Mr Brightside share fails to make reserve

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Lot 205 in the Inglis Sales this week was an 8% share in Mr Brightside. It was a fascinating auction to watch unfold as the activity was a little earlier than is often the case. The final bid was $5,000 short of the reserve price. 

Mr Brightside has hit the horse racing bookmakers for six on more than one occasion in his career. With six Group 1 wins and a touch under 13.5 million won in prize money, he is one of the top stars of the track.  

Six Group 1 wins for Mr Brightside 

Any horse managing to salute six times in Group 1 races in a career is one who will be remembered long after they have retired. Connections will be confident that he is going to be able to add more to that this coming season. That is a huge reason why this auction has been so popular. 
 
They can look back on his body of work this season as his most successful so far with four of his Group 1 successes coming. With his six-year-old season being his most successful, is it something he can take to even greater heights at the age of seven or is old age going to start to creep in? 
 
That is what made this auction so fascinating. There will be all sorts of opinions on what the horse is going to do in the upcoming season. Everyone will have had a figure in mind for his number of wins and for what exactly they were prepared to pay for an 8% share in Mr Brightside.  

What is 8% of Mr Brightside genuinely worth? 

A difficult question to answer as something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. In this case, someone was willing to pay $275,000 for an 8% share which would make Mr Brightside worth a total of $3,437,500. But that wasn’t enough! 
 
Is that realistic for a gelding who is rising seven, however? Well, Alligator Blood showed no signs of slowing down in the spring of his age-seven season before suffering an injury. He earned more than 1.8 million in the process. 
 
Mr Brightside is a similarly hardy type. He had 11 runs in the season which is coming to a close, winning more than 5.2 million in prize money. An 8% share for the 2023/24 season would have been worth $418,849. 
 
He did not manage to get his head in front in the last three runs of his autumn prep so perhaps he is slowing down. Even if that is the case, there are going to be plenty of placed efforts at the very least this season.  

Where will we see Mr Brightside in the spring? 

The aim as far as Lindsay Park are concerned is to take a similar line that they did last spring. The Memsie on August 31 will be his starting point, a race that he won last year. The Makybe Diva, King Charles III, Cox Plate and Champion’s Mile will follow as long as he is fit and well. 
 
What of those he is going to be capable of winning, who can say at this stage? He was behind Pride Of Jenni on a number of occasions during this current season and she is in work earlier than him. That might suggest that early on at least, she will have his measure.

So, the reserve figure for the 8% share was $280,000. The final bid of $275,000 fell just short. Will a deal be done or was it merely a marketing ploy to add interest to the upcoming season? Whatever side of the fence you sit on, it’s going to make the seasonal debut of Mr Brightside all the more interesting.