Magic madness a PR stunt

Now let me get this straight – John Singleton and Gerry Harvey want the Queensland Government to put in $5.5 million of taxpayers’ money into prizemoney for the Magic Millions 2YO Classic so the race can have bragging rights as the world’s richest horse race, worth $11 million.

This is a race, run on a provincial racetrack at the Gold Coast, restricted to 2YOs and restricted to horses sold at the Magic Millions Yearling Sale, from which Singleton and Harvey (pictured in 2008) and their partners in the Magic Millions business have gathered millions of dollars in commissions on the sale of yearlings.

The whole suggestion is a nonsense. It’s also a ruse, a publicity stunt that achieved its aim – to put the Magic Millions Yearling Sale, today in its second session, and Saturday’s race day firmly in the public eye, as most major media outlets have lapped it up.

The fact is the Magic Millions is as big as it can get, and increasing the prizemoney will only add to its novelty and not improve its world standing from restricted, and sometimes forgettable, scamper for 2YOs to one of the great – unrestricted – horse races.