Revamped Magic Millions March Sale Set to Begin

A healthy buying bench has been spotted inspecting yearlings around the complex ahead of the revamped two-day Magic Millions Gold Coast March Yearling Sale which gets underway March 12. A total of 447 yearlings (508 less 61 withdrawals) are scheduled to go through the ring as this year's renewal arrives with a refreshed format, with non-Queensland Thoroughbred Incentive Scheme yearlings included for the first time. The change is designed to broaden the catalog and enhance its appeal to local, interstate, and international buyers, while still maintaining the strong incentive structure that has traditionally underpinned the sale. In total, progeny by 94 individual stallions are represented. The catalog is headed by locally based sires Better Than Ready (AUS) with 56 lots and Spirit Of Boom (AUS) with 26. A wide mix of proven and emerging stallions also feature, including Alabama Express, All Too Hard, Capitalist, Home Affairs, Maurice, So You Think, The Autumn Sun, and Zousain, among others. Despite mixed feedback from vendors regarding traffic in the lead-up, those in attendance include Peter Moody and Wylie Dalziel, Bruce Slade, Will Freedman, Macedon Racing, Paul Moroney and Catheryne Bruggeman, Suman Hedge, Will Johnson and Craig Rounsefell. The catalog has also drawn new interstate participation, with 13 vendors from outside Queensland represented this year, including Alma Vale Thoroughbreds, Blue Gum Farm, Newhaven Park Stud, North Bloodstock and Valiant Stud. Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch believes the expanded catalog and broader vendor base have helped position the sale well heading into the two days of trading. "We thought vendors could do with another sale, and we thought bolstering this sale with interstate horses would give the Queensland breeder more exposure on their yearlings instead of it just being seen as a Queensland sale," Bowditch told ANZ News. "It's always been a tougher sale to get interstate buyers to. We've extended the catalog, it's bigger than what it was last year. We feel like we've added more horses at all levels of the market. I think there's some good prospects at the lower end, middle end, and higher end. So I feel as if we've filled all voids of the market and, from a catalog perspective and physically speaking, we're in good shape leading into the next two days." The sale has proven a productive hunting ground in recent years, producing stakes winners including Hidden Wealth, successful in this season's Favelon Stakes, and talented stakes-winning juvenile Itchintogo. Bowditch is confident the 2026 edition will again deliver graduates capable of competing on the big stage. "Of the graduate success, I've got a lot of confidence again this year," Bowditch said. "There will be plenty of nice horses and there'll be plenty of horses running in Magic Millions next year and in the right races come next year. … The prize money these horses race for is extraordinary. I think from an interstate perspective it's a busy year. It's a compressed sales catalog this year. It's hard—they've obviously got business to run, they've got horses to sell. They can't be everywhere. "But I think we've engaged with a lot of people that are either still to turn up or showing interest remotely, and we feel as if we've done all we can to give them all the information they need to do their work. We have got a good level of confidence that we've found a horse for anyone that's in the market to buy." Hunter Valley operation Attunga Stud will make its debut at the revamped Magic Millions March Yearling Sale this week, presenting a draft of 11 youngsters set to go under the hammer on the Gold Coast. Owner Brian Nutt said the revised format of the sale had opened the door for operations like Attunga to participate, while also providing a more manageable timeline for preparing yearlings following the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January. "Logistically, it suited us to do a sale like this when they opened it up to all comers and it wasn't just a QTIS sale," he said. "We could get home from the Magic Millions in January and it would give us seven or eight weeks to prepare these horses." Nutt believes the earlier timing could also prove beneficial for buyers, particularly traders looking to source horses for breeze-up sales. "By the time you get to June—which is the other yearling sale that we used to attend—they're a lot bigger and a lot stroppier. We thought we'd give this a go. In this sale, we've got seven colts, and it gives those traders a bit more time to work with them, if they want to go to a breeze up or what have you, as opposed to bringing them up in June, then getting them broken in." Despite welcoming the new format, Nutt admitted he was unsure whether the expanded catalog would translate into a deeper buying bench. "The foot traffic on Monday was pretty much nonexistent, because the weather was absolutely terrible. Yesterday, it was much improved, and today it's been very steady all day, and we're really happy with it. "We're not seeing a lot of interstate trainers here. There are a few Sydney agents here: Jim Clarke, Will Johnson, and Jamie Walter. Those are just people that I've seen, so that is encouraging. It is a new format, and we'll just have to wait and see how it goes. I think it's gonna take some time to build momentum." The sale gets underway at 10 am local time March 12.