A relative industry unknown and a global powerhouse have helped boost trade with five million-dollar horses sold on a dynamic second day of the 2025 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
Competition for the I Am Invincible sister to dual Group 1 winner In Secret spearheaded the second session with former pet grooming businessman Ian Moses upping the ante with his $2.3 million investment in the Segenhoe filly.
Two colts by Snitzel and another by I Am Invincible also sold for seven figures during a $52 million day while a filly out of Champagne Cuddles by Yarraman Park’s champion sire son Home Affairs also sold for more than $1 million on Wednesday.
As a result of the increased trade, the average of $277,145 declined slightly on day one, but the clearance rate increased from 75 per cent to 81 per cent. The median was $200,000 with 352 horses sold thus far for $97.555 million.
Laguna Partnership’s Ian Moses and Randwick trainer John Sargent teamed up to buy the stunning I Am Invincible filly, the sale’s highest-priced lot so far in surpassing day one’s $1.8 million Written Tycoon daughter of Magic Millions winner Away Game, as the owner takes a long-term approach to his thoroughbred interests.
The entrepreneur, who spent three decades in America running the Aussie Pet Mobile business, had to outlast the formidable opponents of trainer Chris Waller and agent Guy Mulcaster.
As auctioneer Grant Burns tried to elicit another bid from “Team Winx”, reminding them they bought the best filly to ever come through the Gold Coast sales ring, Mulcaster, Waller and offsider Charlie Duckworth turned away and the gavel came down.
Tim Rowe
Moses has invested in a select band of fillies in recent years, including a $625,000 New Zealand Bloodstock graduate and unraced Queensland Oaks aspirant Super Achiever, but the sister to In Secret is clearly his most expensive and potentially most valuable.
In late 2021, Moses sold his US-headquartered global animal grooming franchise and he retired to Byron Bay on the NSW North Coast.
His bloodstock interests have grown in the three years since, with his broodmare band expanding from three to nearly 10.
The second most expensive filly sold at a Magic Millions sale behind the $2.6 million sister to champion mare Sunlight, the Yulong and Coolmore-owned stakes winner Clean Energy, the daughter of I Am Invincible will be a prized addition to the broodmare band, but it’s hoped not before an illustrious career on the racetrack.
“I realised that if you want to be in this business at the top end, you've got to put the investment in,” said Moses, who underscored his desire to compete against the industry Goliaths.
Sargent witnessed many wins of the now-retired James Cummings-trained In Secret, a Coolmore Stud Stakes and Newmarket Handicap winner, first-hand as a fellow Sydney-based horseman.
The comparisons are inevitable.
“She probably has a bit more size than In Secret, but she has that similar lovely temperament,” Sargent said.
“To buy a full-sister to a Coolmore winner, they’re very hard to get, so I think it's a good investment in the long run.”
The I Am Invincible filly’s year older Ciaron Maher-trained sister Kerber sold for $1.15 million to Damon Gabbedy’s Belmont Bloodstock on behalf of B2B Thoroughbreds’ Ricky Surace at the Gold Coast last year, continuing a stunning sales success for Eloping.
SOLD!
— Magic Millions (@mmsnippets) January 8, 2025
$2.3 million for the sister to In Secret. The I Am Invincible filly was offered by @SegenhoeGroup and purchased by the Laguna Partnership and @jsargentracing. #MMGC2025 #MoreMagic pic.twitter.com/IbeaYYBNo1
In Secret, Eloping’s proven Group 1 winner, cost Godophin $900,000 at the 2021 sale.
They were bred in partnership by Segenhoe owner Kevin Maloney and Longwood Thoroughbred Farm’s Michael Christian.
“I think what really helped her was her full-sister trialled brilliantly last week and, in fairness to Ciaron, he told me before Christmas on the farm that it was his best two-year-old,” O’Brien told the Straight Talk podcast.
Aushorse Investor’s Guide 2025
- More Races worth $1 million+ than Europe & America combined
- More than 140,000 Australians involved in racehorse ownership
“So, anybody who saw it and looked at her, I told them just go and speak to Ciaron about the filly. We have a beautiful full-brother foal on the farm, who for me is the best she's ever thrown.”
Segenhoe also sold a half-brother by I Am Invincible to the much-vaunted Coolmore-owned unraced Wootton Bassett colt Wodeton for $1.15 million to the same owners on Wednesday during a mid-afternoon half-hour burst of high-priced activity.
During that period, Tom Magnier also went to $1.7 million for a colt by Snitzel, the same sire as the stud’s reigning Coolmore winner Switzerland, out of US mare Fashion Faux Pas.
“To buy a full-sister to a Coolmore winner, they’re very hard to get, so I think it's a good investment in the long run” - trainer John Sargent after spending $2.3 million on In Secret's sister.
She was a US$310,000 purchase by Byron Rogers and James Harron at the 2020 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale for owner Belinda Bateman.
“Snitzel works very well for us with an American mares (as exemplified by) Switzerland,” Magnier said.
“All the team liked him and we’re very lucky that the people who have raced the colts with us in the past, Home Affairs, Shinzo and those kinds of horses. There’s Switzerland and Private Life - they want to keep going.”
Waller will train the two Magnier-purchased colts.
Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch said buyers and vendors had set a market benchmark on day one, which followed during the second session.
SOLD!
— Magic Millions (@mmsnippets) January 8, 2025
$1.7 million for the Snitzel colt from Fashion Faux Pas. Offered by @NewgateFarm he goes to the bid of @TomMagnier @CoolmoreAus. #MMGC2025 #MoreMagic pic.twitter.com/btuJasrNFh
“You could see from the start of the sale – I think we went 25 lots before we passed one in – so there was a good confident start and that built off yesterday and then momentum during the day was really, really sound,” Bowditch said.
“I thought, all in all, to increase the clearance from under 75 per cent to above 81 was a great effort and that was attributed to a better ring rate today and also deals being done outside the ring.
“It’s great that equilibrium is being found between buyer and vendor and I think it’s a good healthy genuine market.”
Day three starts at 10am (AEST).
