RACE SEEN ROUNDTHE WORLD
Coronavirus pandemic doesn’t deter buyers from $35m
IT’S not quite the h horse race that h stops the nation – but it is the horse race seen around the world. The annual spectacle along the Surfers Paradise beachfront to launch the Magic Millions yearling auction festival on Tuesday attracted thousands and resulted in video beamed out internationally. Magic Millions coowner Katie Page said while festival events had to be truncated due to COVID-19, the beach race was “sacrosanct” and showed off the city at its best. “It goes not only nationally but it goes around the world.”
COVID barely registered for bloodstock buyers as they bolted out of the gates on the opening day of the Magic Millions yearling sale with one horse fetching a staggering $1.9m.
Punters willingly splashed the cash on the young horses with 142 lots sold for an average price of $246,853 and combined total of $35.3m.
The first-day total was down on last year’s $48m but that came from a much larger number of horses up for sale. This year, the average sale climbed by more than $7000 and the clearance rate was 2 per cent higher.
Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch said it was a “fantastic start”, given the COVID restrictions and expansion of the sale to run over seven consecutive days for the first time.
“Given the circumstances where you can’t have the international players here — Sydneysiders are unable to make it given the restrictions in place — if you had asked me for these numbers at the start of the day we would have taken them and been delighted with them,” he said.
Mr Bowditch said there was an exciting atmosphere in the auction room despite the challenges faced by the industry.
“We’re a very resilient industry,” he said.
“Prizemoney in Australia is at unprecedented levels. Horses you buy here at the Magic Millions this week are running for a $12m race series.
“Whether you are buying a cheap horse for 10, 20, 30 grand right through to the big numbers, you’re giving yourself a chance to run in a huge lottery.”
Boom Racing owner Andrew Duneman said the sector didn’t “bat an eyelid” during COVID, with more Australians than ever coming out to invest “surplus cash”.
“You talk to most people and they have sold more shares during COVID than ever,” he said.
“Obviously, racing kept going … and people watching racing wanted to become involved.
“You are seeing that surplus cash people have from not going out or going overseas being invested in horse racing.”
Mr Dunneman, who is part of the team selling the offspring of Spirit Of Boom for Tony Gollan, said pedigree was all important.