Major prize-fund boost in Gold Coast game-changer

Magic Millions’ signature two and three-year-old races will be boosted to A$3 million (£1,708,000/€1,939,000) from 2024 and a $1 million (£569,000/€646,000) juvenile race for auction house graduates during the company’s National Sale in late May will be run as part of a massive shake-up of the Gold Coast carnival.

Night meetings on the Gold Coast, headlined by a A$3 million slot race over 1100 metres for all three-year-olds on Magic Millions 2YO Classic and Guineas eve, will also be implemented amongst a raft of announcements made by Racing Queensland and the state government at a celebrity-filled Magic Millions show jumping and polo event on the glitter strip yesterday.

Other initiatives revealed by Magic Millions, RQ and Racing Minister Grace Grace included:

• A second division of the popular Magic Millions Maiden of A$250,000 over 1400 metres to be introduced to the summer carnival in 2024;
• A six-race card comprising A$5.25 million in prize-money will be held on Friday night of the Magic Millions sale on January 10, 2025, in a similar fashion to how the New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Million twilight meeting has been staged at Ellerslie.
• Magic Millions Cup (1400m) doubled to A$2 million from 2025 and the Racing Queensland Magic Millions QTIS Open (1300m) increased by A$500,000 to A$1.5 million.
• Total prize-money of A$20 million across 15 races in 24 hours at the upgraded Gold Coast Turf Club racecourse during the January Magic Millions sale; and,
• The Saturday meeting alone will carry A$14.25 million in 2024 and A$14.75 million in 2025.

Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch said the company was continuing to make changes to its renowned racing carnival, which on Saturday hosts the A$1 million The Syndicate (1200m) and A$500,000 The Debut (900m) for the first time.

“I think seven or eight years ago Vin [Cox, then managing director] and Gerry [Harvey, owner] called the first A$10 million day a ‘game changer’ and we thought it was time to take it to a whole new level, so from 2025, working backwards, we’ll go to A$20 million over 24 hours,” Bowditch told ANZ Bloodstock News.

“We’ll race Friday night with six races and come back the next day and we’ll run another nine races all up worth A$20 million.

“This will include a A$3 million two-year-old race, the Magic Millions 2YO Classic, which will increase by A$1 million in 2024 to A$3 million, as will the three-year-old [Magic Millions Guineas] race.

“There’ll be two other new races in 2024 and then under lights in 2025 we’ll have a A$5.25 million night including a A$3 million slot race open to all comers. It’ll be the richest three-year-old sprint race that I know of and we’ll have a good card to surround it.”

Outgoing Racing Queensland chief executive Brendan Parnell, who will leave the organisation in March to take up a role in the UK, was on hand at the Magic Millions Polo and Showjumping event on Sunday to announce the huge prize-money increases and programming changes.

He said the introduction of the slot race in January under lights and the addition of the A$1 million Magic Millions Winter 2YO Classic (1000m) would fill a programming void for young horses who were not suited to the BRC Sires’ Produce Stakes or the J J Atkins Plate.

“It’s a really exciting announcement and it’s really about putting a spotlight in the literal sense on Queensland’s carnivals with lights going up at the Gold Coast and two new carnival meetings under lights at the Gold Coast,” Parnell said.

“We saw a big gap in the pattern for a three-year-old sprint race over summer, so that will be the slot race worth A$3 million, creating the richest night under lights in Australia … and bringing the Magic Millions brand into winter to coincide with what is the biggest breeding stock sale in the southern hemisphere will fit in there.”

The Sunshine Coast and Toowoomba already host night meetings in the northern state, but the addition of evening racing at the Gold Coast from 2024 would be a welcome addition to the calendar, Parnell said.

“There’s a commercial benefit of running into the nights and getting big export [wagering] revenues, there’s also welfare benefits of running into the night in the hotter months of the year, too,” he said.

“If it’s too hot you can push the meetings into the evenings when it’s far cooler, so there’s multiple benefits, and also creating new wagering and racing products to bring attendees.”

Bowditch believes the increased prize-money and new races provided Magic Millions with “a huge advantage” over its rivals, most notably Inglis.

“The race series already is a huge incentive for people to spend money at [our yearling sales],” he said.

“Our participants who have supported our race series are giving us more gusto to keep improving it.

“If I was a syndicator or a trainer out there, I’ve got to say the Magic Millions product is going to be a hell of a lot easier to sell.”

Queensland racing minister Grace Grace said the Magic Millions sales series and race days on the Gold Coast were a key driver of tourism for the state.

“The Magic Millions has an economic contribution of more than A$42 million. It brings in 19,000 unique visitors from interstate and overseas and more than 84,000 bed nights are booked over the 14 days of the Carnival and National Sale,” minister Grace said.

“I’m also excited to announce enhancements to future editions of the Magic Millions, with more prize-money and more racing on the horizon in the coming years, off the back of a A$63 million upgrade to the Gold Coast Turf Club that includes broadcast-quality lighting for night racing.”

Four Magic Millions-sponsored Guineas races at Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville and Cairns in central and North Queensland will also have prize-money increased to A$75,000 under the new funding arrangements.

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