Yum: McArdle's tasty Tassie purchase

Victorian trainer John McArdle set a new record at the Magic Millions Tasmanian Yearling Sale on Monday when he paid $170,000 for the half-sister to his Stakes-winning filly Yum.

The figure represents the most ever paid for a yearling at the annual auction, which has produced the likes of G1 winner Mystic Journey and Tasmania’s undefeated pin-up colt Aristopoulos.

McArdle knows the filly’s family well, having also trained the multiple Stakes winner I’ll Have A Bit, who is a half-sister to the filly’s dam.

McArdle said he was keen to invest into a family that he hopes will yield more G1 wins in the coming weeks and months.

He reported that Yum will resume at Flemington on Saturday, with G1 races in Adelaide and Brisbane on her radar.

WATCH: Yum win the Jim Moloney Stakes last spring

“She’s a half sister to a filly I train in Yum, who won a Stakes race in the spring,” McArdle told Racing.com.

“This filly is very similar to her sister, although she probably looks a little sharper than what she was as a yearling."

“Yum actually comes back on Saturday and she’s aiming towards the Australasian Oaks and Queensland Oaks so hopefully she can strengthen the pedigree a bit more going forward."

“I bought the first ever horse that made $100,000 down here (Tasmania) so I had to break that record and we did today.”

In total, five yearlings cracked the $100,000 mark, with syndicators MyRacehorse, Prime Thoroughbreds and Star Thoroughbreds all getting involved at the top end of the market.

Tony and Calvin McEvoy paid $110,000 for a colt from the first Australian crop of Cox Plate winner State Of Rest.

Incredibly, the top five lots in the sale were sold by leading Tasmanian thoroughbred nursery Armidale Stud.