Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
With three major juvenile events across Queensland, Victoria and NSW on Friday and Saturday, and two of them for Magic Millions graduates, there is plenty of prizemoney up for grabs for those hopefuls looking to qualify for the R.Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic.
The latest order of entry
For 2025’s R.Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic, the prizemoney cut off to make the field was $62,875. Obviously this fluctuates every year depending on results, but it does create a base line benchmark figure for those connections hoping to earn enough to get a run.
The first order of entry was released on Monday this week with Tornado Valley (Too Darn Hot {GB}) at the top with earnings of $165,645. Shiki (Too Darn Hot {GB}) sits in second with $141,000 and she runs at Randwick on Saturday where she is the favourite.
Itchintogo (Sun City) and Paradoxium (Extreme Choice) both have earnings over $100,000 and should easily make the field. But with a month to go and enough racing to see horses climb the ladder, there are still many of the 16 spots in the final race up for grabs.
See the current standings as at Monday:
Diversity among stallions
Only a select portion of the foal crop is precocious enough to be seen at the races before Christmas, and the current 2-Year-Old Sire table for Australia paints a diverse picture. There have been 47 juvenile races so far this season, won by 42 individual horses.
At this point in time, last year’s winner O’Ole (Ole Kirk) had had three starts, winning the R.Listed Magic Millions Wyong 2YO Classic. Last year’s second placed Memo (Capitalist) had yet to win, while third placed Gallo Nero (Wootton Bassett {GB}) won the Randwick race to be run on Saturday.
O'Ole | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
All up, this season, 277 juveniles have faced the starter, and impressively they represent 115 different stallions. It's a huge spread that likely demonstrates that the individual's precocity matters more than the individual stallion's impact, at least for pre-Christmas juveniles. However, there have been some stallions who have seen multiple winners and multiple wins already.
Spirit Of Boom, Better Than Ready, and Dracarys all have three juvenile wins with the latter two achieving it with two individual horses. A further six stallions have won two juvenile races with Gingerbread Man and Doubtland both having one winner win two races, while Hellbent, Too Darn Hot (GB), Extreme Warrior, and Stay Inside have won two races with two horses.
Too Darn Hot sits on top
While he’s not leading the Australian 2-Year-Old Sire table on prizemoney, Too Darn Hot leads the table by stakes winners with two winners of the ten juvenile stakes races run so far in 2025/26. Hellbent currently leads on prizemoney thanks to Golden Gift winner Revengeance.
Revengeance | Image courtesy of Georgia Young Photography
Too Darn Hot has two runners in the $160,000 2-year-old race at Randwick on Saturday with the favourite Shiki coming off a last start win the G3 Gimcrack Stakes for Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott. The filly is the only one in the race with any experience. She was a pinhook from Cornerstone Stud, who sold her as a weanling for $150,000 to Riverstone Lodge and Suman Hedge Bloodstock who on-sold her for $420,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
The other Too Darn Hot in the field is Finemore Thoroughbreds’ homebred filly Norman’s Cay who debuts for John O’Shea and Tom Charleton from barrier three.
Shiki | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Of the Randwick field, only two horses went through Magic Millions sales led by Shiki who is currently second on the order for the R.Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic. Warwoven (Sword Of State) is the other, and he was sold by his breeder Kia Ora Stud to Ridgmont and partners for $380,000 at the Gold Coast Sale.
| 3 | Too Darn Hot (GB) | Dubawi | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2(2) | $335,345 | Tornado Valley - 173,645 |
| 6 | Extreme Warrior | Extreme Choice | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1(1) | $211,505 | Eternal Warrior - 112,750 |
| 7 | Stay Inside | Extreme Choice | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1(1) | $210,275 | Incognito - 141,000 |
| 2 | Trapeze Artist | Snitzel | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1(1) | $425,000 | Where's the Circus - 231,000 |
| 4 | Street Boss (USA) | Street Cry | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1(1) | $266,649 | Calamari Ring - 252,649 |
| 14 | Sun City | Zoustar | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1(1) | $139,400 | Itchintogo - 139,400 |
| 15 | Extreme Choice | Not a Single Doubt | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1(1) | $122,200 | Paradoxium - 122,200 |
| 16 | Sword of State | Snitzel | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1(1) | $120,750 | Torture - 120,750 |
| 21 | Per Incanto (USA) | Street Cry | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1(1) | $107,145 | Eurocanto - 107,145 |
Table: Sires with 2YO stakes winners as at December 18, 2025
Friday night’s Magic Millions The Debut
The $250,000 Magic Millions The Debut, for first starters, has a field of eight in 2025. Pierata takes sire honours in The Debut on Friday night at the Gold Coast with two runners.
“Pierata continues to produce winners week in week out, and they are good horses to train, because they get to the track and are winning. We are excited to have our first crop of them heading to the Gold Coast next month. In the years to come, he’ll cement himself as a good solid stallion in Australia,” said Yulong’s Sam Fairgray.
“We’ve supported him with some absolutely fantastic mares like Imperatriz and Chain Of Lightning who have foals on the ground by him this spring. We’ve given him a great opportunity by sending him such lovely mares early in his career to help give him a kick.”
Pierata | Standing at Yulong Investments
Pierata’s oldest crop are 4-year-olds and he stood his first three seasons at Aquis Farm in Queensland before transferring to Yulong in 2023. In Yulong’s 2026 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale draft of 69 yearlings, 11 are by Pierata.
In The Debut, Peter Robl-trained filly Adore Djon’s (Pierata) will jump from barrier eight with jockey Jag Guthmann-Chester riding 0.5kg overweight. Adore Djon’s is the cheapest horse in the field, costing Storm Creek Racing $6000 from Fenwick Farm’s Magic Millions National Yearling Sale draft.
Chris & Corey Munce-trained Say You Will (Pierata) comes off a trial win and will be ridden by Martin Harley from barrier one. Say You Will sits mid-field on the pricing being a $170,000 purchase by Munce Racing and Arthur Hoyeau from Sledmere Stud’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale draft.
Sledmere Stud also sold Richard and Will Freedman-trained filly Seductra (Tassort) who will jump from barrier five with Daniel Moor aboard. She was bought by her trainers for $370,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. Her half-brother by Captivant being sold by Stonehouse Thoroughbreds at Inglis Premier.
The Magic Millions Victoria 2YO Classic
The Victorian juvenile race on Saturday on the Caulfield Heath track, the Magic Millions Victoria 2YO Classic, largely consists of debutants with only two runners having any race day experience. Both Ko Phangan (Ole Kirk) and Oman (Capitalist) have just the one start each.
Capitalist leads the sires in the field with two runners. Grahame Begg-trained filly Oman ran fourth on debut at Caulfield, and the other is Mark Walker-trained filly Kiss Me In Paris who makes her debut.
“He’s flying. He’s the youngest sire on board the Australian and Hong Kong top sires in the last two years now, and his 2-year-olds are running at 5.3% stakes winners to runners which is an amazing feat for such a young stallion,” said Newgate Farm’s Jim Carey.
Kiss Me In Paris as a yearling | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“The likes of Captivant, Reserve Bank, Memo, Encap, Marine One, all fast speed horses which the Australian market wants and needs. He’s done a fantastic job between Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong in particular where he’s well received. One of the runners is off the farm, trained by Te Akau, Kiss Me In Paris.
“She was pinhooked by the staff here last year and is a lovely sharp filly that David Ellis was good enough to buy off us, so the very best of luck to them with her.”
“She was pinhooked by the staff here last year and is a lovely sharp filly that David Ellis was good enough to buy off us, so the very best of luck to them with her.” - Jim Carey
Newgate are taking six Capitalist yearlings to the 2026 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, among their 51 strong draft.
“We are selling some lovely sharp colts. We have a very nice colt out of Undoubted Pleasure belonging to Rob Love who raced Capitalist, and we have a nice Capitalist colt, a half to Midnight In Tokyo which will be well received. They are exactly what Magic Millions are all about, fast precocious and speed orientated horses.”
Since the race is for Magic Millions graduates, the $250,000 prize pool will go a long way to changing the order of entry for the main race. Home Affairs is the only first season sire represented in this race with Mick Price and Michael Kent-Jnr-trained colt Guest House.
Guest House as a yearling | Image courtesy of magic Millions
“He is a nice horse,” Price told racenet.com.au about Guest House who won a trial coming into this race.
“I think he is going to keep improving as he matures. I would have run him earlier but he had an average immune system. He had tracheal mucus there for a while which we couldn't shake, which is why we have kept having to give him little breathers.
“But (his) shins are good, his trial was good and he is there to run (on Saturday).”
Jim Carey | Image courtesy of Inglis
John McArdle-trained filly Sayalero (King’s Legacy) is the most expensive runner in the field, having cost Redgum Racing $425,000 from Longwood Thoroughbred’s 2025 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale draft. She’s the first foal of a winning full sister to Group 3 winner Of The Brave (Starspangledbanner) who is also a half-sister to Group 3 winner Eloping (Choisir), the dam of Group 1 winner In Secret (I Am Invincible).
