Dane Robinson and Chris Anderson at the Magic Millions Sale

0:00 At the Magic Millions complex

George 0:00 We're here guys at the Magic Millions Complex. It's been a big week for us here. We're going to just give you a little snippet of, from different angles, on different outlooks on the sale. This is Episode 5 of our podcast, Off N Racing. We've got Dane Robinson here from Magic Millions and Magic Millions debutant winning trainer, Chris Anderson. He said he didn't party too much last night, but… One beer. One beer. One beer. One beer. You're looking incredibly fresh. Yeah. Yeah, well done. Yeah, a lot fresher than I feel at the minute, to be honest. But, I just call it networking. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

0:42 How the sale went

Guest 1 0:42 But, Dane, how have you found the week, mate, from selling point of view? Yeah, honestly, it's been great. Obviously, there's a little bit of, I would say nerves, but there's obviously going into the first sale of the season, which we are on the back of, you know, a few little economic slowdowns, how it would sell. We put more horses into the catalogue this year, which was also a bit of a risk. We're potentially diluting the market a little bit. But, overall, we've come out, we're only maybe 2% off last year, which I think is a huge result. Obviously, the breeders. I work for the breeder, right? Yeah. And they bring us the horses that they feel we can market well for them early in January. We select those horses, along with the breeders, of what can present well in January. And I think that, with their support, they've brought the right horses. And I think they've been rewarded again this year. So, considering everything else in the market at the moment, I think it's been a really good selling week. And, yeah, capped off by a great raster yesterday, too. So, with, obviously, Chris' great result in the debut for the Colts.

1:43 Something for every budget

George 1:43 Yeah. And what a good initiative that is. And we were just chatting there, off-air, about how the winners, they were bought at those different price ranges. Yeah. Yeah. And, like, that's incredible, because I was talking to some clients yesterday here. We showed them around a few horses and everything. And we said, this kind of sale, it just, like, it's got something for everyone. You know, it doesn't matter if you have a million dollars or 50 grand.

Guest 1 2:06 Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. We looked at winners yesterday, like, Lead Me On, 50 grand purchase, wins a $500,000 race for Maidens.

George 2:15 I mean, it's going to be nice. What did it pay?

Guest 2 2:20 It was nines and a sixes, so someone's had a go. Oh, someone.

Guest 1 2:23 Someone's had a go. I reckon Max has had a go at that one. Yeah. I mean, I've had a good ownership proof.

Guest 2 2:28 But I think you guys are right. Like, I think if racing ever gets to the stage where the more you pay, the better your chance. Obviously, that's a, you know, a fairly big consistent. Yes. You know, otherwise we wouldn't be here trying to buy expensive horses. But if it ever gets to that stage where that's purely and simply the recipe, I think racing's in all sorts, isn't it?

Guest 1 2:49 Absolutely.

Guest 2 2:50 And that's the great romance of racing is you can buy, and you know better than anyone, Dane, you can buy a cheap horse and have as much success as those that are buying the million dollar colts.

Guest 1 2:59 Absolutely. Even like you look at Abounding yesterday, the $75,000 purchase from the Book 2 sale here, and he's gone on to win a $3 million Magic Millions Guineas race. Like, it's just the opportunities there at all levels. Like, you can be competing against the very elite, you know, and they beat China Horse Club across the line. Yeah, yeah. Like, they're the monsters of the turf at the moment, really. Yeah. And it's just such a great level of racing, and provides everyone an opportunity to get involved at all levels, which is the most exciting part.

George 3:27 That's why I fell in love with Australian racing, like, and didn't want to go home, because it's very much here. Like, you and I and Chris could be in a pub somewhere and go, have a good day on the punt, and we go, let's buy a horse. Yeah. And we can be in an Abounding. Yeah. Or in an Everest. Yeah. Like, you know, just anyone can do it, and it's accessible, and it's a level playing field, as you said, against those, your China Horse Club, your Yulongs, like, everyone. Yeah.

Guest 1 3:50 Yeah. Like, Sheikh Mohammed, for example, you can go up against a good old horse, like, it's just a great game. The old saying is, if it was a case of, you bought the most expensive horse, you had all the luck, James Packer or, you know, Kerry Packer would have bought all those horses.

George 4:07 Yeah. And just push everyone out of the game. Yeah, yeah.

4:10 Why having a runner is the thrill

Guest 2 4:10 Exactly. And I think it's not, whilst winning is fantastic, you know, it's the cherry on top, isn't it? But it's not everything. You know, to have so many people here, just knowing that they have a runner on the day, you know, and the lead up and the excitement, you know, that's almost as big a thrill. Absolutely. And it's just having a runner that then is winning the race.

George 4:30 Yeah, just being there.

4:31 A filly's first start on Magic Millions Day

Guest 1 4:31 Correct. Interestingly, so I, Kurt Goldman's a great friend of mine, moved up here six months ago. Well, we've got to find a cutest filly. So we went to the June sale, we found a nice little dubious filly, paid 18 grand for her, and she's having her first start in a $500,000 race on Magic Millions Day, and we already feel like winners. Yeah, yeah. She ran sixth, got beaten four lengths, but we had it, we were there with everyone, female ownership, obviously I'm not a female, but I put a partner in, and it's like, how good is that? And then we already feel like winners, because we had a runner on the day.

George 5:01 Yeah, and it's the lead up to it. Yeah, absolutely. Telling everyone, you go in for a haircut, and you say, my horse is racing, and Magic Millions is Saturday. Yeah, so no, it is great, and it's very accessible. You guys do a great job, like, in what you pick here for us to come and have a look at, and buy, and try to find those winners. Yeah. But that process for you, like, people think like, oh, it's just a week on the Gold Coast, but how long, like, that process, they don't understand, like, it's months and months in preparation.

5:30 Choosing the horses a year ahead

Guest 1 5:30 I mean, we're a year away now from next year's Book One sale.

George 5:33 Yeah.

Guest 1 5:34 But we're already having discussions with the breeders about, alright, what do you got for next year? How are the weanlings looking for next year? You know, like, what are you thinking? And just start and have those conversations now, because, end of the day, my job is to find the best horses to bring to this sale for our market. And so those conversations are ongoing, but we really start to drill down, sort of, just after June, start looking through July, through horses, so we'll go to all the farms, we'll get the entries in, and we'll go to the farms.

George 5:59 How many horses would you say you'd inspect in that time?

Guest 1 6:01 Between the whole team, there's about, there's about 10 of us that go around and look at horses, in the bloodstock team, between, you know, all across the country, essentially. Yeah. And we'd probably look at about 5,000 horses, I'd say 4 or 5,000 horses in that bracket. And we'd get about 3,000 entries all up. Yeah. And we'd knock it back to, as what you see this week. So we're sort of cutting book one back to 1,000, basically. But this year we had a big influx of horses and breeders wanting to sell early. Yeah. So we had record entries for this year on the back of previous years selling. And I think there's a little bit of nervousness about how the market was going to play out into the year. So I think a lot of breeders wanted to get in, try and cash in early. And that's sort of record entries. And hence why we've got a few more horses in the sale this year as well. So part of the idea is that you don't want to dolly at the market too much, but also you want to give breeders the opportunity to sell if they want to sell early as well. So I think if we can hold, if we can hold the market into book two this week, it'll be a slightly different buying bench. But if we can hold the market into that and get most of those moved, I think it's going to be a really successful week.

7:04 Why a trainer likes this sale

George 7:04 No, it's been good, mate. And Chris, from your side of it, like as a trainer coming here wanting to purchase horses, like why do you like this sale, mate?

Guest 2 7:12 I guess it's the romance of being on the Gold Coast. It's the ability to go and experience good times with your ownership group. So it's, I think everything we do here, there's no bad part to it. You know, it's enjoyable inspecting horses. It's enjoyable sitting ringside. It's enjoyable sitting the million dollar colts go through. It's enjoyable having Jerry's seafood throughout the day. Yeah. The bugs.

George 7:43 Who won't complain.

Guest 2 7:44 The bugs. And everyone's just so welcoming, I suppose.

George 7:47 And it's the first one of the year. So everyone's like, you know.

Guest 2 7:51 They're buzzing.

George 7:52 Yeah, buzzing.

Guest 2 7:53 But I'm fortunate in the fact that I've got wonderful people around me. You guys obviously do an amazing job, you know, selecting horses. You're here for a long time. And I guess people don't see the amount of time that you guys put in.

George 8:05 Oh, the hours and the kilometers you do. Put in.

Guest 2 8:08 Yeah. So from a trainer's point of view, you guys do a lot of the work for us. And the bloodstock agents do a lot of the work.

George 8:13 That's what you're saying is you do nothing.

Guest 2 8:15 No. We are preparing the horses at home, obviously, to race. Yeah. But, you know, we can become very, very time poor.

George 8:22 You have to jog on the board. Yeah.

Guest 2 8:24 Correct. So managing time is really important from our point of view. So to have those people around us doing that wonderful job is, you know, everything. And what we buy, you know, throughout this sale pretty well determines our results for the next, not only 12 months, but probably three to four years. Yeah. Yeah. 100%. You've got to be mindful that you've really got to like the horse you're buying because-

Guest 1 8:45 You're looking at it every day, aren't you?

Guest 2 8:46 Absolutely. Yeah. That's exactly right, Dane. So, yeah, there's a lot that goes to it, but there's a lot of fun to be had whilst doing

8:52 Kurrinda's week at the sale

George 8:52 it as well. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just the physical side of it and getting around expecting horses and stuff. Like, it's just that mental fitness you need to have. Like, cause you're always talking, always there's deals to be done, things like that. Absolutely. Yeah. And it's been my first proper full on sale with the team at Kurrinda and yeah, I'm ready to go home and just go into a dark room for a week and I'll speak to anyone, but I've got shares to sell. But the horses we bought here, we're delighted with it. Yeah. And even though they've been strong, I found the good horses were strong to buy. Yeah. We're delighted with everything we bought at the price we bought it. Yeah. And we were underbidder on a few that we missed out on, but no, we couldn't be happier with these horses and two of them are already sold out. And there's limited shares left in three of them already. So yeah, it just, we've just found it crazy. Like the willingness from the Australians, like to just get in horse and have a go. Yeah. And as you said, everyone wants to be at your Magic Millions Guineas or they want to be like winning the debutante or things like that. And just being part of it. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's incredible. It's been a great sale and you guys have done a great job.

10:06 Bringing owners to the sale

Guest 1 10:06 You had quite a few owners come up for the sale.

George 10:08 Yeah. We had about, um, had about over the, all the week, we probably had about 30 owners here. Yeah. At different times. We had about 15 here yesterday and we took them around and showed them a few horses and they, they loved it. Like just to, to educate them.

Guest 1 10:23 Yeah.

George 10:24 Yeah. You know, we don't want to just shove it down their gob and say, this is the horse you've got to buy into it. We want to show them.

Guest 1 10:30 Show the process.

George 10:31 Yeah. Why? So then when we get that horse, they'll go, Oh, I remember that. Yeah. You know? That's what we're about, man. We want to, we just want to have good horse. And as well with owners as a syndicator, like I love when I get first time investors in horses, because I'm like, right. Yes. You're going to have a great experience. Yeah. And whether they invest with us or someone else, it's good for the industry. Yeah. You know, it just keeps everything going. Absolutely. Yeah. So I want them to have the best first experience and put them into the right horse. 100%. Not just sell it for the sake of it. Yeah. So that's why as Chris said, you got to love the horse that you do buy. Yeah. And we do. We only buy them because we love them. Mm. And we've been lucky this week. We've had good success out of this sale. Yeah.

Guest 1 11:16 Malaboom came from here.

George 11:17 Absolutely. We've had a couple of years ago, like, about buck two cheapies and stuff. Like, she was, I think she cost us 80 grand. Yeah. And she's a stakes winning two year old. Yeah. And they're here. There's plenty here and plenty of nice horses. And we'll keep going. We've got a few to inspect today. Beautiful. Yeah.

Guest 1 11:33 There's plenty here to get through anyway. Yeah.

George 11:35 No, it's been a good weekend. Yeah. We'll try to fill Chris's stable.

Guest 2 11:38 Beautiful. Be nice.

George 11:40 Be nice. And get back here for that debut time, maybe, next year. And this time you can tell us it's going to win.

Guest 2 11:46 Gonna hold the price for the owners. Yeah.

George 11:49 Exactly.

Guest 2 11:50 You've got to put in the bag.

Guest 1 11:51 Exactly.

11:52 Advice for first-time owners

Guest 2 11:52 But I guess for you guys, this is a kind of two, when you talk about first time owners, the biggest piece of advice I would give is to enjoy the experience of not just race day, you know, your communication so thorough that, you know, every step of the way from the moment they leave here to the moment they get to the breaker and completing that breaking process. Yeah. And you've obviously got to be very patient, you know, that first six months. There's not a lot happening from an ownership point of view, but the wheels are certainly spinning and there's a lot going on, you know, as far as that education's concerned. Yeah.

George 12:23 So like you said, that's why you have to like, you got to make them feel part of it. Yeah. Because that first six months, like they're not even a two year old yet. Correct. So they actually can't race. Correct. So yeah, as you said, and that's why we love working with you, mate, because your communication, like we've just found it absolutely spot on. Like we've loved it and you do a great job and yeah, we want to keep supporting you and keep supporting Magic Millions. Obviously it's some good horses have come out of this sale.

12:49 The breeders behind the sale

Guest 1 12:49 Well, we've been very fortunate over the years. Like I said, the support of the breeders is everything for us. And I think that getting the results for them and making them come back with their best is really key for us. And obviously if we're providing the best stock available to the buyers and you guys, I think it puts everyone in a really good position to be enjoying getting up in the morning and seeing the horses that you've purchased here and being like, yeah, I'm excited for the future. So I mean, that's, that's how I look at it anyway. I look at it when I go and see these horses on the farm, just like, you know, would a Chris Anderson like this or would a Kurrinda like this sort of horse? And would I be happy to put this on a short list to these guys? And that's how I see it, you know? So, um, and look, you don't get it right every time. Uh, the horses change a lot. Yeah. But if we're getting it right 90% of the time, you know, you're a long way there.

George 13:35 So yeah, they're pretty good odds. So yeah, no, man, we found it great this week. You guys have done a fantastic job and we're delighted with everything we've purchased and we'll keep going and find a few more, but thanks for coming on. No, good fun. Really appreciate it.

Guest 1 13:48 Well done this week.

George 13:49 Yeah. Great to catch up.

Guest 1 13:51 Yep.

Guest 2 13:52 Congrats again, Chris too. Thanks guys. Look forward to what's ahead and, um, let's go and get stuck into it again today.

Guest 1 13:56 Absolutely. Fire up.