Glamour mare Madam Rouge will return to Widden Stud after being purchased for $2.4 million on the final day of the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale on the Gold Coast.
Bred by Widden and by their star stallion Zoustar, the multiple Stakes winner was offered as the star of their draft in foal to I Am Invincible.
Longwood Thoroughbred Farm’s Michael Christian opened the bidding at $1.6m and was the underbidder at $2.3m but it was Widden that placed the winning bid online.
Widden’s Antony Thompson said his farm was intent on adding Madam Rouge to its broodmare roster, having missed on well-performed Zoustar mares Sunlight ($4.2m purchase in 2020) and Mizzy ($2.2m in 2021) in recent years.
“We obviously bred her, we were involved in racing her and we know her intimately,” Thompson said.
“It’s been a great ride with Chris Waller and the other owners and to be able to buy her back and bring her back to Widden, we’re very excited about that.
“For mine, she was the number one in-foal mare at the sale, so we were able to build an army to go to war and it was great to win that battle.
“We bred and raced Sunlight and we tried to buy her but were unable to, last year we underbid Mizzy at a couple of million – these Zoustar mares are just the most gorgeous mares, they’re going to be fabulous broodmares.”
Thompson hinted that Madam Rouge could again be served by I Am Invincible this spring.
The purchase continued a solid week of selling and buying for Widden with Group 2 winner Still A Star ($700,000), Redoute’s Choice mare Seattle Dancer ($525,000) and ex-Godolphin mare Eleusa ($520,000) added to its broodmare band.
– racing.com
