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Busy days at Magic Millions
GOLD
COAST—I have been here since Friday and had just caught
up the last few hours of the successful four-day Magic
Millions broodmare sales at its huge complex here.
The last
stage of the Magic Millions National Sales had just
started with the select yearling sales and will conclude
on Thursday. The highly-successful annual sales that
started last May 27 is considered the biggest horse
auction in the Northern Hemisphere today.
The
yearling sales is the most awaited among the biggest
buyers especially among the Australians because this is
where they get to see first hand the top-caliber young
horses, most of which are prospective champions in the
future. By the time you read this, I and a handful of
Filipino owners and trainers are already sitting beside
the ring sifting through the catalogues of horses while
sipping either beer or wine.
Yes, the
Magic Millions, headed by its very indefatigable David
Chester, is really taking good care of the Filipino
participants here. This must be the main reason why
Filipino horsemen are coming back again and again. The
accommodation at the Genesis Apartment is excellent with
Ken and Barbara (Lindsay, the resident managers) taking
care of all our needs. David’s lieutenants are all on
hand at the ring and at the offices for all those who
had bought horses. I saw my good friends Sean Walker and
Trent Nahrung very busy at the office, and same with Val
Hayward, David’s secretary. The transportation of the
participants are very well taken care of by Ron St.
George (whose London-based daughter, Mandy, fetched me
up at the Coolangata, Gold Coast, airport) and Christy
McGregor. I also saw another friend, Julian Blaxland,
still doing auctioneering works with Magic Milllions,
but is now the managing director of the Blue Sky
Thoroughbreds.
Austrade’s Ancy Palma was also everywhere that afternoon
when I arrived. She takes good care of all the Filipinos
here and made it a point that all have the things they
needed on and off the sales ring. She’s one heck of a
lady, I tell you.
I saw
Ruben Laureano (who is with his wife Zeny and kids Xarah
and Gibson), Dave de la Cruz (with his wife Eda and
youngest son Cholo), Manny Santos (who is with his sons
John Michael, Alejandro and Emmanuel Jr., daughter
Denise and granddaughter Ashley), Sandy Javier, Ding
Pangilinan and his wife, Baby, who got messed up with
their connecting flight from Sydney to Brisbane (both of
them were with me from Manila to Sydney, where they were
left by their plane to Brisbane. I went ahead to Gold
Coast. The next plane they were assigned to got canceled
at the last minute). But he was able to catch the last
few broodmares on sale anyway.
Klub Don
Juan’s secretary Malou is all by herself and is really
enjoying every minute of her first stay here, so with
veterinarian Dr. Rey Miranda, trainers Pat Logarta and
Pochek Vicente. These two trainers both planed in on
Saturday and were also unlucky since all their bags got
caught up in Hong Kong, where they made a stopover.
Glenn Gutierrez and his mom, Elizabeth (son and wife of
former jockey Richard), arrived on Sunday and the two
joined me in my room at the sixth floor.
There
are several other Filipinos arriving and who are
expected to participate in the yearling sale. They are
Bayani Coching and his family together with KDJM
president Jun Almeda and his son Mark, who clinched the
trip as a prize trip from his dad for graduating in
college.
Saturday
saw majority of the Filipino delegation all dressed up
for the Magic Millions National Sale Raceday at the Gold
Coast Turf Club (which is just in front of the Magic
Millions complex). It was a big day in the huge
racetrack as several events were also held that day,
including the parties of the high-heeled individuals and
entities. (Yes, the racetracks in Australia are
excellent places to see for everybody and a venue to
hold any events).
The
highlight of the day (the first race, which started at
11:40 in the morning) was the $100,000 Magic Millions
Plate for two-year-olds over the 1,200-meter distance.
We were billeted at the exclusive Winners Circle, a
saucy, glass-windowed enclosure at the left wing of the
grandstand which had an excellent view of the whole
racetrack. A bottle of
shiraz
red wine was already on the table together with
sparkling champagne (the favorite of Manny Santos) and
white wine separately chilled in a metal box filled with
ice cubes.
I met
Lee Fleming, owner of the popular Eliza Park in
Victoria, who greeted us “Kumusta!” He was with a
Filipina friend, Cora (a teacher in Australia for the
past 20 years now, she admitted), and they were right
beside our table. On the next table was Noel Arumugam,
the director of Hanss Capital Pty whose main businesses
are located in Brisbane. He was with Maggie Hu (manager
for ICT Infrastructure and Projects of Essential
Services Commission, also in Victoria) and Gaurav Rampal,
an international bloodstock specialist from India’s
Scintilla Bloodstock.
In
another nearby table was Peter Bennett and his wife,
whose house in classy Sorrento is always the venue of a
welcome party for international horse buyers in the Gold
Coast (it’s unfortunate I wasn’t able to join that party
he threw the night before I arrived). But Peter invited
us at the
Sunshine
Coast
racetrack the next day for us to see the horse that was
scheduled to run there.
Longshot
Za Magic won the Magic Millions Plate with jockey David
Green onboard. The two-year-old gelded chesnut is by
Magic Alber out of New Zealand-bred mare Zab Watch, by
the
New Zealand
star sire Zabeel. It was David Chester who awarded the
trophies and the prizes to the winning connections.
More on
the Gold Coast journey this Friday, huh! |
