Magic Millions Carnival: 10 biggest moments from Gold Coast event 1987-2024
Magic Millions has produced some incredible highs and lows across nearly 40 years of sales and racing. REVISIT 10 MAGICAL MOMENTS
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Magic Millions has produced some incredible highs and lows across nearly 40 years of sales and racing.
From its beginnings in the 1980s to the present day, it has never not been memorable.
Here are 10 magic moments from across the years.
1: The first race (1987)
The event, then known as the Magic Million, was won by Snippets, who was trained by local Sally Rogers (now Keay).
Ms Keay was rushed to the Gold Coast Hospital less than 24 hours before the race began with post-operative problems following a collapsed lung.
Despite having a drainage tube sticking out of her chest, she was able to spend a brief period of time with Snippets before the race began and wished her well, watching on as she won.
2: The first big controversy (1988)
A year after Snippets’ win, the second Magic Millions was surrounded by controversy over who won the race.
Prince Regent cross the lined first on 20-1 odds, just beating Molokai Prince (10-1 odds) after a bumping battle across the final 150m of the race.
It was an astonishing finish as Molokai Prince started from the outside alley after rumours of a shin injury in the days before the race.
A protest was lodged against the outcome, citing interference between Prince Regent jockey John Marshall and Molokai Prince’s Ron Quinton. After an exhausting discussion, the stewards came out to make their announcement that the protest had been upheld and that Molokai Prince and Ron Quinton were the winners.
3: Saving Magic Millions (1997)
The Magic Millions was struggling in the late 1990s and there were fears it would not last until the Millennium.
The sales complex and enterprise was sold to John Singleton and close friend Gerry Harvey, along with Rob Ferguson for around $7m.
At the time Mr Harvey described the possibilities for Magic Millions as “bloody fantastic”.
4: Dubai sheik’s death (2006)
The Magic Millions began attracting highly lucrative buyers from the Middle East in the early 2000s. Among those was Dubai ruler Sheik Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, at the time the 18th-richest person in the world, who was in town for the 2006 sales when he died of a heart attack at Palazzo Versace.
5: The delay (2007-08)
The event has been a mainstay of January since the very beginning but 2008 was a different story. An outbreak of equine influenza at the end of 2007 forced the January dates to be abandoned. The sales went ahead in March 2008, with the race day held on the Easter weekend.
6: Big spender (2008)
Nathan Tinkler made a name for himself as “the million dollar man” in 2008. Mr Tinkler, years before he was hit by financial difficulties, became the star of the 2008 Magic Millions sales, spending a staggering $18.5m on 58 horses, including two record buys of $2.2 million each.
7: Record low (2009)
The 2009 sales came amid the global financial crisis which saw many buyers pull back on the spending which had characterised previous years.
It famously saw the smallest amount ever paid for a yearling. Emerald Thoroughbreds sold a yearling for $5000 in 2009, while Singaporean Jimmy Lau picked a bay colt by Dubawi, for $12,500 that same year.
However, there were still plenty of big sales – Gai Waterhouse dropped $2m on just the first day.
8: Barrier draw (2012)
While the barrier draw dates back to 1988, the modern event held on Surfers Paradise beach has only existed for 13 years, beginning in 2012.
It was the brainchild of then Magic Millions boss Vin Cox who announced the “Australian first Melbourne Cup in shorts” in December 2011. It was fully backed by then-Surfers Paradise Alliance boss Mike Winlaw.
The beach dash was the first significant change made since co-owner John Singleton sold his stake in the company to Gerry Harvey and his wife Katie Page the previous year.
9: Royal flavour (2013)
Fresh from medalling at the London Olympics, Zara Tindall (then-Phillips), the niece of King Charles III, was announced in late 2012 as the Racing Women ambassador for the event, beginning in 2013. More than a decade later and both she and husband Mike continue to be mainstays of the event.
10: Horses on the run (2023)
Two horses in the Gold Coast’s Magic Millions beach barrier draw ended up tossing their jockeys, running loose on a highway and making it half way back to Bundall stables in January 2023.
It occurred in front of a crowd of more than 5000 people but the escape only lasted 10 minutes before the horses were apprehended.
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