NSW breeders could be locked out of Magic Millions sale by new border restrictions
Australian bloodstock's biggest players are set to miss next week's Magic Millions broodmare sale after the Queensland government shut its borders to non-Queenslanders who have been in the Liverpool and Campbelltown council areas in the past fortnight.
The sale had already been put back a month due to the effects of the COVID-19 crisis and is the biggest broodmare sale in the country. It grossed more than $104 million last year, and adds millions more to Queensland's economy. The border announcement was made on Tuesday morning after a cluster of coronavirus cases in NSW.
Big studs could be locked out of Queensland for next week's Magic Millions broodmare sale.Credit:Fiona Carruthers
Magic Millions chief executive Barry Bowditch said the company was working through scenarios of how the sale would operate.
He would hope for an exemption, similar to the one the NRL is seeking, to allow vendors and buyers to be present at the sales. Victorians were already going to be limited at the sale but it will be a body blow if the Hunter Valley studs can't attend in person.
The majority of staff from NSW studs would not be allowed to attend because most of them were at the Inglis Riverside complex at Warwick Farm for the Easter round two and weanling sale last week.
Riverside is in the Liverpool area, which the Queensland government blacklisted on Tuesday. The ban requires anyone who has been there in the past two weeks to go into quarantine before they enter the sunshine state because of the Crossroads Hotel COVID-19 cluster in Casula.
There are more than 700 mares to be sold on the Gold Coast next week, including champion mare Sunlight, a three-time group 1 winner. She is expected to break the Australian record for broodmare.
Sunlight will be the centre of attention as studs from around the world battle to take her home. Even overseas buyers cannot be at the Magic Millions Sale.