Written by Michael Sharkie
Mystic Journey has had consistent success over the past few years, and as her connections look towards Cup Week at Flemington, we take a look back at where it all began.
The 2017 Magic Millions Tasmanian Yearling Sale had meandered along without much fanfare by the time lot 43 was led into the auction ring – and nothing much changed when she arrived.
A black filly by Needs Further, a son of Encosta De Lago once trained by the great Gai Waterhouse, from the Colombia mare White Gold – the winner of two lowly races at Sale; the filly was far from a drawcard on the 133-lot catalogue presented on that Thursday afternoon in late February.
There certainly was no indication that the filly would become anything remotely special, let alone the 2019 Group 1 Australian Guineas and inaugural $5 million 2019 All-Star Mile winner, Mystic Journey, now an earner of over $4 million.
“My notes from the sale read ‘attractive athletic filly, correct, well conformed’ ... but there was nothing that stood out about her; in fact, I don’t even remember selling her on my run but Armidale Stud yearlings are always well presented making the auctioneer’s job much easier,” says Magic Millions Sales Director and senior auctioneer David Chester.
“When I knocked her down at $11,000 I thought that was about her money. It’s sales like this that bring buyers back to yearling sales. Snippets put the Gold Coast sale on the map, Mystic Journey will do the same for Tassie.”
Chester has been selling horses for fifty years and has been a part of the Magic Millions team since the company was founded in 1980. He says it is the responsibility of auctioneers to see every horse in a sale, to make notes and look for angles to help each horse achieve a positive sale result.
“Sometimes a horse will come through and sell for much less than you expect, other times one might really overachieve. There are always surprises and it can be nerve-wracking for the vendors,” he says.
For vendor David Wishaw, preparation for the sale begins even earlier.
“Well, it starts from birth really, but in the context of preparing for a yearling sale, we begin when the foal is weaned from its mother, around five months of age,” he says.