Image courtesy of Racing SA
At A Glance:
Clearance for the first day was down at 66% (from 71.7% in 2025), and the aggregate was also down at $5.7 million, below 2025 ($6.7 million) and 2024 ($7.4 million). 125 horses sold this year compared to 137 in 2025.
The average was down at $45,572 ($49,077), while the median dropped in 2026 to $35,000 ($40,000).
The number of six figure lots dropped to 13 on day 1 of 2026, compared to the 2025 sale when 16 lots made six figures.
The top Lot on day 1 was Lot 67, a filly by Zoustar who was sold by The Chase to Miguel Almeda for $200,000.
Top Buyers: Miguel Almeda was the day’s top buyers by gross, spending $323,500 on four yearlings. Shane McGrath Bloodstock/Clinton McDonald Racing topped the averages for day 1, spending an average of $147,500 on two yearlings.
Top Vendors: Mill Park Stud headed the vendors by aggregate, selling nine yearlings for $574,000. By average (two or more sold), Yulong finished day 1 with a $73,357 average for seven yearlings sold.
Top Sire: Alabama Express lead the stallions by gross on day 1 with $340,000 from four lots, while Farnan topped the averages (2 or more sold) for day 1 at $92,500 across two lots sold.
Zoustar filly brings international flavour to Adelaide
The Chase came out on top on the first day of the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale, where they offered and sold Lot 67, a daughter of Zoustar, early in the sale for $200,000 to the bid of Miguel Almeda from the Philippines. It was the top price paid for a lot day one of the sale.
The September-born filly is the second foal of Tapitlikeitshot (USA) (Tapit {USA}), a race-winning daughter of 12-time winner and multiple Graded stakes winner Gold Mover (USA) (Gold Fever {USA}), the dam of Listed winners Maleeh (USA) (Indian Charlie {USA}) and Giant Mover (USA) (Giant’s Causeway {USA}), the latter of whom is the granddam of Graded winner Heroic Move (USA) (Quality Road {USA}). She was the only Zoustar available in the catalogue.
There are only 14 active daughters of multiple United States Champion Broodmare Sire Tapit (USA) in Australia, including Zighy Bay (USA), dam of G1 South Australian Derby victress Qafila (Not A Single Doubt).
Almeda had been interested in the filly since the catalogue had been announced, and has plans for utilising her to enhance his home country’s broodmare population with her in the future.
“(I was interested) because of the US line from Tapit,” he said. “We have a lot of Tapits in the Philippines. We will have her go into training first here (in Australia) and then try to win something with her as a 2-year-old or 3-year-old. After that, as a broodmare, we will take her back to Manila.”
“We will have her (Lot 67) go into training first here (in Australia) and then try to win something with her as a 2-year-old or 3-year-old.” - Miguel Almeda
Almeda finished the first day of bidding action as the leading buyer, purchasing four lots for a top gross of $323,500.
"We've supported the Adelaide Sale for the past four or five years," said Michael Smith, China Horse Club's Regional Manager of Australasia. "We've had some really good results here. We hope she can be another success on the track. We sold Eternal Warrior here, who won the Merson Cooper this year, was third in the Blue Diamond Prelude and was unlucky in the Blue Diamond.
Lot 67 - Zoustar x Tapitlikeitshot (USA) filly | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
"We also sold another filly Shadhavar who won the Magic Millions 3&4YO race down here and she's stakes placed and hopefully this filly can add to that graduates list. We love coming here. The buyers love coming here. The horses settle in so well and parade well."
Dingwall’s savvy pinhook pays off
Gabby Dingwall proved you don’t have to spend a lot of money in this game to come out on top - if you have the right eye - when selling a strapping Jacquinot colt, Lot 149, for $130,000 on the first day of the Adelaide sale. Buying under her parents’ Caithness Breeding banner, she picked up the colt for $7500 via an Inglis Digital online sale last May, turning a $122,500 profit when the colt was snapped up by John Foote Bloodstock (FBAA) and Merrick Staunton.
Foaled at Blue Gum Farm, the colt is the third foal of Behaviourism (Kermadec {NZ}), an unraced half-sister to multiple Group winner Obsequious (Lonhro), dam of dual Group 3 winner Ingratiating.
Lot 149 - Jacquinot x Behaviourism colt | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“I was very, very nervous,” said Dingwall. “I didn’t know what the outcome would be. I was going to be happy with whatever I got.
“Dad (Sean Dingwall) and I bought this horse for $7500. His reserve was $40,000 and he sold for $130,000. He’s my first pinhook, which was really exciting. He was the only one that I wanted, I was attracted to his behaviour, he was so kind and so gentle, and I just really wanted a good experience on my first time.
“He (Lot 149) was the only one that I wanted, I was attracted to his behaviour, he was so kind and so gentle.” - Gabby Dingwall
“I’m so glad that I got (this result). It’s definitely a positive result and we will keep pushing forward for young people in particular that pinhooking is a really good way of getting in to the industry and understanding it too.
"I feel that more and more younger girls are being bolstered to become a part of it and to reach for certain things that might not have been reached for before.”
McGrath fights off stiff competition for top priced lots
Two of the top purchases on Thursday were sold to the bid of bloodstock agent Shane McGrath, buying in tandem with Clinton McDonald. At lunchtime, the pair spent $115,000 on Lot 102, a filly by All Too Hard, and they struck again as the afternoon wore on, purchasing Lot 175, a colt by The Autumn Sun, for $180,000.
The filly was offered by Willow Park Stud, and is out of Wahine (Fastnet Rock), a juvenile race-winning half-sister to R. Listed Wyong Magic Millions 2YO-placed Remorseless (Written Tycoon) and a direct descendant of blueblooded Monsoon Wedding (Danehill {USA}). The page would have rung familiar to McGrath who helped in sourcing Farnan, who won the Wyong 2YO Classic en route to his G1 Golden Slipper Stakes win.
Lot 102 - All Too Hard (AUS) x Wahine (AUS) filly | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“He’s (All Too Hard) a terrific sire overall,” said Willow Park’s Glen Burrows. “Babylon Berlin is a Group 2 winner that we actually bred and raised at home. This filly has a terrific demeanour, she has lovely length to her. She was keenly sought after in the ring - Grant and Alana Williams, very good judges, said she was the pick of the sale for them and they were the underbidders under Shane.”
“Grant and Alana Williams, very good judges, said she (Lot 102) was the pick of the sale for them.” - Glen Burrows
“She’s a beautiful filly,” McGrath said. “She’s out of a Fastnet Rock mare and her full brother made $275,000 as a yearling, and he’s gone to Hong Kong.”
“It’s a wonderful sale to come to,” said Burrows. “It’s very relaxed. Interest has been phenomenal.”
The colt offered by Glen Tree Thoroughbreds was presented on behalf of Arrowfield Stud, and is out of dual Listed winner Cavaloce (Testa Rossa) from the family of G1 Oakleigh Plate winner Reactive (Geiger Counter {USA}).
Lot 175 - The Autumn Sun x Cavaloce colt | Image courtesy of Magic Million
“I love the sire, The Autumn Sun,” McGrath said. “He's obviously got appeal locally, but also the international market. I loved the colt. There's plenty of size and scope to him. He's a very good mover and he has a great temperament.
“He's (Lot 175) a very good mover and he has a great temperament.” - Shane McGrath
“We've had a lot of success here (in Adelaide) in the past. I bought Simply Steffi here last year and we've got a very good colt at home with Clinton who we like as well.”
McGrath and McDonald have only previously purchased one yearling by The Autumn Sun, spending $550,000 at last year’s Inglis Australian Easter Sale on Nikitria, who launched her career with a run in the Listed Festival Stakes and who will have her second start in the $175,000 Valley Pearl this Saturday. The $180,000 had the colt as the second top lot on the first day of the sale.
Trio of six figure lots highlight Yulong’s South Australian offerings
Yulong have ended the first day of the Magic Millions Adelaide sale as the leading vendors average (two or more sold), averaging $73,357 across their seven lots sold for a total of $513,500, placing them second by aggregate. Offspring of resident Alabama Express were in strong demand, with two lots by the sire in Yulong’s draft attracting bids over $100,000 each, as did a colt by his barnmate Grunt (NZ).
The latter, Lot 171, is bound for New Zealand Bloodstock’s Ready To Run Sale after selling to the bid of Regal Farm for $120,000. He is the second foal from Listed Creswick Stakes placegetter Capriccio (I Am Invincible), a daughter of G2 Centrebet Classic winner Lonhspresso (Lonhro).
Clarken Bloodstock, Rob Chapman, and Suman Hedge Bloodstock (FBAA) paid the top figure for their draft of $140,000 for Lot 176, an Alabama Express half-sister to G3 Schweppervescence Handicap winner Irukandji (Dundeel {NZ}). Dam Cerberus Gal (General Nediym), who was multiple Group-performed herself, has produced seven winners to date from eight foals to the track.
Queensland-based Good Trading Bloodstock sprung $100,000 for Lot 113, a son of Alabama Express out of Written Tycoon mare World Awaits, who is from the close family of G3 How Now Stakes winner Detours (Ad Valorem {USA}) and dual Listed winner Kin (Impending). The colt is a full brother to World Awaits’ first foal Waiting For Time, who was exported to Hong Kong after breaking his maiden as a juvenile.
No doubt buoyed by the continued success of his fillies - including last weekend’s $500,000 VOBIS Guineas victress Salty Pearl - three daughters of Tagaloa were also snapped up from Yulong’s Thursday offerings, heading across the country to Victoria, Queensland, and Western Australia.
Yulong were the leading vendors by average at the end of the 2025 edition of the sale, and third by aggregate with a much smaller draft. They have four to sell on day two.
Selective market is the winner on day one
Despite a reduction in metrics in the first half of the sale, Magic Millions Managing Director Barry Bowditch is pleased with the performance of the sale’s top lots and with the atmosphere around the ring.
“The quality horses certainly set the tone here in Adelaide," he said. "Horses that had a good pedigree, well conformed and vetted out, were highly sought after like other sales. There was fierce competition on anything that fitted the trade market - that was a hard market to play in.”
Barry Bowditch | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“Obviously the market is selective. There's a thirst for quality but at the lower end it is very tough for our vendors. We will keep working on our passed in lots. We've got a solid foundation from day one and there's plenty of nice horses to come, and there's great value to be found particularly for trainers out there.”
Something else pleasing to note is the amount of buyers and buying combinations active ringside; 92 buying combinations purchased yearlings on the first day of the sale.
“Vendors who were willing to meet the market with the right product were getting rewarded across the day.” - Barry Bowditch
“There's been a great cross section of buyers - international, interstate and local,” Bowditch added. “Vendors who were willing to meet the market with the right product were getting rewarded across the day.”
