “She is a filly of a generation,” he said on the day, “we are very lucky to have got her.”
But even with the big money changing hands, with the talk of Sunlight’s sizeable achievements, it was a moment just after the sale - one captured so brilliantly by local photographer Michael McInally - that stood out that day. A tearful Sarah Rutten.
“I knew it was a beautiful image but on sale day I was so wrapped up with what was going on, editing them moving onto the next horse. But I soon started to get messages once the photo was up on social media and it just exploded from there. I was very excited and happy to have captured such a special moment.”
“That photo told an amazing story,” Greg Irvine said. “Michael didn’t know at the time the power that photo portrayed, it was incredible and it was no surprise to see that image become so loved across social media and to become a story in its own right.”
Irvine was quite emotional himself that day. Born and raised at Ceduna in South Australia, he grew up respecting the McEvoy family who were “from just down the road at Streaky Bay.”
“To see Tony graduate from a jockey on the west coast to the big time of training has been so personally satisfying,” he said, adding that Sunlight’s Magic Millions and Group One wins “gave me great thrills. And for her to return to the Gold Coast for the National Broodmare Sale was a great coup for Magic Millions. To be there to witness that history and to help send that news out to the world was humbling.”
A Magic Millions yearling, a Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner, a Magic Millions broodmare - Sunlight; the full circle of Magic Millions success.
Success also highlighted by the outstanding mares Viddora, Invincibella and Champagne Cuddles who were also Magic Millions yearling sale graduates who returned to Bundall in July.
And the first two of those also won Magic Millions features, Viddora on the same day as Sunlight’s big 2YO win swamping her rivals in the Magic Millions Sprint, the same race in which twelve months earlier she was only just beaten.
All part of a marvellous career that saw the $40,000 Adelaide Magic Millions graduate (who was sold on in July for $2.55 million to Yulong) win nine races including the Winterbottom Stakes-Gr.1, 1200m and the Moir Stakes-Gr.1, 1000m and over $2.8 million in stakes.
“She took us on one hell of a ride,” trainer Lloyd Kennewell said, always grateful to his first Group One winner who he said “stood out to everybody, everywhere she went.”
“Physically I could not fault her,” he said and Yulong’s Luke Wilkinson agreed - “she is just an absolutely great type and it is great to get a mare like her into the broodmare band.
Fellow I Am Invincible mare Invincibella loved the Gold Coast too, writing her name in the history books by claiming three consecutive runnings of the Magic Millions Fillies & Mares, the first of those on the same day that Sunlight and Viddora were also in the winners circle.
A $185,000 2015 Gold Coast Magic Millions purchase for Star Thoroughbreds, she the twelve times winner was sold in July to Tom Magnier for $1.3 million.
It was a “poignant” moment for Star’s Denise Martin who reflected on Invincibella’s finest moments as she sat in the ring awaiting her star mare’s turn. Not only did she look back fondly at her wins - such as the Tattersall’s Tiara-Gr.1, 1400m - but also on the pleasure the mare gave all who were involved.
Also in Tom Magnier’s shopping basket in July was the dual Group winner Champagne Cuddles who sold for $2 million on the back of a racing career that saw her win four races and over $1.4 million. A mare highly regarded by trainer Bjorn Baker who, after her record breaking Gold Coast Guineas-Gr.3, 1200m victory described her as “top class. She’s got a massive ticker, she is strong and has a great attitude.”
