EXCLUSIVE: BUYER BEWARE AT MAGIC MILLIONS YEARLING SALE 7 TO 11 JANUARY……Part 2

07/01/15

Yesterday on this website I researched the racetrack performances of 2YO’s that contested the Magic Millions on 11/1/14 and that research revealed the fact that only two of the 16 starters (12.5%) in last year’s Magic Millions 2YO had won a “Saturday city race” since – and until New Year’s Day 2015 when Vienna Royale won at Doomben that figure was one horse (6.25%).

Other readers emailed in yesterday to advise that 2013 Magic Millions 2YO winner Real Surreal has never won another race since she scored that victory when trained by Kelso Wood in Brisbane. Subsequently transferred to the Hawkes stable in Sydney, she has been incapable of winning a race anywhere.

And first past the post in 2012 in the Magic Millions, No Looking Back, won just one of eight further starts and her sole subsequent win came by a wart in the Listed Carrington Stakes at Rosehill on 1/1/13. Following a protest she was relegated to second, but judging by Unencumbered (2014), Real Surreal (2013) and No Looking Back (2012) which were all first past the post and cumulatively won just one more race, winning Saturday’s Magic Millions 2YO race certainly doesn’t ensure any future success out on the racetrack of dreams. And that fact alone should surely question where the class of horses that appear at this so called wondrous Magic Millions race day actually sit in the general score of things, as it’s fair to think that the cream of those yearlings sold at Magic Millions would in later life target the Magic Million race day as the prizemoney, although falsely advertised in many quarters (refer tomorrow’s story here) is handy.

To that end, if we have “the cream of the crop” from around Australia racing on the big Magic Millions race day annually, I thought it relevant to do some investigative research and find out if any of the older horses that appeared on the day and ran in the first three placings last year on the good 3 track had gone and reached any dizzy heights since. So excluding that silly Maiden that they run as Race 1 on Magic Millions day and the Magic Millions 2YO, here is the subsequent racetrack performance of each of the placegetters in the other six races run on the Magic Millions race day on 11/1/14 and let’s see if we can come up with some better statistics for all the donkeys that Magic Millions sell as yearlings around Australia. Surely it couldn’t get any worse (Don’t read on Gerry and crew at Magic Millions – or if you do – please go and have an angina tablet now).

RACE

HORSE

PLACING

SUBSEQUENT PERFORMANCES TO MAGIC MILLIONS DAY 2014

 

NOISY OCEAN

1

Has had 14 starts since for just one win, in a five-horse field at the Gold Coast in a Benchmark 85 race worth $13,000 in total prizemoney.

2

SCORPIO QUEEN

2

Has had eight further starts and has never run a place since.

 

DIENEKES

3

Has had 10 starts since for one win in a Caloundra Open Handicap.

 

DRIEFONTEIN

1

Has started 12 times since for two wins and two placings. The two wins were in the Group 1 Sangster Classic in Adelaide and the Group 3 Irwin Stakes in Adelaide.

3

MISS LEIBERT

2

In two starts since has run an 8thand 11th, so hopefully she’s barefoot and pregnant now.

 

ARMS LENGTH

3

Has started 11 times since for one win in a Goulburn Benchmark 70.

 

WHITTINGTON

1

In five subsequent starts he never finished closer than 5th.

4

EMMALENE

2

Her only start since resulted in an 11th of 13. Hopefully the same fame has beset her as is wished upon Miss Leibert.

 

STEEL ZIP

3

Has had 16 starts since for just the one win – and that was by a wart – in a Doomben Open company event.

 

SWEET IDEA

1

In nine starts since she’s won three times – all at Group 2 level.

5

ESTONIAN PRINCESS

2

Has had 14 starts since for two wins – firstly in a Wyong Class 2 and secondly in a Group 3 race at Randwick.

 

ENQUARE

3

Has had six starts since for one placing – a second.

 

VELROSSO

1

In six starts since has never finished closer than 5th.

7

PHELAN READY

2

His seven subsequent starts have resulted in two wins and no placings. The two wins were in Brisbane Open company races.

 

CLUB COMMAND

3

Has started seven times since and didn’t win a race in those seven appearances.

 

COMMANDARE

1

In seven starts since has had no wins – just two thirds.

8

PURE WHISPER

2

Has started four times since for just two placings.

 

TARGET IN SIGHT

3

Has had seven starts since for three wins, including one Listed win at Caulfield.

 

So this aforesaid group of 18 horses (three placegetters for each of the six races other than the Maiden and the Magic Millions 2YO) has cumulatively started 146 times since for just 16 further wins (10.96%).

 

Of the 18 horses only one – Driefontein – was capable of winning a Group 1 race in the 12 months since and of the remaining 17 horses only Sweet Idea was able to have multiple black type wins (three Group 2’s).

 

Of the 18 horses named above, amazingly seven – or 38.89% – failed to win a solitary race anywhere after Magic Millions day 2014.

 

Given that the oldest placed horses from 2014 Magic Millions Day were 8YO (Phelan Ready) and 7YO (Steel Zip), the acceptors for some of these races were drawn from 900-strong catalogues from up to nine years ago, or 8,100 horses – and that’s just the ones sold from the Gold Coast January sale, without worrying about other Magic Million yearling sales sold around Australia, so exactly how many “bad and slow yearlings” must Magic Millions sell each year at their sales? The mind boggles.

 

Today on www.brisbaneracing.com.au there’s the first montage of photos from the Gold Coast last Saturday. On www.sydneyracing.com.au there’s a breeding story, whilst on www.melbourneracing.com.au Matt Nicholls looks at the Magic Millions 2YO that’s owned in his former town – Mount Isa – Le Chef.

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