06/01/15

It’s Magic Millions week at the Gold Coast this week and it’s always a good week to have the chukkie bucket very handy as so much vomitable tripe will get written and spoken week in the racing media, by people who really should know better – but as they say “ignorance is bliss”.

You’ll hear and read only positives about the yearling sale, which in 2015 runs from 7 January to 11 January inclusive – and then the race day is on at the Gold Coast Turf Club next Saturday. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with positive stories, but you have to have some balance. “They” shouldn’t just write and talk positive stuff about the Magic Millions January yearling sale, as there are so many what I’d call “later to be proven donkeys” sold at the joint that it’s pretty much a joke.

If you think all that is a bit harsh, well come with me for a walk on the wild side as I research what the 16 runners that made up the Magic Millions 2YO race field in January 2014 have done since that race.

The purchase price of some of these runners when they were sold as yearlings at Magic Millions is noted in brackets after their name.

The horses below are listed in the order they finished in the 2014 Magic Millions two-year-old race, which last year was run on 11 January.

NAME

PLACING

SUBSEQUENT PERFORMANCES TO MAGIC MILLIONS 2YO

UNENCUMBERED

($70,000)

1

Had four more starts and ran just one placing, a second in the Group 2 Todman Stakes to Ghibellines. Now at stud.

OAKLEIGH GIRL

($400,000)

2

Had two more starts for a sixth of 16 in the Golden Slipper and a fifth of 10.

RUBY SOHO

3

Has started twice since for a second in a Caloundra Class 3 at odds-on and a sixth of 14 in a Class 4 at Caloundra. Her only career win to date has been in an Ipswich Maiden before the Magic Millions 2YO.

CYCLONE

($260,000)

4

Has had seven starts since for just one win in a Canterbury Maiden on 24/10/14.

STROAK

5

Has had six starts since and won just one race – a Class 3 Plate at the Gold Coast. Form since reads 7-12-9-1-3-7.

SAGATONA

6

Has had four starts since for one placing. Form since reads 7-2-11-11.

VIENNA ROYALE

7

Has had six starts since for one win in a Doomben 3YO on 1/1/15. Form since reads 8-lost rider-6-5-8-1.

INVISIBLE

8

Has started once since for a last in a field of four at the Kensington track in Sydney.

GEROMAYO

9

Three starts since for a last of 16 in the Blue Diamond Prelude, a third in a Bendigo Maiden and a seventh of eight at Moonee Valley.

ECHO GAL

($145,000)

10

Started seven times since for two wins, both being Canterbury Benchmark 70 events worth $40,000 in total prizemoney.

I AM THE GENERAL

($35,000)

11

Has had eight starts since and never run a place. Form since reads 6-5-4-7-8-12-9-8.

TOTALLY SURE

($160,000)

12

Has started six times since for no placings. Form since reads 7-9-5-5-5-9.

PINCH RIVER

($85,000)

13

Has started three times since for two wins, firstly in the Listed Dalrello Stakes at Doomben on 17/5/14 and in an Open 2YO at Ipswich. Ran fifth of 10 at his only other start.

SHEER STYLE

14

Four starts since have resulted in only one win – in a Kensington 0MW race.

DIVINE SERVICE

($40,000)

15

Nine starts since for two wins, one in a Caloundra Class 3, the other in a Caloundra Class 4.

CELESTIAL DRAGON

16

Six starts since for just one win in a Caloundra $15,000 total prizemoney 2YO race.

 

As you can see by my research, what a pathetic group they turned out to be. And don’t forget that these were the top 16 qualifiers that were sold by Magic Millions in January 2013 and other allied Magic Millions yearling sales around Australia in the following months. The 2013 January Magic Millions sale – where most of these 2YO runners of January 2014 emanated from – had 900 Lots catalogued.

 

So these 16 two-year-olds have all raced at least once or more since they started in the Magic Millions 2YO of January 2014 – and they’ve cumulatively had 78 starts since for 13 wins (16.66%) across all sorts of races, including Maiden events.

 

Those 16 runners were cumulatively so pathetic, class wise, that only two of the 16 (12.50%) runners, namely Pinch River and Vienna Royale, have been proven to be capable of winning a Saturday city class race and in fact until 1/1/15 when Vienna Royale won at Doomben, only one of the 16 (6.25%) had won a “Saturday city” race after contesting the Magic Millions 2YO.

 

Now if you look life straight in the eye and call a spade a spade and not a shovel, surely any fair minded person would think it’s “absolutely and utterly pathetic” that these 16 two-year-olds are the most talented and precocious of say 1500 Magic Millions yearlings sold Australia-wide that were eligible to run in the race. If these are the “most talented and precocious” yearlings sold at Magic Millions in 2013 for the January 2014 field of 16 to be drawn from, it doesn’t say much for the quality of the yearlings catalogued by Magic Millions in 2013. So who’s to say the January 2015 Gold Coast yearling sale will have any better quality horses sold at it?

 

Tomorrow I’ll research the subsequent racetrack performance of every horse that was placed on Magic Millions day last year, in races except the 2YO Magic Millions (referred to above) and the Maiden – and I’m sure the results will astound readers.

 

Today on www.brisbaneracing.com.au there’s a story on the passing of a well known harness identity as well as a Capricornia yearling sale story. On www.sydneyracing.com.au David Clarkson looks at the Sky Channel/TVN dispute, whilst on www.melbourneracing.com.au Victorian racing is perused.