Cover image courtesy of Michael McInally
Drama has been a hallmark of the Magic Millions Raceday in recent years, and this Saturday was no different. A major concern arose when a vital stretch of turf was poisoned in the lead-up to the event, which was further compounded by wild weather on race day that wiped the meeting out for the second time in three years. This turmoil sent shockwaves through the preparations of many trainers and their horses, who had been fine-tuning for the prestigious multi-million-dollar races.
Weather woes and turf troubles
The level of drama surrounding the rich meeting in recent years is nothing short of extraordinary. In 2020, the Magic Millions Raceday faced delays as several horses found themselves stuck in traffic. The odds-on favourite, Alligator Blood (All Too Hard), even required a police escort to reach the track, ultimately clinching victory in the Magic Millions 3YO Guineas.
With issues due to COVID-19 in 2021, the following year was no less eventful, as the Magic Millions Guineas witnessed a heart-stopping moment when Sydney Bowler (Deep Field) became trapped under the gates, forcing stewards to dismantle them to free the gelding, delaying the race by 80 minutes.
In 2023, two horses broke free during the promotional beach race, galloping through the streets of Surfers Paradise for a wild 20 minutes. At the race meeting the weekend prior, Princess Lunar dumped her jockey and took herself for a swim in the nearby canals. This all before the main raceday was postponed after just two races due to a “rogue sprinkler” wreaking havoc on the track.
Then, on Saturday, the meeting was abruptly stopped after three races when the Gold Coast track was inundated with 41mm of rain, leading officials to reschedule the remaining seven races for next Friday night under lights at the track. According to Jason Scott, the chief executive of Racing Queensland, it was the only rational solution.
“If you move it to a Saturday, it becomes an issue for the jockeys who had prior engagements around the country,” Racing Queensland chief executive Jason Scott said.
“If you move it to a Saturday, it becomes an issue for the jockeys who had prior engagements around the country.” - Jason Scott
“It gives Magic Millions a chance to build the brand on TV, if you were looking purely at dollars, you would probably move it to Saturday, but there are bigger things at play here.
“We all think Friday night fits in better.”
Black Soil's bold bid for glory
Tony Gollan is set to have three contenders in the rescheduled Magic Millions 2YO Classic. Hi Barbie (I Am Invincible), owned by Jennifer Acton, will compete alongside two runners from Black Soil Bloodstock: Formula Rossa (Spirit Of Boom) and the highly regarded La Bella Boom (Spirit Of Boom), who is currently positioned on the second line of betting.
Gallery: Black Soil Bloodstock's two runners in the R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic, images courtesy of Magic Millions
La Bella Boom won the Gold Pearl impressively at Sunshine Coast last week, with the plan being to go into the $3 million feature on the quick back-up; a proven recipe for success. The seven-day back up has provided four winners in past 15 years, with Exhilarates (Snitzel), Sunlight (Zoustar), Houtzen (I Am Invincible) and Le Chef (Exceed And Excel) all proving successful in the event on the quick turnaround. However, this plan was thrown into disarray yesterday following the postponing of the race. Surprisingly, this development has not dampened the spirits of Brian Siemsen, who, together with Harry McAlpine, is a key driving force behind Black Soil Bloodstock.
“I think we are still in drivers’ seat in terms of the seven-day back-up, only because everyone else’s campaign has shifted out a week and we are going to have quite significant residual fitness off the back of her run in Pearl last week,” Siemsen said.
“We certainly aren’t thinking we are in a negative position as a result of the race being postponed. There’s a few horses now that will be out to three, four, five-weeks between runs so we will see how that plays out. And I don’t think this track is going to get back towards anything better than a soft, if not worse. We think we have one of the best horses in the race and Tony has her prepped to an absolute tee.
“The last time we had an interrupted Magic Millions was in 2023 with Skirt the Law. We all came back on Thursday and won it, so it might the be racing gods message that we might be able to do it again.”
“The last time we had an interrupted Magic Millions was in 2023 with Skirt the Law. We all came back on Thursday and won it...” - Brian Siemsen
Siemsen can also only see the postponement as a positive for Forumla Rossa, who finished fourth behind Space Rider (Zoustar) last start at Eagle Farm.
“She’s an interesting one because, from a Spirit Of Boom perspective, she’s an absolute mud lark, she loves it,” Siemsen said.
“The time between runs is actually in her favour. Tony was a little hesitant to run her last start but she needed a little extra prizemoney so the timing will suit her down to the ground. She’s not there to make up the numbers, she’ll be competitive. If it’s on the worse side of soft she is going to run really well.
“She’s (Formula Rossa) an interesting one because, from a Spirit Of Boom perspective, she’s an absolute mud lark, she loves it. She’s not there to make up the numbers, she’ll be competitive.” - Brian Siemsen
“Tony (Gollan) is just talking about having a normal Tuesday gallop. His standard work for them as if he is prepping for the race this week. He said last night, nothing changes. We’ll come down on Friday and race as well as we can.”
Siemsen is doubtful the track will get back into the good range but is hopeful it may get back to a Soft 5 or 6.
“With the amount of work the Gold Coast Turf Club has done to get that track right to correct that patch that was sabotaged, it’s just a shame,” he said.
Brian Siemsen | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“The racing gods just did not want that race to run on Saturday. Nobody wanted to run their horses on that surface and it wasn’t fair to run, especially on a big race day like this.
“You’d have to think they will have the track spot on, I mean they will want to for everyone’s sake. I don’t think the track will chop out.”
Both Formula Rossa and La Bella Boom will race in the black and white silks of Black Soil Bloodstock, who will be hopeful to keep their run of success going after a fruitful 2025 Magic Millions Sale.
Million-dollar moves
Black Soil Bloodstock spent $1.58 million buying five yearlings in various partnerships and also made a landmark sale, selling Lot 216, a colt by Golden Slipper winner Stay Inside from Bleu Zebra (I Am Invincible) for $1 million to James Harron Bloodstock and Tony Fung. Incredibly, they also had five runners accepted to run at Saturday’s lucrative meeting.
Lot 216 - Stay Inside x Bleu Zebra (colt) | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“It’s been a pretty good fortnight on the Gold Coast with La Bella Boom winning the Pearl last weekend and then selling and buying a few, it’s been a good week,” Siemsen said.
“It’s an absolute dream result (selling Lot 216). I said to Harry (McAlpine) a couple of years ago, what does it take to sell a $1 million yearling? And he said time – I think he said five to seven years – and we knocked it over in just a couple. Eureka did an outstanding job with that draft for us and we subsequently got the result.”
One of the key purchases by Black Soil Bloodstock was Lot 810, a colt by Spirit Of Boom out of Pure Purrfection (General Nediym) offered by Eureka Stud.
Lot 810 - Spirit Of Boom x Pure Purrfection (colt) | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“We got the Spirit Of Boom crew back together to try and make a stallion out of the Pure Purrfection colt,” Siemsen said.
“He’s an absolute belter. We had up to $750,000 to go on him and we picked him up for an amazing price at $575,000. I feel really strongly about what we selected this year. I mean, we picked up five last year and of those five, three were racing on Magic Millions Raceday. Hopefully we can repeat that again next year.”
“We got the Spirit Of Boom crew back together to try and make a stallion out of the Pure Perfection colt (Lot 810). He’s an absolute belter.” - Brian Siemsen
Siemsen assessed the 2025 Magic Millions sale as a buyers’ market.
“I think top-tier looked after itself and then I think it was a proper buyers’ market below that,”
“I thought pricing was fair. I mean, we got all of ours under budget and price. They were either below sale average or right on sale average which is a good indication because we try and buy quality.”
It could be an amazing end of a massive couple of weeks for Black Soil Bloodstock who will also be represented by Nettuno (I Am Invincible) in the Magic Millions Snippets and Skirt The Law (Better Than ready), their previous Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner, in the Magic Millions QTIS Open.
