Cover image courtesy of Magic Millions
Data from Magic Millions website as at January 15, 2025
It’s been five years since the COVID-19 phenomenon of 2020, which makes it a simple cut-off point for analysis. The 2020 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale wasn’t affected by the COVID lockdowns which didn’t come in until March of 2020, but in terms of how the world economy has behaved since then, the last five years have been unique.
Across the whole sale with both books in consideration, the median has stayed fairly static at $150,000 in 2021, 2024 and 2025; with slight lifts in 2022 ($180,000) and 2023 ($170,000). The real story comes when digging deeper into the data.
| 2025 | 1401 | 138 | 1009 | $150,000 | 79.89% | $200,000 | $35,000 |
| 2024 | 1474 | 138 | 1132 | $150,000 | 84.73% | $200,000 | $35,000 |
| 2023 | 1279 | 135 | 1015 | $170,000 | 88.72% | $210,000 | $50,000 |
| 2022 | 1235 | 136 | 1013 | $180,000 | 92.17% | $230,000 | $46,000 |
| 2021 | 1286 | 138 | 1031 | $150,000 | 89.81% | $180,000 | $45,000 |
Table: Overall five-year metrics of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale
Volume is part of the story
In the last two years, the number of yearlings catalogued at this sale has leaped up to around 1400, while the three years prior, the catalogue sat at around 1250. Of note, the number of withdrawn horses hasn’t shifted over the past five years, but the clearance rate has dropped steadily from 90 per cent to around 80 per cent.
This year also saw a change in format, with no selling planned for the Saturday, ironically so that people could enjoy a day at the races. Magic Millions removed Book 3 from the format (and for these statistics, the old Book 2 and Book 3 have been combined for years when both existed).
The new format meant a longer day on Friday with the auction going into the evening to complete Book 1, and then a shorter Book 2 being sold on Sunday afternoon (rather than all day Sunday) and all-day Monday. Given that the median for Book 2 remained the same for the new selling format compared to 2024, metrics indicate the change worked for vendors and buyers.
A new record top-price
The record for the highest-priced yearling at the sale was broken this year when the Coolmore Stud-consigned Home Affairs filly (Lot 1007) out of Sunlight (Zoustar) sold to Mitsu Nakauchida of Japan for $3.2 million. Sunlight, a triple Group 1-winning Champion 3YO Filly in Australia, got off the mark with her first foal being Listed winner Dawn Service (Justify {USA}), and the sale-topping filly is Sunlight’s third foal.
Lot 1007 - Home Affairs x Sunlight (filly) | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
Originally a $300,000 purchase at this sale in 2017 from Widden Stud’s draft by Aquis, McEvoy Mitchell Racing, and Blue Sky Bloodstock, Sunlight returned to Magic Millions as a broodmare prospect where Coolmore purchased her for $4.2 million. Between Dawn Service who was a $1.4 million yearling, her second foal who sold for $1.4 million and this sale topping yearling, her purchase price has been a good investment with her three yearlings returning $6 million so far.
This year, 2025, saw a significant drop in the number of seven-figure yearlings sold at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, from 23 last year to 13 this year; the lowest since the 12 in 2021.
| 2025 | 13 | $ 3,200,000 |
| 2024 | 23 | $ 2,100,000 |
| 2023 | 20 | $ 2,700,000 |
| 2022 | 19 | $ 1,900,000 |
| 2021 | 12 | $ 1,900,000 |
Table: Number of seven-figure yearlings at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale over the last five years
Quadrant analysis of Book 1
By breaking the sold prices for Book 1 into four quadrants, a deeper analysis can be done of the top, middle, and lower sectors of the commercial sector of the market. For the sake of completeness, there will be occasional mentions of Book 2, but those horses are not included in the quartile figures.
With the number of individual horses sold staying fairly static over the past five years at a tick over 1000 across the whole catalogue, Book 1 has also been stable with an average of 790 horses sold per year over the last five years. This year saw a slight downturn to 768 horses sold, a reflection on the lower clearance rate for the 2025 sale at 79.89 per cent.
| 2025 | 768 | $ 200,000 | $ 591,165.80 | $ 250,916.23 | $ 154,088.54 | $ 79,609.38 | 241 | $ 44,539.42 |
| 2024 | 819 | $ 200,000 | $ 592,536.59 | $ 260,318.63 | $ 165,186.27 | $ 84,975.73 | 313 | $ 46,511.18 |
| 2023 | 790 | $ 210,000 | $ 629,644.67 | $ 275,075.76 | $ 173,535.35 | $ 87,771.57 | 225 | $ 61,448.89 |
| 2022 | 785 | $ 230,000 | $ 602,270.41 | $ 289,056.12 | $ 184,132.65 | $ 96,535.53 | 228 | $ 56,502.19 |
| 2021 | 793 | $ 180,000 | $ 541,683.42 | $ 238,257.58 | $ 146,979.70 | $ 76,346.73 | 238 | $ 58,796.22 |
Table: Quadrant analysis by year
For Book 1, all four quartiles show an increase in average over the five-year period, while Book 2 saw a marked drop overall with 2025 being 32 per cent lower than in 2021. For Book 1, a comparison between 2021 and 2025 is slightly misleading, as the intervening years were stronger, however, it does show that even as 2025 had the same median as 2024 and a lower median than 2023 and 2022, there is an upwards trend over the five-year period.
Which market sector passed in more horses?
With a worse than usual clearance rate in 2025 at 79.89 per cent, there were more passed in lots than in previous years with 254 lots not finding a new home, with 158 of those in Book 1. By looking at the quartile price brackets for each year in Book 1, and then placing the individual reserve prices against them, the number of passed in lots per quartile can be determined.
It’s a little bit fiddly in data terms - a topic too dull to expand on here - however, the result does provide a valuable picture of vendor behaviour, and if this has shifted during the past five years.
| 2025 | 768 | $ 200,000 | 158 | 21 | 23 | 49 | 65 | 96 |
| 2024 | 819 | $ 200,000 | 113 | 16 | 17 | 36 | 44 | 92 |
| 2023 | 790 | $ 210,000 | 87 | 8 | 17 | 24 | 38 | 42 |
| 2022 | 785 | $ 230,000 | 53 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 36 | 33 |
| 2021 | 793 | $ 180,000 | 91 | 8 | 16 | 27 | 40 | 47 |
Table: Passed in lots by reserve and split by quartile
In 2025, approximately 72 per cent of passed in lots had a reserve price under the sale median for Book 1 and the remaining 28 per cent had a reserve higher than the sale median. For most years this data is fairly consistent, although at the top end, the percentage of passed in lots has increased proportionally for the highest quartile from nine per cent of passed in lots in Book 1 in 2021 to 13 per cent in 2025.
| 2025 | 768 | $200,000 | 158 | 13% | 15% | 31% | 41% | 72% |
| 2024 | 819 | $200,000 | 113 | 14% | 15% | 32% | 39% | 71% |
| 2023 | 790 | $210,000 | 87 | 9% | 20% | 28% | 44% | 71% |
| 2022 | 785 | $230,000 | 53 | 8% | 11% | 13% | 68% | 81% |
| 2021 | 793 | $180,000 | 91 | 9% | 18% | 30% | 44% | 74% |
Table: Passed in expressed as a percentage
Buyer numbers and behaviour
On Monday, Magic Millions Managing Director Barry Bowditch told TTR, “Overall, the volume change is the key. We had less horses (than 2024) and a similar number of buyers, but each buyer has been looking to secure less horses.”
Over the last five years, there has been some changes in the volume of horses that buyers have taken home. The buyer data has been left in the official buyer sheet format, so the ever-changing partnership names make a direct match up almost impossible.
However, in 2025, the 480 individual buyers, or buying groups, purchased an average of 2.1 horses each. This is a considerable drop from 2021, when the average number of purchases were 2.48 per buyer, however there were fewer buying groups in 2021 also.
| 2025 | 1401 | 1009 | $ 150,000 | 480 | 2.10 | 299 | 62% | Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott Racing/Kestrel Thoroughbreds | 24 | Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott Racing/Kestrel Thoroughbreds | $ 9,005,000 |
| 2024 | 1474 | 1132 | $ 150,000 | 533 | 2.12 | 339 | 64% | Ciaron Maher Bloodstock | 24 | Ciaron Maher Bloodstock | $ 8,145,000 |
| 2023 | 1279 | 1015 | $ 170,000 | 497 | 2.04 | 318 | 64% | Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott Racing/Kestrel Thoroughbreds | 21 | China Horse Club/Newgate/Go/Trilogy | $ 10,100,000 |
| 2022 | 1235 | 1013 | $ 180,000 | 439 | 2.31 | 280 | 64% | Ciaron Maher Bloodstock | 37 | Ciaron Maher Bloodstock | $ 13,180,000 |
| 2021 | 1286 | 1031 | $ 150,000 | 416 | 2.48 | 246 | 59% | Ciaron Maher Bloodstock | 38 | Tony Fung Investments/Phoenix Thoroughbreds | $ 11,645,000 |
Table: Buyer behaviour at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale over the last five years
Of particular interest, the number of buyers who purchased only one horse at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale has stayed fairly static over the last five years, at an average of 63 per cent of all buyers, with the sale averaging around 300 individual buyers or buying groups. In 2025, people who came home with one horse represented 62 per cent of all buyers.
At the top end of the volume charts, there has been a contraction with the top buyer, by volume, in 2021 bringing home 38 horses, while in both 2024 and 2025 this fell to 24 horses. However, it's important to note that in 2021, COVID-19 restricted physical access to the sale.
Vendor trends
The number of vendors bringing horses to the Gold Coast fell to 137 in 2025, down from a five-year peak in 2024 of 155 (which was also the year with the most lots catalogued in the past five years).
| 2025 | 1401 | 1009 | $ 150,000 | 137 | Widden Stud | 71 |
| 2024 | 1474 | 1132 | $ 150,000 | 155 | Widden Stud | 76 |
| 2023 | 1279 | 1015 | $ 170,000 | 141 | Arrowfield Stud | 63 |
| 2022 | 1235 | 1013 | $ 180,000 | 121 | Arrowfield Stud | 73 |
| 2021 | 1286 | 1031 | $ 150,000 | 131 | Arrowfield Stud | 68 |
Table: Vendor data at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale over the last five years
Strong local representation of stallions
There has been a large crunch in the number of stallions standing at stud in Australia from a peak of 3926 in 1986/87 to 501 in 2022/23; this time period essentially covers the existence of the Magic Millions sales company. The impact of shuttle stallions, and the improvements in broodmare veterinary work which have allowed stallions to get mares in foal more efficiently, have been major drivers in the trending reduction in number of stallions at stud.
For this current crop of yearlings, who were conceived in 2022 and born in 2023, there were 501 stallions at stud, and of those, 115 had at least one yearling in the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale catalogue, with a further 12 stallions represented who did not stand in Australia. Notably, the number of overseas-based stallions fell away for the 2023 sale (COVID-19 season conceived).
| 2025 | 1401 | 1009 | $ 150,000 | 127 | 12 | 501 | 23% |
| 2024 | 1474 | 1132 | $ 150,000 | 133 | 13 | 525 | 23% |
| 2023 | 1279 | 1015 | $ 170,000 | 112 | 2 | 529 | 21% |
| 2022 | 1235 | 1013 | $ 180,000 | 108 | 5 | 504 | 20% |
| 2021 | 1286 | 1031 | $ 150,000 | 123 | 14 | 585 | 19% |
Table: Sire data at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale over the last five years
There has been a rise in the number of locally based sires represented in this sale, in percentage terms, with 2025’s catalogue having yearlings from 23 per cent of all stallions at stud, while back in 2021, only 19 per cent of stallions standing in Australia had at least one yearling in the catalogue.
