Several dazzling sprint performances saw Bivouac retire one of the highest-profile first-season sires of 2021 and they were a key factor in Damon Gabbedy aggressively pursuing one of his youngsters early on Day 1 at the Magic Millions National Weanling Sale.
The head of Belmont Bloodstock paid $275,000 for the colt the son of Exceed And Excel created with Invincible Spirit mare Viviette, who was the fourth lot through the ring.
Bivouac retired a three-time Group 1 winner, including the 2020 Darley Sprint Classic in what was a peak Timeform rating of 128.
That is clearly the best of the locally-bred stallions whose oldest are weanlings, bettered only by Darley shuttler Ghaiyyath – who won the 2020 Juddmonte International in 133 – which didn't escape Gabbedy's attention.
"We did a lot of work on the ratings of first-season sires and Bivouac comes up number one, he rates through the roof, so we're keen to get a progeny or two by him," Gabbedy told racing.com.
The Viviette colt is one of only four Bivouvacs to be offered on the Gold Coast and bettered the $130,000 top price for one of his youngsters at the Australian Weanling Sale earlier this month.
He is the third foal from the imported mare Viviette, who is from the family of Iffraaj, with her first foal Tumbling (Trapeze Artist) a winner of one of only two starts to date.
Her second foal, by Deep Field, was offered at Easter earlier this year but was passed in after failing to reach a reserve of $400,000.
Gabbedy suspected the Bivouac colt, who will be trained by Tony and Calvin McEvoy, would have fetched much more than $275,000 at a yearling sale next year.
"The client I bought him for is Wayne Mitchell, Tony McEvoy's main client, so we bought him to race," he said.
"Was we know how expensive the yearling sales are, we thought it was cheaper to come and buy a weanling instead of wait until the yearling sales.
"He was very correct, a great walker, amazing temperament – I looked at him about five times and he was just head down, walked along, a great walker – and he was from a very good farm in Three Bridges."
The Bivouac colt was a number of outstanding results for first season stallions in the first two hours of selling at the two-day sale with a colt by Kia Ora's Golden Slipper winner Farnan selling to Jim Carey for $190,000.
