Opportunities aplenty at Magic Millions’ QTIS sale
With such strong figures produced at yearling sale markets across the board this year, value has become an ever-diminishing product on the buyers’ side of the coin. However, the two-day Magic Millions March Gold Coast Yearling Sale which gets underway today has quickly made a name for itself as a reliable source of profitable returns in recent years, with the figures swift to back that notion up.
“We were doing the stats recently, and if you go back through, excluding last year, but the five years before that, if you had bought every horse at the sale in each year, all of those horses combined would have earned more prize-money than what was spent on them in the ring, which is pretty incredible,” Magic Millions bloodstock manager Dane Robinson said.
Much of the lucrative return on investment is owed to the strength of the QTIS bonus scheme in Queensland, which sees owners of fillies race for nearly $79,450 and colts $67,200 in each Saturday metropolitan contest for two and three-year-year-olds, while the rising stock of the breeding industry and stallion ranks in the state has led to a superior product presented at the sale.
The results at Saturday’s QTIS Jewel raceday at the Gold Coast are representative of both factors, as Eureka Stud’s Spirit Of Boom (Sequalo) claimed each of the $500,000 feature prizes on the card.
Group 2 winner Prince Of Boom won the QTIS Jewel 3YO (1200m), while the Steve O’Dea and Matthew Hoystead-trained She’sgottheboom scored in the QTIS Jewel 2YO (1200m), with the four runners chasing her home all by Lyndhurst Stud stallion Better Than Ready (More Than Ready).
Since 2018, the Queensland-based duo have accounted for nearly 40 per cent of all aggregate revenues at the March QTIS sale.
“Some of the stallions are doing a really good job now as well,” Robinson said.
“The likes of Spirit Of Boom and Better Than Ready are really making their impact and Heroic Valour is really starting to make an impact now with his first season.
“So I think there’s a little bit more to be encouraged about leading into the next couple of days in that regard.
“But prize-money is exceptional. The fillies are racing for nearly $80,000 on a Saturday now and when you compare that to what you’re paying for these horses, averaging around $40,000, it really makes it no-brainer to be buying here.”
Both Prince of Boom and She’sgottheboom were passed in at their respective sales, with Eureka graduate Prince Of Boom sold privately after his ring appearance for $20,000, while She’sgottheboom was retained to race.
Spirit Of Boom and Better Than Ready will again hold a strong presence in this year’s 427-lot catalogue – all of which are QTIS eligible – with Better Than Ready having 42 yearlings catalogued, while Eureka stallion Spirit Of Boom has 26 youngsters listed.
For Eureka Stud’s Harry McAlpine, the success of both Prince Of Boom and She’sgottheboom is indicative of the kind of opportunities that are presented at this sale, one from which Spirit Of Boom himself was sourced from in 2009.
“Prince Of Boom passed in and we sold him afterwards and he’s won just a bit more than half a million now,” McAlpine said.
“She’sgottheboom passed in and they couldn’t get $50,000 so they chopped her up with mates and friends and I think there’s about 40 of them in the syndicate so it’s a great thrill for them.
“(Her size and immaturity is) why she didn’t make her reserve last year. Her mare is a big horse but a city two-year-old winner herself. It’s probably not one of the best pedigree mares to have gone to Spirit Of Boom but they’ve been rewarded.
“This sale has probably, pound-for-pound, produced some of the better Spirit Of Booms and they haven’t made a lot of money. Horses like Boomsara who only made $40,000 and Champagne Boom came out of this sale, so there’s good value here.”
The Toowoomba stud will also present 14 lots by first season sire Encryption (Lonhro), whose first yearlings have averaged $120,000 so far.
“They’ve sold remarkably well and we’ve been really pleased with how the market has accepted them, particularly interstate. Not many have stayed in Queensland so far, so this sale will give a great opportunity for the local buyers to get involved and buy a few Encryptions,” McAlpine said.
“The local buyers I don’t think have been able to get hold of many horses so far, so they seem to be saving their dollars to go and buy the local QTIS-eligible horses with which they can get a return with.”
Aggregate soared to over $14 million at last year’s QTIS sale, almost double the $7.78 million grossed under a Covid-19 cloud in 2020, with 2021’s sale eclipsing the ‘Boom’ sale of 2018 in which Spirit Of Boom’s 37 yearlings sold grossed over $6 million.
However, a feature of this year’s yearling sales has been the increase in median. The recent Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale saw an increase of 19 per cent in that department, a rise that suggests strength across a wide range of players in the market, and Robinson sees that trend continuing here today, with the local buyers biding their time for this sale.
“Last year was phenomenal, so if we can get close to that this year we’d be really happy,” Robinson said.
“The medians have shot up across the board. Usually you get those sales where the averages are up but the medians down, but the median shows that things are up across all levels of the market.
“It really encourages people to look around the edges when looking at these horses. They’re locally bred, not the perfect specimen, but there are some lovely specimens among them and you’ve got to be able to look past a couple of things to find that quality.”
Aside from the local stallions, there are lots offered by Capitalist (Written Tycoon), and Russian Revolution (Snitzel), while there are single lots on offer by Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) and Shalaa (Invincible Spirit).
Lot 1, a filly by Spill The Beans (Snitzel), will head into the ring at 10am local time.