Gai Waterhouse brings the magic, and the millions

Gai Waterhouse filly is the favourite in the Magic Millions 2YO Classic after a record-breaking week of horse sales on the Gold Coast.

Gai Waterhouse, left, and Katie Page with a horse Waterhouse bought for $750,000 at the Magic Millions sales. Picture: Luke Marsden.

Beneath a bright pink broadbrimmed hat, Gai Waterhouse is easy to spot among the sea of bare heads, Panama weaves and stud-branded caps around the Magic Millions sales ring.

The queen of the Australian turf is equally at home on the auction room floor as she is trackside. Ever-present, with the hat, is a bright-eyed smile and a throng of affiliates around her; trainers, breeders and owners eager to discuss the potential buys parading before them. In the past week, more than 25 horses sold at the Magic Millions Yearling Sale on the Gold Coast have Waterhouse and training partner Adrian Bott listed in the buyer column.

“We’re here to try to find the horses we’re going to be working with for the next few years,” Waterhouse says.

“This is like buying the clay the sculptor uses.”

The annual auction has continued mostly unabated despite coronavirus, and the reduced range of buyers has not diminished the size of the bids.

Since Tuesday, 10 horses have sold for more than $1m and the overall sale has already hit a record $180m.

Along with the big-name trainers, owners and breeders are the syndicates and mum-and-dad buyers hoping to jag a Winx or at least a look-in for the $2m 2YO Classic held each year for Magic Millions graduates.

The favourite in Saturday’s iteration at Aquis Park, Swift Witness, is trained by Waterhouse, seeking her fifth Magic Millions 2YO Classic. “I’d sooner have the favourite (than) the 100-1 odds,” she says.

Waterhouse is quick to praise the auction and its co-owner, Harvey Norman chief executive Katie Page, who she credits with boosting the participation of female owners through the $500,000 bonus scheme for women-owned winners in the 2YO Classic and 3YO Guineas.

Ms Page is just as full of praise. “She (Waterhouse) was pushing that barrow long before I put my two cents worth in. She is an icon … not just an icon for women, for the industry.”

Despite the mutual fondness, Ms Page isn’t backing Waterhouse’s horse. She’s on Queen Of Wizardry, trained by up-and-comer Annabel Neasham and ridden by Stephanie Thornton.