Auction house feeling Magic about outlook for 2023 Gold Coast Yearling Sale
Magic Millions releases ‘incredibly strong’ catalogue of stars of the future
A new galaxy of racetrack stars will go under the hammer at the Magic Millions on the Gold Coast in January after the auction house yesterday released a bumper catalogue for its 2023 season-opening yearling sale, a week-long beachside thoroughbred racing extravaganza where some of Australasia’s best-credentialled young horses will be up for grabs.
Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch revealed an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” philosophy was applied when considering the structure and the composition of the 2023 Gold Coast catalogue.
“Off the back of what I thought this year was a landmark sale with an almost $300,000 average and 94 per cent clearance, we had a really strong base to sell ourselves well to our vendors and the vendors are great supporters of the Magic Millions January sale, and again in 2023 they’ve taken it to a whole new level. It was out of the stratosphere,” Bowditch told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday from the US, where he is attending the breeding stock sales at Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland.
“I’ve been around a lot of the farms this year, with the borders open again, and it’s been exciting to discuss the yearlings from particular vendors, to see the farms and get a feel for it.
“The team has worked hard to put together what I believe to be an incredibly strong catalogue.”
The company will maintain the status quo with a Tuesday afternoon start to the Gold Coast Yearling Sale, as it has for the past two January auctions, with a 979-Lot Book 1 sale concluding on the Saturday night and an evening session following the rich race day at the adjacent racecourse.
There are an extra 46 lots catalogued in Book 1 next year across the five selling sessions compared to the 2022 sale, while the two-day Book 2 sale has a further 294 yearlings catalogued, three fewer than this year’s event, to be offered over two sessions.
The sale will run from Tuesday, January 10, to Monday, January 16, while inspections of Book 1 yearlings will start at 8am on Wednesday, January 4, with Book 2 yearlings available from Friday, January 13.
The first progeny of Group 1-winning mares winners Booker (Written Tycoon), In Her Time (Time Thief), Sunlight (Zoustar) and Viddora (Lope De Vega) are also set to be offered at the Gold Coast.
The wider Magic Millions catalogue for 2023 also features a Zoustar sister to champion mare Sunlight, whose now two-year-old brother made $3 million at this year’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, a half-brother by Written Tycoon (Iglesia) to the Arrowfield Stud and Jonathan Munz-raced Group 1 winner Shoals (Fastnet Rock) and three-quarter relations to Group 1 winners Capitalist (Written Tycoon), Exceedance (Exceed And Excel), Odeum (Written Tycoon), Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon), Exosphere (Lonhro), Jonker (Spirit Of Boom) and Masked Crusader (Toronado).
“There will be no sale next year where you’ll find more horses by the proven stallions than what you will in this catalogue,” the Magic Millions managing director said.
“We’ve got a huge number of yearlings by Australia’s best sires and I think it will be complemented by what is a deep catalogue beyond that.
“This is a catalogue that will provide buyers with confidence to bid at all levels of the market, whether you have got a small budget or a huge budget, whether you want to buy one horse or 50 horses, this sale will provide you with the best opportunity to do so.”
Magic Millions graduates have enjoyed a successful spring, with Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Madame Pommery (No Nay Never), Coolmore Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner In Secret (I Am Invincible), Victoria Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) and A J Moir Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m) winners Manzoice (Almanzor) and Coolangatta (Written Tycoon) respectively, all coming out of the Gold Coast sale.
Alligator Blood (All Too Hard), who won Saturday’s Champions Mile (Gr 1,1600m) at Flemington, Golden Rose Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) winner Jacquinot (Rubick), who was purchased by Widden to stand at stud following his victory at the highest level, and Epsom Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) deadheater Ellsberg (Spill The Beans) are also Magic Millions graduates.
“Only last week I was looking at the statistics of our sale and since the 2019 edition, it’s come up with 20 individual Group 1 winners. No sale can compare to it, even if a company puts all their sales together, so it’s a sale where buyers at all levels can come and participate on their potential champion and the graduate success of the sale is extraordinary,” said Bowditch in a clear broadside directed at rival Inglis.
“As our ads will show, we’ve had more Group 1 winners, more stakes winners and this season has been fantastic for us… and now we’re seeing the two-year-olds come through and dominate.”
Segenhoe Stud’s Peter O’Brien says it every year, but he believes the Hunter Valley nursery, one of 93 individual vendors selling on the Gold Coast, has done it again with its biggest and best draft of 31 yearlings heading to Magic Millions in 2023.
Among the stellar draft of Segenhoe Stud-bred and raised yearlings catalogued for the January sale are a first–crop filly by Pierata (Pierro) – the Aquis Farm sire one of 108 individual stallions and one of 28 freshman stallions represented on the Gold Coast – out of Group 1 winner Loving Gaby (I Am Invincible) (Lot 76), a Zoustar (Northern Meteor) half-brother to dual Group 1-winning two-year-old King’s Legacy (Redoute’s Choice) (Lot 682) and an I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) first foal, a colt, out of Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed sprinter Anaheed (Fastnet Rock), herself a daughter of Group 1 winner Rostova (Testa Rossa) (Lot 606).
O’Brien believes the half-brother to King’s Legacy – himself a $1.4 million Magic Millions graduate – will be among the standout colts on the Gold Coast.
“This fella’s very much thrown to the dam side in so far as that he’s a neat, precocious, very much a two-year-old with beautiful quality,” he said.
“From Zoustar, he’s inherited that lovely action, so he’s got a perfect blend from both the sire and his dam side and he’s a ‘proper one’.
“King’s Legacy was a neat, compact two-year-old type and that’s what the mare throws and this colt is no exception, so, I must say I really like him. He’s got a lovely short back. He’s just a perfect type for the Magic Millions.”
The Pierata half-sister to Loving Gaby (I Am Invincible), whose own sister Greece is showing stakes potential and is nominated for Cranbourne on Saturday, is another high-class yearling sure to capture attention in the Segenhoe draft.
“I was just saying to someone today, she is literally as good a first foal as you’d ever see and then you find out she’s out of Loving Gaby,” he said.
“We have a number of Pieratas and we couldn’t be happier with them and we have also got a filly out of Oregon’s Day (Lot 204). That stallion covered as good a book of mares as you’ll see for a young horse. He’s definitely throwing the types to match.”
On the colt out of Anaheed, O’Brien said: “He is the star. Obviously, Anaheed was a multiple Group 2 winner who was Group 1-placed by Fastnet Rock and this fella is just a stunning individual.
“You’d paint a picture of him if you could. He is definitely the star of the draft.”
Segenhoe Stud will also offer the “stunning” Peter Walsh-bred Blue Point (Shamardal) half-brother to Western Australia’s boom three-year-old filly Amelia’s Jewel (Siyouni) (Lot 690).
“We had Amelia’s Jewel here as a weanling and she was quite a neat filly, very strong, but neat whereas this fella has a bit more size and scope and he’s got an extraordinary action,” O’Brien said.
“He’d walk for Ireland and he is another proper animal.”
A colt by Deep Field (Northern Meteor) who is out of the Segenhoe Stud-raced stakes winner Granny Red Shoes (Not A Single Doubt) (Lot 910) is another who provides O’Brien with a twinkle in his eye.
“He is, without doubt, the best Deep Field I’ve ever seen,” he said.
“He is out of a mare we raced who was incredibly fast and she is by one of my favourite broodmare sires in Not A Single Doubt. Again, he’d be in our top five yearlings. He is basically faultless and we hold very high hopes for him.
“A very good Deep Field colt, he’s going to be on all the Hong Kong lists, including the Jockey Club’s, and when they come and see him, he’ll stay on there.”
The Segenhoe business model under owner Kevin Maloney and its client base has been to deal with high-end thoroughbreds, an investment which has paid off in the sales ring and on the racetrack, according to O’Brien.
“We’ve got a terrific client base as well as Segenhoe who want to deal in quality bloodstock, so invariably they’re out of good mares, by proper stallions, which makes our life easier, and then the farm itself, at the moment, we’re over 16 per cent stakes performers to yearlings through the ring, which is the highest in Australia,” he said.
“Obviously, through Magic Millions in the past few years we’ve sold three Group 1 winners in In Secret, Ellsberg and King’s Legacy.”
The 2023 Magic Millions carnival will also see the running of the inaugural $1 million The Syndicate (1200m), a race for horses owned by a minimum of 20 people, and the $500,000 The Debut (900m), a race for two-year-old first starters.
“Innovation is important and these are the first of their kind anywhere in the world. We like to be the market leader when it comes to these things and we’re getting great feedback, even here in America, about The Debut race. They think it’s a fantastic concept, and the Australians who are here are asking about it and looking to earmark horses for it,” Bowditch said.
“The syndicators are so important to our market, purchasing a huge proportion of what we sell each year, so to have a race that facilitates horses that are bought by huge ownership groups is something that we’re also excited about and I can’t wait to see the mounting yard on Magic Millions day, when we have all the owners in the yard for The Syndicate.”
Yearling preparations are already underway and on-farm inspections by owners, agents and trainers are expected to take place from early December.
2023 Gold Coast Yearling Sale schedule
Book 1
Tuesday, January 10 – Lots 1-185 – 12pm
Wednesday, January 11 – Lots 186-420 – 10am
Thursday, January 12 – Lots 421-655 – 10am
Friday, January 13 – Lots 656-890 – 10am
Saturday, January 14 – Lots 891-979 – 6pm
Book 2
Sunday, January 15 – Lots 980-1079 – 2pm
Monday, January 16 – Lots 1080-1273 – 10am
Related links
2023 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale catalogue
https://www.magicmillions.com.au/calendar/2023-gold-coast-yearling-sale/