Expectations High at Magic Millions Weanling Sale bloodhorse.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bloodhorse.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Is the Golden Slipper overdue for a prizemoney boost?
The glamour two-year-old event once challenged for the honour of the nation’s richest race but in recent years it has slid down the big-race stakes ladder and is now ranked eighth.
Gai Waterhouse, the most successful trainer in Golden Slipper history with seven wins, is never afraid to speak her mind and says the race’s current prizemoney of $3.5 million does not reflect its importance to the Australian racing and breeding industry.
But the Golden Slipper remains the world’s richest juvenile race and there is a valid argument to suggest the race already has sufficient stakes.
UPDATED 4:16PM, JAN 13 2021
A colt born in the UK to southern hemisphere time by super European sire Kingman provided the benchmark on another extraordinary day of trade when selling for A$1.8 million (£1.02m/€1.14m) at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale on Wednesday.
Even the most bullish industry pundits and stakeholders did not predict, at least publicly, the insatiable appetite shown by buyers during the first two sessions of the seven-day auction, which resulted in four million-dollar lots being sold on Wednesday as the key metrics kept pace with the corresponding figures from the past two years.
While a colt by Not A Single Doubt broke the seven-figure barrier before midday, it was the son of Kingman who stole the show, his sale coming less than 24 hours after it was announced that the stallion’s owner-breeder, Juddmonte Farms founder Prince Khalid Abdullah, had died aged 83.
Coolmore Breaks Seven-Figure Barrier for Son of Kingman bloodhorse.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bloodhorse.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.