Skipping the Q – Magic Millions’ March Yearling Sale could be opened up to interstate-bred horses

Magic Millions and Queensland breeders are considering breaking with years of tradition by opening up the Gold Coast’s annual March Yearling Sale to interstate-bred horses.

The proposal has been put to Magic Millions by the Queensland Thoroughbred Breeders Association after its members resolved changes needed to be made to the format of its March sale in an effort to improve its appeal to a wider audience of buyers.

Despite the extenuating circumstances of this year’s sale, which was delayed by a fortnight after Cyclone Alfred wreaked havoc across South East Queensland, the post-mortem undertaken by vendors found that the sale would be better served by removing the QTIS exclusivity of March catalogue.

Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch and his bloodstock team will consider the proposal after the completion of its two-day National Yearling Sale, which starts on Monday on the Gold Coast.

“That’s something we’re giving strong consideration to and we’re going to consult with our stakeholders in coming days to ensure that on what the best way forward with what the Queensland breeders have proposed,” Bowditch confirmed.

“If we can get support for a strong sale in March for horses that may not be ready for January … I think it has legs to increase the market and the strength of the buying bench, which can only help the QTIS horses out, you’d suspect, and give them more exposure than just to the local market.”

The March sale has been increasingly ignored by interstate owners and trainers because of the perception that it is a “Queenslanders’ sale”.

The long-standing March offering has been restricted to QTIS-eligible yearlings, including interstate-sired horses bred by Queenslanders, but if the change is implemented, it is hoped that a more diverse catalogue of yearlings  including NSW BOBS and VOBIS-eligible lots will encourage more buyers to attend the sale.

Timing wise, in a crowded sales calendar, it also falls after a large volume of yearlings have already sold through Magic Millions January, Inglis and New Zealand Bloodstock auctions.

From an interstate vendors’ perspective, particularly for the Hunter Valley-based studs, the Gold Coast sale may become a viable alternative to Magic Millions’ Adelaide Yearling Sale, which has been held either a week before or after the March sale in recent years.

While the majority of the QTBA’s members are in favour of the change, president Basil Nolan says it is imperative that a balance is reached between providing an opportunity for locally bred yearlings to be sold at public auction while ensuring an appealing catalogue is put together.

“Obviously, I would like to see at least 300 QTIS horses remain, because that’s our main sale, and that’s what sustains the industry in Queensland,” Nolan said.

“People that stand stallions will not participate in bringing a stallion here if they haven’t got an avenue to sell (their progeny). And if they don’t make the main session at Magic Millions (in January), then we’d like to be able to sell them at the March sale.”

This year’s March sale turned over $8.31 million, down 5 per cent year-on-year, while the average increased 4 per cent to $34,635 and the median fell 10 per cent to $25,000.

Eureka Stud’s Scott McAlpine, whose family-run operation near Toowoomba stands Spirit Of Boom, says the 2025 March sale results can’t be taken into account in isolation given the outside factors that impacted the auction.

He is in favour of change while mindful of protecting the declining number of commercial stallions standing in Queensland, with just 30 at stud in the state in 2025.

“There were a few hidden agendas that got lost because of Cyclone Alfred, and it got put back by the two weeks, and then Adelaide went before us, and buyers who were going to come here, they bought in Adelaide instead,” McAlpine said. 

“The North Queensland fellows that arrived to come for the original sale couldn’t come in later, so there were a few factors that probably didn’t help that sale.

“But in saying that, I travel a fair bit selling horses in southern states, and I go, ‘are you fellas coming to the March sale, being New South Wales and Victorian trainers  … and they go, ‘no, I’m not coming to that’, so, you get disappointed because they’re not even looking at it.”

McAlpine believes it is incumbent on Queensland breeders to continually improve the stock they are consigning at the March sale with more of their better-bred yearlings if Magic Millions alters its make-up.

“We’re all guilty of it, you bring horses to the sale, and Magic Millions lets us in there with them, and maybe there’s some horses there that aren’t up to the standard. We need to be able to lift that quality of sale up, to encourage those people (buyers) to come,” he said. 

“As I say, there’s no sense being a Queensland breeder, and bringing a horse to the sale, if you know in your own mind, it’s probably not up to the standard and just because you get let in, it doesn’t give you a better price for it. 

“There’s no sense you spending all the money, taking it to the sale, and being disappointed as it’s not Magic Millions’ fault.”