TOMMY Sherry got his slice of the Magic Millions pie at the Gold Coast in Saturday’s A$2 million Magic Millions Cup over 1,400 metres.

Partnered up with the Peter Snowden-trained King Of Roseau, the pair stormed down the outside to just outlast the Spirit Of Boom gelding Boomtown Boss.

“He’s been prepared really well with the two good lead-up runs and we had a beautiful ride around there today,” said Sherry of his only ride for the day. “He’s got a great determination and as soon as he got out, I was quite confident. I thought I had him (Boomtown Boss) covered, but it’s only when you cross the line in front that you can breathe a sigh of relief.

“My first time riding at the Gold Coast was last week, so it’s good to get a winner at the carnival.”

Harley’s Poster Girl

The very effective combination of trainers Chris and Corey Munce and jockey Martin Harley took the spoils with Poster Girl in the 1,300 metre A$1 million Magic Millions Fillies and Mares at the Gold Coast on Saturday.

Sweeping to the front at the top of the straight, the Alabama Express filly had to withstand the sustained challenge of the Too Darn Hot filly Jenni The Fox, the pair duking it out to the line before a nose was declared the margin in favour of Poster Girl. Third finishing hard on the rail was the I Am Invincible mare Countyourblessings.

“That was unbelievable,” said Harley. “This mare really enjoys this track, but obviously we were worried about the wide barrier today. I was very adamant to push forward on her today. She let down really well in the straight, even though she got a little bit tired in the last 50 metres.

“I wasn’t sure if I held on or not, but I was so glad I did. She enjoyed the quick back-up and she has the heart of a lion.”

A $160,000 purchase at the 2023 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling sale, the win completed a carnival double as Poster Girl won the $250,000 Magic Millions Rising Stars 3YO and 4YO Fillies and Mares seven days earlier.

IN what was shaping as a blanket finish in the A$3 million Magic Millions 2YO Classic over 1,200 metres, the Ciaron Maher-trained Unit Five was able to break clear in the dying stages to win by a length as the next five flashed over the line separated by a similar margin.

A bargain buy at $80,000, the Supido colt defeated his stablemate the Too Darn Hot colt Tornado Valley, with the Written By filly By Choice third.

“It’s awesome,” Maher said. “I can say that I’ve done it again, but when you’ve got a large business, it all comes down to your staff. My brother Dec (Declan) put a lot of work into Unit Five to get him here, to present like that and to race like that at his second start.

“I don’t think it’s ever been done before to win it (MM 2YO Classic) at your second start. You’ve got to get them here on the day and myself and the team were quite confident that Unit Five, after that one start, could come up here, have a look at the track in a trial this way and go into the race fresh.

“Tommy Stockdale (jockey) is a little ripper, he does a lot of work for us and he’s starting to make a little habit of winning these big races. This will be his biggest win.”

To Be Sure’s Guineas

THE Shamus Award gelding Torque To Be Sure shrugged off his maiden status in the best possible way, landing the A$3 million Gold Coast Magic Millions 3YO Guineas at just his third start.

Trained by Matthew Dunn with Ben Melham in the saddle, the $260,000 yearling bought on the Gold Coast two years ago, had to survive a protest to retain the result.

A coming together with the Farnan gelding Ninja occurred just before the 100 metres, but it was deemed insufficient to warrant reversing the result.

Torque To Be Sure finished off the 1,400 metre race strongly to win by a length from Ninja with the Pierata gelding Spanish Treasure third.

“He’s been a frustration and I’m lucky I’ve got a very patient ownership group in him,” said Dunn. “But look what he did today, he’s certainly always had the talent and he did a wonderful job.

“The sky is the limit, who knows what he can do. They ($3 million races) are special, especially when you have a maiden going into them. This week is incredible and it’s getting bigger, it’s a wonderful carnival.”

BOOK 1 of the Gold Coast Magic Millions yearling sale concluded last week with a further three yearlings selling into seven figures that saw the sale finish with an aggregate of A$203.6 million.

Of 753 yearlings sold from the 862 offered, the sale averaged $270,468 with the median at $200,000.

“I’m delighted. $200 million was a real goal,” said Magic Millions Managing Director Barry Bowditch.

“We had 40 less horses catalogued and 20-plus more withdrawals. It was pleasing to get close to last year’s gross, to increase the clearance rate to 87% and an average that is up on last year. It was a diverse buying bench, but we really ensured that we marketed the sale so that people would come up here and have a great selection of horses within all budgets. There were about 360 separate buyers and more than 45 buyers spent over $1 million.”

Final session

The highest price at the fourth and final session of book 1 was the $1.5 million spent by Waller Racing and Mulcaster Bloodstock for the Coolmore-offered Snitzel colt out of the Vancouver mare Vangelic.

“He looks an early runner and he moves beautifully,” said Guy Mulcaster. “I think what we paid for him is pretty well on the mark. It is a hell of a lot of money, but that’s what they seem to cost and when you get good colts that head to stud, they look cheap.”

Across the board, Ciaron Maher as a part of 12 different partnerships, was the leading buyer at the sale, his name included in the purchase of 43 yearlings totalling $15.63 million.

The leading first season sire was Anamoe, whose 31 yearlings to sell averaged $469,032. That was good enough to see the Street Boss horse fifth on the overall stallions table headed by Extreme Choice, who struggles with his fertility, having eight yearlings sell for an average of $822,500.

Second was the recently deceased (June 2025) Snitzel (29 at $688,966), then Frankel (11 at $601,364) and I Am Invincible (32 at $593,281).

The leading vendor at the sale was Arrowfield, whose 48 yearlings to sell grossed $15,345,000 at an average of $319,688. Next was Coolmore, who had 38 yearlings sell for $13,735,000 at an average of $361,447.

Yearling sale attention now switches to New Zealand Bloodstock (nzb.co.nz), who will be holding the 100th edition of their famous National Yearling Sale at Karaka from January 25th.

HAVING returned for her autumn preparation not ‘her normal highly energetic self’, Chris Waller has announced the retirement of the champion Irish-bred Fastnet Rock mare Via Sistina.

Yulong, who purchased Via Sistina for $2.7 million guineas at the 2023 Tattersalls December Mares Sale as a Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes winner, saw her carry their jade and white colours on an incredible run of a further 11 Group 1 wins. She won almost A$20 million dollars down under. She will return to the UK for a mating with Dubawi.

Hong Kong

DYLAN Browne McMonagle slotted his first winner in Hong Kong when he piloted John Size-trained Flow Water Flow to victory in the Class 4 Handicap (1 mile/1,600m) at Sha Tin last Sunday.

The Irishman finished strongly to get the better of the James Orman-ridden The Golden Knight by a short head at the line.

McMonagle said: “He had a really good record coming into this race. He’d been hitting the crossbar (with three seconds) in his first three starts. Stepping up to 1,600m was going to be a big help to him and he was strong in the last 100 metres.”

The rider got another win on the board on Wednesday with Dragon Air Force. Reflecting on his time in Hong Kong and the support he has received, McMonagle added: “It’s a great place to be competing. I’ve been very lucky, I’ve been getting on some nice horses in the last few weeks. I’ve been getting plenty of support and massive thanks to John Size. He’s been extra special, he’s been throwing a lot at me and, thankfully, I can reward him with a winner.”