The Innovators: Magic Millions

Cover image courtesy of Magic Millions

One of the few benefits to the bloodstock world of the COVID pandemic is that we have emerged with a new industry standard of pre-sale information. Vendors are now well-accustomed to producing videos and pictures ahead of yearling sales because for a period, that was all many buyers had to rely on as restrictions limited in-person inspections.

Whilst prospective yearling buyers are able to ask for ‘just another walk please’, a repeat performance is not something buyers can request at a breeze-up sale, for obvious reasons.

Hence, breeze-up videos have long been available to buyers, who can watch and rewatch as they look for clues of race potential beyond simply the final-furlong time achieved.

Those with the resources are also able to perform any kind of analysis on the footage that they wish, and it’s no secret that multiple parties have been offering tech-based analyses of breeze-ups for some time.

Now, ahead of their 2023 Gold Coast 2YOs In Training Sale, Magic Millions are the first sales company in the world to offer free stride data alongside the traditional breeze-up footage.

Was it only a matter of time? And, if so, does this mean we are seeing the emergence of what will shortly be another level of industry norm?

“We're probably the guinea pig,” admitted Magic Millions Managing Director Barry Bowditch. “But, I think the market’s ripe right now for what we’re doing.

“Whether you look at parade videos and photos or any data or any information we give now, it's a whole lot better than what it was five years ago, isn't it?

“I think we're going to a whole new level this year, and I'm very content that we’re providing buyers with as much information as we possibly can right now and we’re looking forward to next week.”

The new level means that, for the first time, each lot in the 116-strong catalogue now has its own personal report, which gives a breakdown of average speed, top speed, stride frequency and stride length over 600 metres, on top of the usual sectional times.

Presented via two charts, prospective buyers can see easily how a horse’s speed changed throughout each of the three furlongs, and how that is reflected in the stride length and frequency too.

“The best thing about this is that the interpretation of it is up to the individual,” Bowditch continued. “Whether that be the buyer or the seller, how they want to use it to sell the horse or how they want to use it to buy the horse is up to them.

“Whether you're buying a sprinter or a stayer, a horse that's ready to go right now or one that needs a bit of time, it gives everyone the same insight.

“It gives them extra guidance to make an informed decision, and gives them confidence whether they're speccing or whether they're buying on behalf of other clients, that little bit more information means they can make the best decision they possibly can.”

With the sale only a matter of days away, the shiny new reports have been live on the Magic Millions website for some time now, and buyers have had plenty of time to digest all the information.

Aware ahead of the project that there’s always inherent risks with such an innovation, Bowditch reports that the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

“It's been a good talking point,” he said. “Obviously, we're hustling buyers as usual, and working hard to ensure we've got as many people that are engaged in the sale as we possibly can.

“So this is a tool for us not only to use when people speak to us, for us to push the sale, but also for people that can't make it to the sale.

“If you're sitting at home, you see the video, you see the photo, you see the breeze-up and you've now got this data. I think you've never seen a sale of its kind where you've got every little bit of information provided to you.

“If I were a buyer sitting at home, I'd feel like I've got a lot of confidence. If I were an owner sitting at home and I had my agent or my trainer or whoever else at the sale, I’d feel as if I can make an informed opinion with that information online as well.”

Putting it together

As Bowditch was keen to stress, the key to this project being a success is that Magic Millions must remain impartial. At its heart, it’s about giving participants more information, but that entails the accompanying imperative of accuracy and reliability to ensure a level playing field.

Hence, the project has been well over a year in the making. With Bowditch giving the green light at various stages, designing, testing and implementing a system brought together by a group of Magic Millions employees, including CIO Leigh Spiegel and Cassandra Simmonds, who looks after Race Series and CRM Systems.

Working closely with Racing Queensland, Simmonds has been essential to the whole process.

“When we were planning for last year's present sale, we were aware that Racing Queensland was planning to implement sectional timing across racetracks,” she told TTR AusNZ.

“They had them at Eagle Farm and Doomben, and they were looking to implement it at Gold Coast and Ipswich and Sunshine Coast and through other tracks. So, when we heard that, we wanted to see if we could use it for the breeze-ups.

“We trialled it for the Queensland breeze-ups last year only, but we didn't publish the data because it's important for integrity that the same information is available for all lots for buyers to assess.”

Bringing in tripleSdata, who provide the technology to Racing Queensland, Magic Millions were able to expand the service across all the breeze-up locations. The beam-cutting timing systems of old are now replaced by chips in saddle cloths.

“We knew that if we're going to go to this, we had to use something that was accepted and well tested. So, these are the same chips that go in the saddle cloths on Everest Day, on Melbourne Cup Day, on Magic Millions Day,” Simmonds explained.

“It's become an industry standard across the major racing jurisdictions, and I believe it's going to New Zealand and it's already used in Singapore and Malaysia.”

Whilst the average punter might only see sectional times on raceday, the chips have always had the capacity to provide the data that Magic Millions is now making public. But, that doesn’t mean that the process has been a total breeze…

“Our Chief Information Officer, Leigh, had to work with tripleSdata closely for mobile solutions at Newcastle and Seymour, because the technology isn’t installed permanently there like it is at other tracks.

“They sent someone down and they put receivers into the track and did some testing beforehand and on the morning of the breeze-up, so that we could make sure that all of the horses breezing-up had the same data.”

Emphasising that the data sets are designed to be complementary, Simmonds reports that prospective buyers have been viewing it as just that, as they seek to make informed decisions.

“Essentially, it provides a greater context of the type of horse you're buying,” she said. “Rather than just looking at something by eye, this gives you some science to say, ‘Why is this horse going faster? Is its stride rate quickening or is it lengthening or is it doing both?’

“Then you can look at the pedigree and obviously at the physical of the horse and where it's at in the stage of its development and its size and scope.

“The other thing we're doing, which we haven't done before, is timing from 600 metres out, where, traditionally, everybody publishes the last 200 metre section in isolation.”

Even this simple ‘expansion’ of information beyond the final furlong should be a huge help to buyers and sellers alike, Simmonds pressed, as it all adds to the context around each performance.

However, Magic Millions hasn’t given buyers much guidance on how to use the data. This is very much a deliberate move, Simmonds explained, as finding fast horses remains a puzzle with a sometimes unintelligible solution.