The auction house can lay claim to the record result after the Book 2 session of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale ended late Jan. 12. A total of 128 horses were sold, headlined by an AU$370,000 (US$255,661) Iffraaj colt. Book 2 averaged AU$77,906 with an aggregate of AU$9.972 million.

In the lead-up to the sale, both publicly and privately, industry figures including breeders, vendors, agents, and syndicators—expressed the view that this year's Gold Coast Yearling Sale could fall off the 2019 record.  

Most suggested it was likely to come back by about 5% or remain on par if all went well. A 20% decline was not completely dismissed when the discussion was raised during early inspections.

But, like the winning post, the fall of the hammer is the real indicator, and the buyers spoke, leading to 709 Book 1 yearling finding new homes for an aggregate of AU$177,407,000, up 4.6%.

The average of AU$252,221 ($152,840), which was up from AU$239,809 on the 2019 sale, saw an increase of 5.17%, while this metric broke the AU$250,000 barrier for the first time. The AU$180,000 ($109,734) median was also up AU$10,000 year on year.