Meet the man who sold mighty mare Winx at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale

MEET the man who slammed down the gavel on what has become one of the most famous horse sales in Australian racing history.

MEET the man who slammed down the gavel on what has become one of the most famous horse sales in Australian racing history.

Grant Burns, 43, was the auctioneer who had the responsibility of selling Winx, then known as lot 329, at the 2013 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale late on a Thursday afternoon.

Burns has sold over 20,000 horses over the past 16 years but with the help of photos and videos can recall the moment Winx crossed his path.

And there is just one thing Burns regrets.

“I wish I sold her better,” Burns said.

“I wish I said something like ‘what is she going to be worth when she wins a Group 1 or something.

“I know I compared her to Zenyatta, who was probably the greatest Street Cry (Winx’s sire) filly at the time.

Auctioneer Grant Burns at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sales - Day 2. 10 January 2019. Picture credit: Magic Millions.

“I have only listened to the replay once of it being sold. I didn’t cringe but you don’t like the sound of your own voice.”

Burns’ journey to the famous sale, and his auctioneering career, began back in 2003 when he was a manager of the Magic Millions base in Adelaide.

“We were having a small auction and our auctioneer was a guy based in Melbourne at the time.

“His plane got delayed and he couldn’t get there so I started by default. I had never done it before but 10 years later I got to sell Winx so it wasn’t too bad.”

Burns, who lived on the Gold Coast between 1998 and 2000, said he sells roughly 1500 horses every year and counts dual Group 1 winner Redzel and four-time Group 1 winner Atlantic Jewel among those he has sold at the Gold Coast Magic Millions Yearling Sales.

It was just by chance Burns had the opportunity to sell Winx between sharing the auctioneer duties with a group of others.

“I was the lucky one who happened to draw her number or that particular run of horses who got sold,” Burns said.

The 2018 Ladbrokes Cox Plate at Moonee Valley Racecourse in Melbourne. Winx ridden by Hugh Bowman, and trained by Chris Waller, wins the Cox Plate. Picture: Alex Coppel

“We do runs of 20 at a time as such or so. It’s very random, there is no science in it at all. “There will be three or four of us auctioneering and we will split it up and take turns.

“It’s certainly nice to be the one who sold her given her profile. It gives me good bragging rights when you’re having beers with mates.”

Burns used a gavel his parents had made for him made from a piece of a New Zealand walnut tree for the sale of Winx and retired it following her second Cox Plate victory in 2016.

Burns recalled predicting Winx to be a filly who wouldn’t go on to race in the Magic Millions 2YO Classic the year after her sale.

“I don’t remember it as clear as day when she walked into the ring but I went back through my notes and found she was just a nice, tidy horse,” Burns said.

“Funnily enough the Gold Coast has those big, strong forward horses who will come back for the 2YO Classic 12 months later.

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“She probably wasn’t in that mould. A lot of horses walk into the sales ring and you think here is one for the race next year.

“We are often heard saying that because it looks like you could put a saddle on them the next day and be racing in no time at all.

“Some horses need a bit more time. She was always a filly who was going to need more time. ”Did we ever imagine she would develop to that level? Not in your wildest dreams.

“Making $230,000 was probably a fair price on the market given she wasn’t that one who would come back the next year.

“It shows you the sale can produce horses of all types, early runners and horses that go on with it and are there for longevity.”