Buying a horse at Magic Millions? Some tips from the racing manager for Dubai’s Crown Prince

AN exciting catalogue of horses has seen the racing manager for Dubai’s Crown Prince return to the Magic Millions for the first time in eight years.

Pictured at the Magic Millions Sales , Angus Gold looking over yearlings from Turangga Farm . Picture Mike Batterham

AN exciting catalogue of horses has seen the racing manager for Dubai’s Crown Prince return to the Magic Millions for the first time in eight years.

Angus Gold has been selecting horses for Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum for three decades, travelling across the world buying, selling and matching animals with trainers.

This year he has his eye on a swath of horses he hopes will freshen the stocks his boss holds in the Hunter Valley.

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Mr Gold was among the first wave of international racing industry heavyweights to arrive at Bundall yesterday, with the stables also visited at length by legendary trainer Gai Waterhouse and Coolmore boss, Tom Magnier.

Pictured at the Magic Millions sales, Angus Gold looking over yearlings from Turangga Farm. Picture: Mike Batterham

Moving purposefully among the growing throng of people clutching catalogues and watching the parades of glossy horses, Mr Gold knows better than most what to look for.

“Just what you perceive to be an athlete, that’s what it’s all about,” he said
“Everybody sees them differently, so there’s no hard and fast rules.

“It’s just something that you think has got the right physical confirmation and the right mental attitude that would want to race — like that nice horse with its ears pricked, looking positive — and that’s all you can go on.

“You can’t look inside them and see the heart, so you’ve just got to go off what you see here.”

Often, however, the choices Mr Gold makes are based on instinct — dictated as much by his gut as his mind.

“Of course, over time you get certain feelings about certain horses, yes,” he said.

The sheikh, who won’t be making an appearance on the Gold Coast this year, has about 40 horses stabled in the Hunter Valley with champion trainer David Hayes.

“I just told him I’d like to come back to this sale because it’s a very good sale, so he agreed,” Mr Gold said.

“Then I come out here to look at them and then I’ll ring him when I’ve seen them all and say ‘This is what I think’ and see what he wants to do.”
The Magic Millions Yearling Sales begin on Wednesday and continue until next Tuesday.