2020 Magic Millions Magazine  

It is our great privilege to officially welcome you to the 2020 The Star Gold Coast Magic Millions Carnival.

Your guide to an action packed week of events on the Gold Coast.

It’s a story of some magic and, as it turns out, multiple millions. A story of three remarkable first foals, three females who were anything but shunned and who proved to be anything but risky propositions. Belief turned to success.

Each of us can dream. We can dream big. But it doesn’t mean a colt we personally selected at the Magic Millions Gold Coast sale two years earlier, who races in our silks, is the youngest horse in the field, and who we fought tooth and nail to a secure a slot for in the 2019 Everest will hand us the world’s richest turf event in track record time and a cheque for $6.6m.

It was a debate that was supposed to be solved by the pattern. Group 1 races would be the elite events, those rich events with a long and storied history, coveted by all. Group 2 races would be the next rung down, followed by Group 3 contests and so forth.

They create a great environment for the buyers and vendors. They make people welcome.

With his colourful antics and trademark star jump dismount from major race winners, the Italian has been capturing the attention of the racing world for decades.

The Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale is about far more than horses and people, it’s about making memories to last a lifetime and magic moments to stand the test of time.

The Gold Coast Magic Millions Yearling Sale has always punched above its weight.

To date Christopher Farrell’s career in thoroughbreds has ensured he has seen the airport lounges of all the major racing cities across the globe, at least once. However, if Chris has his way he’d like to become a permanent member of the auctioneer team at Magic Millions, a fate that lies in the hands of those who grant visa extensions. We spoke to Chris about his travels from rural Ireland to the Gold Coast.

History and geography - specifically the Bass Strait and two great oceans - have given the residents of the world’s 26th largest island a unique loyalty to the land mass affectionately referred to as “The Apple Isle”. Ironically these same factors have ensured many Mainlanders oft look puzzled when asked if Tasmania is in fact a State of Australia. The deeds of a number of modern day thoroughbreds as well as their trainers are doing much to change this viewpoint.

At just 30 years of age, Kate Harrington has cast her net wide in her professional career, proving she is more than just the daughter of a famous Irish trainer.

Thoroughbreds or stock horses, it’s all the same to Caleb Degen who, at just 22, is proving himself one of the Gold Coast’s most popular and valuable young horsemen.

So you’re on the Gold Coast for Magic Millions, lucky you. Know what else is magic on the Gold Coast? Everything. But also our world-class golf courses.

Burleigh Heads, or simply Burleigh to locals, sits like a cool comma between Surfers Paradise to the north and Coolangatta to the south. It’s a picturesque punctuation mark along the Gold Coast and most definitely somewhere to pause.