Bowditch expecting more Magic on the Coast
Magic Millions release their marquee catalogue as buyers get their first look at progeny of first-season sires including Home Affairs
Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch is predicting more fireworks at the Gold Coast in January after the catalogue for the 2025 edition of Australasia’s pre-eminent yearling sale – featuring 1,401 lots by 127 individual sires – was officially released on Tuesday.
With the siblings of 26 Group 1 winners – including a brother to Amelia’s Jewel (Siyouni), a three-quarter brother to Arcadia Queen (Pierro) and close relations to I Am Invincible’s (Invincible Spirit) sprinting sensations Home Affairs, Imperatriz and In Secret – all featuring in the catalogue, the appetite of vendors and prospective buyers has been whetted ahead of the opening day on January 7.
“When you think of the stars of the sport and some of the household names in racing, they’re very well represented in this catalogue,” Bowditch told ANZ Bloodstock News.
“The quality of stock on offer is testament to the hard work of the team and the relationship they have established over the years with our trusted vendors, who have such confidence in this sale. The results from the last few years speak for themselves, we’ve gone from strength to strength and that’s due mainly to the support we have received from the biggest and best breeding operations in Australasia.”
While revered stallions such as Hunter Valley powerhouses I Am Invincible, Zoustar (Northern Meteor) and Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) and Victoria’s leading stallion Written Tycoon (Iglesia) will continue to showcase their precious wares, attention will also be focused on the new kids on the block as a raft of freshmen sires all aim to convert a wealth of racetrack success into brilliance in the breeding barn.
They include the likes of Coolmore’s dual Group 1 winner Home Affairs (I Am Invincible), Newgate’s 2021 Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) hero Stay Inside (Extreme Choice) and intriguing shuttle stallions St Mark’s Basilica (Siyouni), who stands at Coolmore, and Darley’s Pinatubo (Sharmadal), who advertised his talents in the northern hemisphere when is son Tipinso took out the Criterium du Languedoc (Listed, 1600m) in France on Monday, providing the stallion with his first stakes winner from his first crop of juveniles.
“We’re really excited about the quality of stock produced by some of the first-season sires represented,” said Bowditch.
“As a Golden Slipper-winning son of Extreme Choice, there’s every chance that Stay Inside will make an immediate impact and after everything he achieved, there will be a real buzz of excitement around Home Affairs’ first crop of yearlings.
“Then you have Pinatubo, Palace Pier and St Mark’s Basilica, who all add a strong international flavour. Plenty of emerging stallions have made their names at the Magic Millions, so we believe that this sale is the perfect place for first-season sires to be introduced to the market.”
The 63 yearlings up for auction by Home Affairs, who were conceived off a princely sum of $110,000 (inc GST), will undoubtedly command plenty of attention when they go through the ring; and perhaps most notably his progeny produced by star mares Sunlight (Zoustar), Booker (Written Tycoon) and Champagne Cuddles (Not A Single Doubt).
Indeed, Magic Millions may just have saved the best for last in 2025, with the third foal – and first filly – out of Sunlight one of the final lots offered through Book 1 on the Friday, which has now been coined the ‘Super Session’.
Sunlight, who created history when she was bought by Coolmore for $4.2 million at the 2020 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, has produced two colts, one by Triple Crown winner Justify (Scat Daddy) and the other by his fellow Jerrys Plains resident Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj). They were sold for $1.4 million apiece at the 2023 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale and the 2024 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale respectively, with her filly by Home Affairs almost certain to fetch north of seven figures. Sunlight produced a filly by Justify in August.
After a magnificent racetrack career which yielded a trio of Group 1 wins and more than $6.5 million in prize-money, Sunlight has shown that she is equally adept in the breeding barn with her three-year-old Justify colt, Dawn Service, having already won a Listed race for Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.
There seems little doubt that his half-sister (Lot 1007) will therefore spark a bidding frenzy, with Bowditch expecting anticipation in the sales ring to reach feverish levels late on Friday afternoon.
“Home Affairs is unbelievably well represented, Coolmore obviously have great faith in him as a stallion of the future and he has been supported accordingly with some phenomenal mares – none more so than Sunlight,” said Bowditch.
“That last hour or so of selling on Friday should be absolutely electric, there will be plenty of fireworks late in the sale and this filly will undoubtedly be one of the more popular lots. She’s an outstanding type, so she will be highly sought-after on both looks and pedigree.”
Much the same applies to the second foal produced by another multiple Group 1 winner in Avantage (Fastnet Rock). Her filly by Wootton Bassett topped the Magic Millions Sale last year when she was purchased for $2.1 million by Te Akau Racing supremo, David Ellis, who raced Avantage and was determined to continue her legacy by acquiring her first foal.
It would be no surprise that Ellis will again be showing a very keen interest in Avantage’s second filly (Lot 182), one of 52 yearlings set to go through the ring by champion sire I Am Invincible.
The group also includes the second foal out of stakes-winning mare Haut Brion her (Zoustar), whose first foal – a colt by I Am Invincible – was knocked down to Chris Waller and bloodstock agent Guy Mulcaster for $725,000 at this year’s sale.
Like I Am Invincible, Written Tycoon is also entering the twilight of his career and although he now only serves a private book, Yulong have given him every opportunity of cementing an already outstanding reputation by partnering their banner stallion with some of their prized mares in the shape of Away Game (Snitzel), In Her Time (Time Thief) and Greysful Glamour (Stratum) – that trio purchased by Mr Zhang’s Nagambie operation for a combined $7.5 million.
Written Tycoon’s first mating with Away Game, who was the $4 million sale topper at the 2022 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale, produced a filly, who is catalogued as Lot 185, likely to be in very high demand when she enters the ring on the opening day. She gave birth to her first colt by Written Tycoon in late-August.
In Her Time’s colt by Written Tycoon was picked up by Coolmore at this sale in January for $750,000 and her flashy chestnut colt (Lot 505) likely to pique the interest of several interested observers early on day three.
“I don’t think it matters what type of horse you’re shopping for, the sale will cater for all buyers,” said Bowditch.
“Whether you’re looking for a future Slipper winner, your next Australian Guineas winner like Southport Tycoon, a horse than can get over further ground like Group 1 Spring Champions Stakes winner El Castello or even a future Melbourne Cup winner in the mould of Knight’s Choice, you’ll be able to find it here.
“Year on year our access rate is extraordinary, there’s no other sale in Australia than can currently compete in terms of the number of Group 1 winners, so we’re very proud of our record.”
The 2024 sale achieved a clearance rate of 87.88 per cent, with a median price of $200,000 and an average of just over $275,000. While Bowditch is hopeful of matching if not bettering those figures in 2025, he is also conscious that yearling sales are not entirely immune from the cost-of-living pressures affecting much of the population, both in Australia and further afield.
“The sale held up remarkably well this year but it’s difficult to say whether there will be a correction in the market in 2025,” he said.
“Globally the sales have performed really well again this year, whether in England or Europe or over in America, which is where I’ve just come back from. It’s pleasing to see that there’s still great confidence in our industry, and particularly here in Australia we’re blessed to be racing for some incredible prize-money.
“But having said all that, we’re only too aware that the current state of the economy is making it very tough for some people, so we’ll be working very closely with our clients to ensure that they have the opportunity to buy at their price point and get value for money.
“Most people just love getting involved, there’s always a great vibe on the Gold Coast at that time of year and the build-up should be bigger and better than ever with the introduction of the new twilight meeting on the Saturday before the sale starts. So there’s every reason to come along and experience the magic and excitement for yourselves, because there’s nothing quite like it.”
The 2025 sale gets underway at the Bundall complex at 10am on Tuesday, January 7, with Book 1 (provisionally comprising 1,021 lots) coming to a close on Friday, January 10.
Following the Magic Millions Raceday at the Gold Coast Turf Club on Saturday, featuring the $3 million Gold Coast Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) and the $3 million Gold Coast Magic Millions 3YO Guineas (RL, 1600m), Book 2 gets underway at 3.30pm the following afternoon with the final lots set to go through the ring from 10am on Monday January 13.
2025 CARNIVAL SCHEDULE
Saturday January 4 – Magic Millions Gold Twilight Meeting, Gold Coast Turf Club – featuring the $3M TAB Magic Millions Sunlight and $1M Magic Millions The Syndicate
Sunday January 5 – Pacific Fair Magic Millions Polo & Showjumping, Doug Jennings Park
Tuesday January 7 – The Star Gold Coast Magic Millions Barrier Draw, Surfers Paradise Foreshore
Tuesday January 7 – Gold Coast Yearling Sale – Day 1, 10am – Lots 1-240
Wednesday January 8 – Gold Coast Yearling Sale – Day 2, 10am – Lots 241-480
Thursday January 9 – Gold Coast Yearling Sale – Day 3, 10am – Lots 481-720
Friday January 10 – Gold Coast Yearling Sale – Day 4, 10am – Lots 721-1021
Saturday January 11 – The Star Gold Coast Magic Millions Raceday, Gold Coast Turf Club – featuring the $3 million The Star Gold Coast Magic Millions 2YO Classic & $3 million Gold Coast Magic Millions 3YO Guineas
Sunday January 12 – Gold Coast Yearling Sale – Day 5, 3.30pm – Lots 1022-1141
Monday January 13 – Gold Coast Yearling Sale – Day 6, 10am – Lots 1141-1401