TIME FOR MAGIC
Confidence high as the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale gets under way
Australasia’s yearling sale season kicks off on Tuesday at Magic Millions on the Gold Coast, with prominent vendors expecting a similar auction to last year’s, with “satisfactory” outcomes despite expected softness at the lower end.
The 2025 Gold Coast sale returned numbers slightly down on the previous year, with buyers showing caution, particularly in the early stages. For Book 1, the average came in at $269,000, down from $276,000, with the clearance rate of 83.05 per cent down from 87.88 per cent.
That put many participants on guard for a difficult sale year, but while Karaka was also down on its previous year, those fears were largely allayed as later auctions progressed, with some observers linking the Gold Coast’s results to buyer caution at the start of the season.
After inspections for this year’s first sale continued at the Magic Millions complex over the past few days, two prominent vendors – Widden and Arrowfield studs – forecast similar outcomes to 2025, with neither a dip nor a boom expected.
“Inspections have been good,” Widden owner Antony Thompson told ANZ News.
“There’s been solid interest, and I’m expecting the sale to be quite similar to last year. Numbers are tracking on a very similar sort of trajectory, and interest has been quite similar to last year.
“At the start of Magic Millions last year, the sale was down a touch and that was something we were thinking might happen. But then when you look in hindsight, the rest of the sale season was pretty solid. Maybe it was the first sale of the year and people were were a bit cautious, and then after that they kicked in and it was business as usual.
“I’m thinking this year, it’s got the same feel as last year. There’s similar sorts of players here and the same people, so at this stage I couldn’t see any reason why it would be up or down on last year.”
Widden has the largest draft (after withdrawals) at the sale with 62 lots, ahead of the 59 of Yulong, which originally had the most catalogued at 69. Despite its ten withdrawals, the Victorian farm has a far stronger presence at the Gold Coast this year than previously, having sold just 23 lots there last year. It’s also been boosted by the presence of its owner Zhang Yuesheng, who was a notable absentee from the spring carnival while he remained in China.
Arrowfield has the third-largest draft at the Gold Coast, with 52 lots. Its bloodstock manager Jon Freyer concurred with Thompson, tipping a “solid enough” sale.
“I’m pretty confident it’ll be satisfactory,” Freyer said. “I’m not expecting it to be up, but if it hovers around what it was last year, that’ll be a very good result.
“The inspections have been satisfactory, very much on par with last year.
“Probably by the end of today [Monday], our numbers will be on par with last year for a lot of horses, and probably slightly more for the balance than last year, so I think that bodes well.
“There seems to be enough enthusiasm around, notwithstanding a few little hiccups with bushfires et cetera. But there seems to be a reasonable amount of confidence about the place, so we’re going into it reasonably optimistically.”
Last year’s sale was highlighted by its old record price of $2.7 million being broken twice.
First, Ciaron Maher paid $2.8m for Widden’s colt by Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) out of Humma Humma (Denman), who’s now known as The Next Episode, and debuted with an unplaced run in Rosehill’s the Golden Gift (1100m) in November.
Then, Japanese trainer Mitsumasa Nakauchida went to $3.2m for Coolmore Stud’s filly by first-season sire Home Affairs (I Am Invincible) out of Sunlight (Zoustar). She’s now known as Lia La La and is awaiting her first start.
Freyer was unsure whether this year’s catalogue had the potential to hit such highs again, but said there were no doubts about its quality across the board.
The fact the catalogue is slightly condensed compared to last year could also help boost the sale’s average, with 1,221 yearlings entered in total, down from 1,401 last January. That includes 980 lots in Book 1 – down from 1021 – with 241 in Book 2, compared to 380 in 2025.
“There’s a good bunch of horses around, and it’s a pretty good catalogue,” Freyer said.
“Often the average is dragged up by a few horses at the very top of the market. Whether they’re there this year is another thing to consider, but you’ve got some nice first season horses with stock coming through.
“And the Zoustars and the Snitzels, the I Am Invincibles – they continue to tick on pretty well, and they’ve got a lot of well-bred stock in the sale, so it should be pretty satisfactory.”
Thompson and Freyer agreed strong yearling sales results in the second half of last year in Europe and the US were naturally more a positive than a negative for the Australian season, but that any connection was probably minor.
“The bloodstock market as a whole globally is pretty solid,” Thompson said.
“There’s reasons the American market has really kicked on with tax incentives and those sorts of things, and the European trade was very solid. But the northern hemisphere markets are more tied into each other than down here.
“But in saying that, I couldn’t see any reason why we wouldn’t have a good sale season down here.”
Freyer said factors closer to home were more relevant to predictions on how the Magic Millions sale would unfold, and the Australian sale season in general. These included prizemoney, and the robust nature of the online tried horse market.
“Generally, when the world bloodstock market is strong, it remains strong everywhere, but they’re completely different buying benches in September and October overseas to what we have here,” Freyer said.
“But also, we’ve got better metrics for racehorse ownership here than over there.
“If you look at the race meeting on Saturday at the Gold Coast, there was a lot of prize-money distributed. It hammers home the point to people how much money is available racing horses here, and in particular Magic Millions horses, with all the bonuses that are attached to those.
“Whilst the overseas sales are something of a guide, they’re not the be all and end all for us here. But the fact that online sales have been very strong throughout the past year here, it’s an indication the horse economy is still pretty strong.”
That increasing online market strength has, however, sparked concerns about the lower end of the market at the Gold Coast and beyond, as smaller trainers seek out tried horses, rather than buy yearlings.
Segenhoe Stud general manager Peter O’Brien last week told ANZ: “For smaller trainers with lesser animals, buying tried horses seems to be the way they’re going, and that has to have some impact on those $200,000 or less horses.”
Newgate Farm boss Henry Field concurred. While tipping a “strong” sale where “the top end will be off the charts”, he forecast patches in the market, saying: “We’d be slightly nervous about horses under the $250,000 bracket.”
Thompson said the online market had had an impact on the lower end at sales, but that “great stories” of bargain purchases still drew players into that theatre. He cited Unit Five (Supido), bought from Widden’s Gold Coast draft last year by Ciaron Maher for $80,000, and who is now among the leading contenders for Saturday’s $3m Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m).
“It’s never easy selling if you’re in the bottom quarter of the catalogue. Those horses are harder to shift and sell,” Thompson told ANZ.
“You’ll see it all year with the cheaper horses. A lot of those owners and trainers with those sorts of budgets are buying tried horses online, rather than coming to yearling sales and buying a yearling.
“But there’s still opportunities there and the sales companies work hard to get those buyers here. You obviously see some great stories every year. Unit Five is an $80,000 yearling who’s heading into the Magic Millions as a live chance, with a lot of excited owners.”
Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch agreed the sale looked on course to deliver similar results to last year, while remaining optimistic the smaller catalogue could help boost the average and clearance rate.
“You’d be hopeful you can increase our clearance rate and either hold or better our average. I suspect those indicators can give you the best opportunity to clear or to turn over something similar to what we had last year,” said Bowditch.
“We went out and we thought, we like to see our clearance rate maybe 85 per cent or above, and I think to give us the best opportunity to do so and sell as many horses for our vendors as possible, a catalogue near enough to, but not quite, 1000 was where we were aiming to be when we put it together.”
Bowditch said a “strong and diverse” buying bench had been lured from various states and overseas, particularly Asia.
“One thing we do think when we market our catalogue, whatever budget you’ve got there’s very few catalogues that facilitate as much quality at all budgets as this one does,” said Bowditch, who was buoyed by results from northern hemisphere yearling sales last year.
“Global confidence is paramount. When the industry’s in a good position globally, that’s a good thing.
“We have a lot of global players who participate here at the Magic Millions, or here in Australia in general, and confidence from other jurisdictions is vital.”
Bowditch said international visitors would also draw confidence in the local market from metrics on show in Saturday evening’s Gold Coast meeting which “put people in a great frame of mind leading up to the sale”.
“Viewership of our meeting on Saturday night on Channel 7 was huge, the wagering number was big, and attendance at the track was one of the best ever,” he said.
“The engagement the Magic Millions and the carnival is creating gives us reason to think that when you look at the global ecosystem and how sales have been, that we should be confident leading into it that the industry in Australia is in great shape.”
Among Arrowfield’s draft, highlights include Lot 372, a colt by the late Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) who is a brother to stakes-winning three-year-old colt Beadman.
Lot 504 is a Snitzel filly out of Madam Andree (War Emblem) who’s a sister to recent Gosford Guineas (Listed, 1200m) winner Caffe Florian, and a half-sister to dual stakes winner and current sire Anders (Not A Single Doubt) and the black-type winning gelding Ostraka (Pariah).
“She’s a glorious filly, beautifully made, and everything Madam Andree throws, such as Anders and Ostraka, have all been talented and fast horses,” Freyer said.
Arrowfield’s Lot 212 is a filly second foal by Snitzel whose first two dams Delta Queen (Var) and River Jetez (Jet Master) were South African stakes winners, the latter scoring seven black type victories including a Group 1.
“We’ve also got a good selection of yearlings by Maurice and his [first-season] son Hitotsu, and some quality Dundeels, so we’re very happy with our draft,” Freyer said.
Widden’s highlights include Lot 781, a colt by the hotly anticipated first-season sire Anamoe (Street Cry) out of Secret Trail (Denman). She’s the stakes-winning dam of four-year-old Spywire (Trapeze Artist), winner of five races including, with exquisite timing, the $1m The Syndicate (1100m) at the Gold Coast on Saturday.
“He’s a clear stand-out. He looks like Anamoe,” said Thompson, adding interest in the first yearlings of Widden sire Jacquinot (Rubick) had also been strong.
Lot 120 is a colt by Jacquinot out of winning mare Bonheur (I Am Invincible), a member of the rich family of her Group 1-winning dam Bonaria (Redoute’s Choice) and her dam Decidity (Last Tycoon) which includes elite winners Joliestar (Zoustar) and Merchant Navy (Fastnet Rock), and many other stakes victors.
“This colt has been very popular and a lot of Jacquinot’s others have been popular,” Thompson said. “We’re getting a lot of really good comments about his first crop, which is really pleasing.”