Chasing Magic Millions

By Sas Lyon

During her recent interview with GQ Magazine consolidating her turn as the ‘GQ Woman of the Year for 2014’, Tilda Swinton remarked that the only other career she has really considered apart from one in the Arts was that of a punter.

“My grandfather had an old gardener called Bert Matheson, and he taught me how to pick winners, and it kind of works! It’s very strange. I mean, it doesn’t always work, of course. It’s got something to do with the form, and there’s a certain amount of knowledge about particular horses, but it really is not that. It’s to do with, um, just looking at the horses in the ring and asking whether they’re gonna win or not! Basically, I mean.”

One wager—one horse, named Devilry, running one race—”kept us for nearly a year,” Tilda Swinton says.

Tilda Swinton is, clearly, something quite otherworldy. She sits very high on the scale of ‘woman we feel might be aliens’ because she is just so insanely powerful and strikingly beautiful that the mind boggles to comprehend that she comes from the same old boring DNA as the rest of us. She is also incredibly sharp in terms of her intellect. She creates film stealing roles out of tiny bit parts (such as her turn in this years Snowpiercer as the hideously and fabulously on point Minister Mason).

Herein lies the great leveller of the horse racing world as she so beautifully alluded to in the GQ article – anyone can win on a horse race. Of course there is the matter of form, of training, of understanding the field your rider is up against, but it’s the luck, the glorious luck of it all that makes us all feel a little like Tilda Swinton when we win on a large bet – like we’ve just been granted the prize of ‘best day ever’ by some unseen puppet master.

Of course, this is just for the punters. For the puppet masters who construct the race there is a whole lot more that goes into it than zoning in on a pretty filly in the ring and thinking that she looks like a winner. For those at the Gold Coast Magic Millions who are there to part with some serious cash in order to buy the next Sebring, or Heavenly Glow, Divine Madonna, Princess Coup, Sirmione, Scenic Blast, Black Piranha, Gilded Venom, Rebel Raider, Shoot Out, Once Were Wild, Theseo, Melito, All American, Shocking, Rocket Man, or any of the other magnificent horses to have been bought at this international horse sale who have gone on to make a stack of ‘best days ever’ for lucky punters and show a solid return on investment for their owners it is all about bloodlines.

Built around an international thoroughbred sales and the $4 Million + Magic Millions Raceday this ten day carnival has made an imprint on the worlds racing scene and cemented its reputation for both offering high quality thoroughbreds for sale, which are then given the chance to prove their mettle at the raceday as Magic Millions is an innovative bloodstock auction house where graduates are the only horses eligible to compete in closed races worth over $5 million. At least one yearling from a Magic Millions catalogue each year is guaranteed to win a $2 million race – the richest run in Queensland and one of the richest in Australia.

So, if you are a potential buyer we are guessing you are already across this information and will be attending the carnival to see if you can spot your next champion. If you are a punter though, perhaps the next Tilda Swinton who will be able to live off the winnings of this one race for a year, you should lock down your accommodation so we can focus on keeping you well fed and watered so you can keep your eye on the prize.

We are offering this Magic Millions Weekend Package just for you:

Stay in style just moments from the track at QT Gold Coast from just $255 per night. Enjoy two nights of designer accommodation, return shuttle transfers to the Gold Coast Turf Club and a $50 spaQ credit to ensure you are race day ready!

INCLUDES

• Accommodation in a QT King Mountain River View (min 2 nights)
• $50 spaQ credit
• Return shuttle transfers to/from the Gold Coast Turf Club
• Free WiFi