The Magic Millions Classic one of the most keenly anticipated races every year and this year is no different despite Warwoven going into the race as the short priced favourite. The field is always full of fast two year olds from around the country and this years edition is no different for the $3m prize pool. We take a look at the breeding analyses and pedigrees for each of the horses in the race to help you find the winner.
1. ZIP LOCK
Hellbent – Honolulu Lass (Hinchinbrook)
Bred by Lucy Mitchell and Lance Forbes, this $160,000 purchase is one of the four winners (her first four foals) for the Echuca and Benalla winner Honolulu Lass who sadly died last year.
Her dam is the Gr.1 winning Flying Spur mare Velasco whose eight winners include the stakes winners Debelattio and Devours.
Zip Lock is bred on the same Hellbent/Fastnet Rock cross as the stakes winners Savvy Hallie and Sunrays.
2. TORNADO VALLEY
Too Darn Hot – Oklahoma Girl (Fastnet Rock)
Bred by Rosemont Stud from the third crop of his popular sire, he changed hands for $300,000.
A member of the prolific Simon’s Shoes family, he is the fifth foal and first winner for a city winner who ran a close-up third behind Egg Tart in the Gr.1 Queensland Oaks.
His stakes placed grandam Shawnee Girl produced the Gr.3 winner Sure Knee and also from this branch of the family are the successful stallions Northern Meteor and Smart Missile.
Tornado Valley is one of Too Darn Hot’s three stakes winners out of mares by Fastnet Rock; Simmering and Jenni The Fox the others.
Tornado Valley boasts lovely duplications of his own family, being bred on a 6 × 5 cross of Fairy Bridge (dam of Sadler’s Wells and Fairy King) whose fourth dam Rough Shod is Oklahoma Girl’s sixth dam.
3. ITCHINTOGO
Sun City – Itchintowin (Nothing To Lose)
Bred by Lucas Bloodstock and purchased at the March sale for $60,000, he is one of only 12 named members of the third crop of his Gr.3 winning sire, a son of Zoustar.
A descendant of the prolific matriarch Kite, he is the final foal produced by the five-time (two at metropolitan level) winner Itchintowin, a half-sister to the stakes placed Roses For Claire from the family of the Gr.1 winning stallions Brutal and Wyndspelle.
4. WARWOVEN
Sword Of State – Needle And Thread (Makfi)
Bred by Kia Ora Stud, this $380,000 yearling is the first foal for a Gr.2 winning full sister to the Gr.1 placed Listed winner Savile Row.
Needle And Thread is a granddaughter of the French stakes winner Gold Dodger whose Gr.3 winning daughter Chintz produced the Gr.1 Sussex Stakes winner The Gurkha.
Gold Dodger’s Gr.3 winning dam Brooklyn’s Dance did a great job at stud with another five of her foals being stakes winners including the Gr.1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe heroine Solemia.
Warwoven boasts a duplication of the Kentucky Oaks heroine Lalun via her sons Bold Reason and Never Bend.
5. UNIT FIVE
Supido – En Aval (Toorak Toff)
Bred by a group led by L Attwood, this $80,000 yearling by a very fast son of Sebring is the second foal for a Swan Hill and Wangaratta winner whose sire Toorak Toff won the South Australian version of this race.
En Aval is one of the five winners produced by the four-time winner En Amont, dam of three metropolitan winners and grandam of the Listed Lonhro Plate winner Bellazaine.
There is plenty of juvenile form in this family, the speedy My Gladiola the latest whilst Doubtland also had plenty of pace, as did Unit Five’s Golden Slipper-winning relations Rory’s Jester and Ha Ha.
6. KNIGHTSBRIDGE
Farnan – Festivity (Nicconi)
His sire was in the market but out of the placings with a slow recovery rate when contesting this race in 2020, bouncing back to win his next three including the Gr.1 Golden Slipper.
A $750,000 yearling bred by Lime Country Thoroughbreds, Healey Bloodstock and J See, he seeks to become the third stakes winner for his multiple city-winning dam Festivity who has also produced the Gr.3 Triscay Stakes and Magic Millions Cup winner Semana and the Listed Morphettville Guineas winner Gala Queen.
Knightsbridge’s fourth dam is the Gr.1 VRC Oaks winner Scomeld.
He has juvenile strength to his pedigree being bred on a 5 × 3 cross of the Golden Slipper winner Canny Lad.
7. SHIKI
Too Darn Hot – Jest Excel (Exceed And Excel)
Bred by Cornerstone Stud and Millar Racing, she made her way through the sales ring on two occasions – fetching $150,000 as an Inglis weanling and $420,000 as a Gold Coast Yearling.
The second runner here for her sire, she is one of the three winners for Just Excel who won three races, two of those at the Gold Coast.
Just Excel is a half-sister to the Gr.2 Maribyrnong Plate winner Jiang from the family of the Gr.1 Caulfield Guineas winner Vitalic and the flashy chestnut Karuta Queen who won this race in 2011.
Shiki is one of the three Too Darn Hot stakes winners out of daughters of Exceed And Excel – Tropicus and Fitzella the others.
8. LUMBINI
Russian Revolution – My Conquestadory (Artie Schiller)
Bred by SF Bloodstock and Blake Sandblom Pty Ltd, this $450,000 yearling is one of the five winners produced by an imported Gr.1 winner who also produced a Gr.2 placegetter in the US and the local stakes placegetter Sakima, as well as this filly’s full sister Russian Conquest who was an unlucky second in this race four years ago.
A descendant of the outstanding broodmare Marguerite, My Conquestadory is a half-sister to the five-time Group winner Runninsonofagun.
Lumbini is bred on a 5 × 6 cross of the matriarch Special via Nureyev and Sadler’s Wells.
9. BY CHOICE
Written By – Audacious Choice (Redoute’s Choice)
A $220,000 yearling bred by Lustre Lodge, this descendant of the famed matriarch Eulogy is a half-sister to the city winner Harry’s Bar out of a Kembla Grange and Newcastle winning city-placed daughter of the Gr.1 mare Barinka.
By Choice is bred on the same Written By/Redoute’s Choice cross as the stakes winners The Playwright, The Novelist, Bona Sforza and Ripcord.
She is also line-bred to the terrific mare Fairy Bridge via Sadler’s Wells and Fairy King.
10. MASVINGO
Zoustar – Rotator (Not A Single Doubt)
A $580,000 purchase bred by Grant Bloodstock, he is the second foal for a three-time winner who was Gr.3 placed at her debut in the Widden Stakes.
Rotator is one of the eight winners for the Listed winning Reset mare Warpath who also produced the dual Group winner Positive Peace and the dam of the Gr.3 winner Kind Words.
Bred on the same Zoustar/Not A Single Doubt cross as the Gr.1 sprinter Schwarz, Masvingo is a descendant of the influential matriarch Plucky Liege.
11. MYSTICAL
Exceed And Excel – Rainbow Falls (Dubawi)
By a now retired Champion Sire whose son Le Chef won this race in 2015, this $425,000 Bromfield Park-bred filly is out of an Irish-bred daughter of the local Gr.3 winning More Than Ready mare Colour.
Colour is one of the 12 foals and winners for the Listed winner Regrowth whose grandam Easy Date has had her influence strongly felt in this race.
12. MAGRITTE
Better Than Ready – Margot (Rothesay)
By the same sire as the 2023 winner Skirt The Law, this $65,000 yearling bred by L Lord is the first live foal produced by the seven-time winner Margot.
Also from this family are the stakes winners Key Bar Nights, Barbed, Matchmaker, Top Knight and Dynamic Love.
13. TIGRONI
Tiger Of Malay – Campari (O’Reilly)
An $85,000 yearling bred by Aston Bloodstock, she hails from the debut crop of a dual Group-winning Extreme Choice stallion.
From the same family as the Gr.1 South Australian Derby winner Kushadasi, Tigroni is line-bred to Best In Show.
14. LEAVES OF LORIEN
Cool Aza Beel – Dixie Dreams (More Than Ready)
Bred by All Winners Thoroughbreds, she is the race’s bargain buy at just $8,000.
Whistling Dixie, her grandam, won the Gr.3 Eulogy Stakes and descends from the Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks winner Zepherin.
15. INHABIT
Stay Inside – Jenga (All Too Hard)
A $200,000 yearling bred by Chris Barham and Binalong Bloodstock, she hails from the first crop of Extreme Choice’s Golden Slipper winner.
Inhabit boasts strong female line-breeding through Easy Date and Mulberry Harbour.
16. DOUBLE COOL
Cool Aza Beel – Cool Snitzel (Snitzel)
A $50,000 Newhaven-bred yearling, she is out of a three-time winner who has already produced multiple city winners.
Like By Choice, Double Cool is a descendant of the prolific mare Eulogy.
17. IRANSOFAR
Better Than Ready – Seagull (Exceed And Excel)
Bred in Queensland by Yarramalong and sold for $50,000, she is from the same family as Black Caviar, Ole Kirk and Magnus.
Iransofar features strong female line-breeding through Natalma, Almahmoud, My Charmer and Glamour.
