Magic Millions 2022: Glitz and glamour as stars make the most of race day fashion

Stars of Australian sport and screen turned on the glitz for race day at the Magic Millions, but a positive Covid test prevented organisers from attending.

The Gold Coast turned on the glitz for the $10 million Magic Millions race day today but the organisers of the event had to pull out at the last minute.

Magic Millions co-owners Katie Page and Gerry Harvey could not attend after Gerry tested positive to Covid on a rapid antigen test just before the event and the couple had to isolate.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk did attend the Paris bistro themed marquee at the Gold Coast Turf Club together with some of the biggest names in Australian racing including legendary trainer Gai Waterhouse and Coolmore’s Tom Magnier.

Model Erin McNaught and television presenter Candice Dixon at the Magic Millions race day. Picture: Luke Marsden.

“We are so lucky to be able to have events like this,” former SAS Australia contestant Erin McNaught said. “I am just going to make the most of it.”

She was wearing low heels after turning her ankle on a bush walk and an ethereal Aje tangerine dress. After the races she and her husband, the British rapper Example, hit the Live on the Lawn after party at The Star Gold Coast.

Also there was fellow former Miss Universe Australia and Star Gold Coast ambassador Laura Dundovic.

Billy and Nicole Slater. Picture: Luke Marsden.

Former Miss Universe Australia Laura Dundovic. Picture by Luke Marsden.

The world of rugby league was well represented with Queensland’s Jonathan Thurston and English TV presenter Kris Smith. Magic Millions ambassador and the new Queensland State of Origin coach Billy Slater was in the VIP marquee with wife Nicole.

The Voice host Sonia Kruger was in good voice herself during the $2 million 2YO Classic race.

ERIN MCNAUGHT MEETS HER MATCH

Nothing she faced on SAS Australia prepared model Erin McNaught for her encounter on the water’s edge with Dustin the retired racehorse.

“As I approached him for the first time the wind caught my dress and it startled him,” McNaught, 39 said.

“From then on he did not like my dress.”

On SAS Australia she tested against herself but on the Gold Coast she was tested against Dustin’s steely resolve.

The former racehorse, who raced under the name Fields of Yulong for Winx trainer Chris Waller, appeared set against her blue Sass and Bide dress.

“I had to be quite stern with him but he came around,” she said.

Being involved in the Magic Millions Carnival as an ambassador for The Star Gold Coast has taken McNaught back to her childhood horseriding roots.

“My best friend had a horse and we spent every weekend riding. I still give my parents stick for refusing to buy me a horse,” she said.

Model Erin McNaught and Dustin the retired racehorse ahead of the Magic Millions race day. Picture: Luke Marsden

Despite that, she has not been tempted to attend the Magic Millions yearling sales where the top colts and fillies are fetching up to $1.9 million. The sales are tracking to top last year’s record $211 million gross by up to $20 million.

McNaught will on Saturday be attending the $10 million Magic Millions Race Day where she expects to “have a bit of a punt on the big races”.

However she will not be wearing the towering high heels that are the trademark of former Miss Universe contestants.

“I was on a bushwalk with my husband and just telling my son to slow down when I twisted my ankle,” she said.

“We were 500m down a steep gorge so I had to lean on my husband and hop all the way back to the top.”

Dustin did not like Erin McNaught’s dress during the photo shoot. Picture: Luke Marsden

Despite claiming her time on SAS Australia had “made me more of a wuss” than before, when she got to hospital she had torn several ligaments.

That will not stop her and her husband, the British rapper Example, from attending Saturday night’s after-party outside on the lawn at The Gardens at The Star. Their sons Evander, 7, and Ennio, 4, will be safely tucked up in bed.

The race day will see horses trained by Sydney trainers including Gai Waterhouse and Chris Waller and ridden by Sydney jockeys including Hugh Bowman and Tommy Berry racing for $2 million in prize money in the 2YO Classic and 3YO Guineas.

Magic Millions co-owner Gerry Harvey sold one of the starters in the 2YO, Sneaky Starter, when it was passed in for $15,000 at the sales last year only to see it compete for $2 million this year.

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