Unprecedented Demand at Magic Millions Perth Sale

A booming Western Australian racing industry, a benefactor of the state's rich resources sector and strong prize money, could see the Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale push beyond AU$20 million for the first time as soon as next year. That's the ambition of Magic Millions management, after the demand for horses skyrocketed at the two-day sale, proving last year's "lock-in" Covid-influenced yearling bonanza was far from a one-off. The unprecedented demand for horses, which saw almost AU$19.5 (US$13,111,118, AU$1=US$0.6724) million traded across the 327-lot Book 1 and 2 catalog at an average of AU$73,525 ($49,436), continued on the second day of the sale with 87% of horses finding new homes in the second session. After a record Book 1 sale Feb. 23, the Book 2 offering reached its own new heights, with an average of AU$50,419 ($33,900), a median of AU$45,000 ($30,256), and an aggregate of AU$5.899 million ($3,966,281). Magic Millions WA manager David Houston came into the sale confident that the buying bench carried significant depth and the investors didn't let him down. Thirteen horses were bought by interstate owners, agents, or trainers, the cohort swamped by the locals who ensured 246 would remain in WA. "With everything that everyone had been saying, I was quite confident that we had a very strong buying bench here, for sure, and we had the interstaters come in and that helped no end," Houston told ANZ Bloodstock News last night. "(Interstate buyers) have been away for a couple of years and they probably didn't quite realize just how strong things have been here, last year particularly, but they've gone away saying that they will come back." Houston has set his sights on achieving AU$20 million in turnover in 2024 and it is a figure he believes could have been broken this year if not for the forced withdrawal of some high-profile yearlings in the lead-up to the auction. "We're not going to go backwards, so we'll be shooting for the stars," he declared. "We lost some very nice horses, unfortunately, so we certainly would have ticked over the AU$21 million if they had been here. "It's a shame, but anyway, it'll happen next year hopefully." Parnham Keen on Kay Cee Lookalike Meanwhile, the top lot from Friday, a daughter of Playing God (AUS), will be trained by master Perth trainer Neville Parnham who outlaid AU$170,000 for the filly, the most expensive of eight Book 2 yearlings to make $100,000 or more, as the local market continued its spending spree. No one knows the Playing God breed better than Parnham— he trained him to win two Kingston Town Classics (G1)—and the successful Ascot horseman also prepared the leading WA stallion's sole group 1 winner to date in Kay Cee (AUS). And it was Kay Cee, the 2019 Kingston Town Classic winner, who Parnham referenced when asked about the Book 2 session-topper, one of seven the trainer bought by the sire at the 2023 Perth sale. Consigned by Western Breeders Alliance as Lot 304, she is the first foal out of the juvenile-winning, Perth-placed filly Nickel Queen. "To be honest with you, they come in all shapes and sizes and the only ones I probably shy away from are the smaller ones," Parnham said of the Playing God stock. "I saw her at the farm about a month ago and she's come on since then. She's a good walker and I thought she was probably at the top-end of what we had to pay for her, but she presented really smartly." Ridgeport Holdings' Santo Guagliardo, a long-time supporter of Parnham's, will race the filly with trainer. Fellow WA trainer Paul Hunter is also hoping to replicate the success of a filly by Playing God after purchasing a yearling for AU$130,000, the equal second-highest priced lot of the Book 2 session. Albany-based Hunter, who has 12 horses in work, nurtured last-start stakes winner Feels Playful (AUS) early in her career and when her talent became apparent, he chose to send her to the city to be trained at Ascot by Mitchell Pateman. "We leased Feels Playful a year and a half ago out of the paddock and we thought she was a nice filly and the breed are hard to beat, Playing God, so there's plenty of demand for them," Hunter told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday. "We liked this filly from the get-go, she's a nice type of filly, a big, strong girl. They're all different, the Playing Gods." The Elvira Park-consigned filly is the second foal out of four-time winner Helena Miss, whose first foal is an unraced 2-year-old gelding by Playing God named Holy Knight. "They were a bit too strong for us (on Thursday), so we kept punching on to see if we could find one and we think we've found a nice one," Hunter said. "After seeing what the Playing Gods sold for yesterday, we had to up the ante and we did." Trainer Simon Miller signed for the session's other AU$130,000 filly by Rangeview Stud first season sire Long Leaf (AUS), whose progeny was well-received by local and interstate buyers. They averaged AU$75,469 from 16 sold across both books, second only to Playing God who averaged AU$121,750 from 20 yearlings sold. Parnham spent AU$1,927,500 on 17 yearlings, while Dan Morton purchased 11 and agent John Chalmers signed for 10 yearlings. The Western Breeders Alliance of Darling View's Brent Atwell, Westbury Park's Phil Ibbotson, and Wayne Beynon of Einoncliff Park were the leading vendors across both books, selling 28 yearlings for a combined AU$2,305,500. Ibbotson said the results of the Alliance speak for themselves. "We started about eight years ago and we've been the leading vendors now for a number of years and it's worked extremely well," Ibbotson told ANZ Bloodstock News. "We market the horses together and we can do everything a lot more professionally between the three farms. It's a concept that's worked really well."