Magic Millions sales: Million-dollar dreams set sale on glitter strip

A reduced field of buyers has not stopped the big bucks from flowing at the Magic Millions thoroughbred auction on the Gold Coast.

Thoroughbreds sprint along Surfers Paradise beach on barrier-draw day for The Star Gold Coast Magic Millions on Tuesday. Picture: Nigel Hallett

A reduced field of buyers has not stopped the money from flowing at the Magic Millions thoroughbred auction on the Gold Coast, with a colt selling for a near record price of $1.9m on the opening day of the sales.

The sale-topper, a colt by champion sire Snitzel, matched last year’s highest bid, alleviating concerns the economic and logistic effects of the coronavirus pandemic would diminish the headline offers.

Lot 115 sells for $1.9m at the Magic Millions sales. Picture: Luke Marsden

Despite only one horse reaching the million dollar mark on the first day of the week-long yearling sale, the average price of horses hovered about $240,000 by the end of bidding, slightly up on previous years.

Coolmore Stud’s Tom Magnier and leading bloodstock agent Guy Mulcaster bought the top colt from Widden Stud after a fierce bidding war for the prized progeny of Bonny O’Reilly and Snitzel, who has sired more than 100 individual stakes winners and had a standing fee of $165,000 last year.

The top sale followed a $975,000 bid for a filly by I Am Invincible, who had two other offspring in the top 10 at $800,000.

The start of the auction followed a morning of races along Surfers Paradise beach in front of hundreds of spectators as part of the barrier draw for Saturday’s race day, which includes the $2m Magic Millions 2YO Classic and $2m Magic Millions 3YO Guineas. Among the riders was rugby league great Billy Slater, who has reignited his passion for the racing industry since retiring in 2018 and runs the fledgling Slater Thoroughbreds with wife Nicole.

“I don’t think we were anticipating the crowd that we got down there, but I think everyone was looking forward to something exciting and there’s no better spectacle than seeing the horses galloping down the beach with Surfers Paradise in the background,” Slater told The Australian. The couple sold their first horse for $180,000 at last year’s Magic Millions yearling sale and hope to top that with their offering this year — one of the last colts sired by Group One winner Redoute’s Choice, who died in 2019.

“At the moment we’re trying to keep it nice and small and increase the quality and make sure when we do go to the sales we are offering quality stock,” Slater said.

“We got a bit lucky with this guy, he’s a nice type and he’s got a nice page to back it up.”

Slater said more than 200 potential bidders had sighted the horse in the lead-up to the auction.

Moving to their property in rural Victoria at the end of 2019 proved fortuitous for the Slaters, who rode out the coronavirus lockdowns in relative tranquillity.

“It was probably a blessing in disguise that we moved out of town (Melbourne) at that time and got to spend a fair bit of time on the farm last year with the horses,” Slater said.

“We were pretty lucky.”