Magic Millions Magic Starts Today for Te Akau
13 January, 2026
An elite athlete steps inside Te Akau Racing’s search for the next equine athlete!
This year, former elite NRL athlete Jarrod Croker has joined Te Akau Racing on the ground at the 2026 Magic Millions' Gold Coast Yearling Sale, gaining firsthand insight into how a high-performance racing operation identifies future elite equine athletes.
As a professional sportsman who spent his career competing at the highest level, Croker understands what underpins elite performance. Preparation, physical structure, mindset, and the ability to perform under pressure were all hallmarks of his career. At the Gold Coast, he is learning how those same principles apply when assessing young thoroughbreds long before they ever reach the racetrack.
Meeting Croker on the sales grounds are Te Akau principal David Ellis CNZM and Te Akau Australia assistsant trainer Ben Gleeson, who together walk him through how Te Akau operates at a major yearling sale.
Ellis outlines the overarching philosophy and long-term approach, explaining how preparation begins months in advance through detailed catalogue study, pedigree analysis, and repeated inspections. Gleeson then breaks the process down on the ground, focusing on the physical assessment of each yearling, including balance, structure, movement, and overall athleticism.
Preparation before performance
The 2026 Magic Millions' Gold Coast Yearling Sale, held from 13–18 January, features 1,221 yearlings, with approximately 200 lots sold each day. It remains one of the most important sales on the Australasian racing calendar and a proven source of elite performers for Te Akau Racing.
Ellis explains that success at this level begins well before the sale itself. Sales' catalogues are studied in detail, pedigrees are analysed across generations, and families are assessed for performance, soundness, and consistency. Each horse is inspected multiple times, with early lists refined into shortlists, budgets set, and bidding strategies carefully planned.
It is a process that resonates strongly with Croker. In elite sport, performance on game day is built on years of preparation that often goes unseen. At Magic Millions, the same principle applies.
How Te Akau assesses an athlete
As they move through the barns, Gleeson explains what Te Akau looks for in a young horse. Athletic balance, strength, correct structure, and efficient movement are key factors, but just as important is mental presence. How a yearling carries itself, how it reacts to noise and crowds, and how it handles unfamiliar surroundings all form part of the assessment.
For Croker, the parallels with elite human sport are clear. Pedigrees reflect sporting bloodlines. Conformation mirrors biomechanics. Temperament and composure under pressure can be the difference between raw ability and sustained success.
This disciplined approach has been refined over decades and continues to deliver results at the highest level.
A proven Gold Coast record For Te Akau
Te Akau Racing’s history at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale is extensive and well established.
In 2005, Ellis purchased Princess Coup for $260,000. She went on to become a four-time Group One winner, earning a domestic record of $3.1 million and more than $4.1 million overall, collecting multiple Champion titles before later selling as a broodmare for $3 million in Australia.
At the other end of the market, Integrate cost just $11,000. She developed into a Group One performer, won nearly $700,000, and was later sold to Japan for a significant sum.
Other Gold Coast graduates include Sword of State, Group 1 winner and Champion 2YO of the Year, now very successful young sire; Captured By Love, Group 1 NZ 1000 Guineas' victor; Tell A Tale, winner of the Group 1 NZ 2000 Guineas; Costa Viva, winner of the Group 1 NZ 1000 Guineas and NZ Bloodstock Filly of the Year; and Campionessa, purchased for $60,000 and winner of the Group 1 Zabeel Classic and at Group 2 level in Melbourne, with career earnings of $1.4 million.
Modern-era success
Purchased for $360,000 at Magic Millions, Imperatriz became one of the most successful sprinters of the modern era. She was crowned NZ Horse of the Year, Champion Sprinter in Australia, and recorded 10 Group One wins among 19 victories from 27 starts, earning nearly NZ$7.6 million in prize money.
Retired and sold for $6.6 million, she became the highest-priced filly or mare ever sold in the Southern Hemisphere. Her Australian Group One record placed her among the most accomplished horses trained by Te Akau.
Ellis has also secured a wide range of quality performers from the Gold Coast, including Rubicon Crossing, Gold Fever (dam of Champion Two-Year-Old La Dorada), Swing Note, Stella Splendida, Cognito, Sky On Fire, and Dream Of The Moon.
Exceptional strike rate for Te Akau
Recent results have further reinforced Te Akau’s Gold Coast performance.
From the 2023 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, every horse purchased by Ellis went on to become a winner. That group included Group 1 winners Move To Strike and Captured By Love, along with multiple stakes and city winners.
Momentum continued from the 2024 sale, highlighted by unbeaten Grup 1 winner Return To Conquer (four starts for four stakes' wins), five-time winner Cool Aza Rene purchased for $55,000, promising colt Tower Bridge, War Decree Stakes' winner Origin Of Love, and additional winners including Avantaggia, Carsolio, and Titahi Bay.
The Gold Coast has also been an important source of stallion success for Te Akau. In 2020, Ellis purchased Sword Of State (Snitzel) at Magic Millions. He won four of five starts, including the Sistema Stakes (Gr.1), was named Champion Two-Year-Old, and now stands at Cambridge Stud, with his first crop already producing stakes performers.
Looking ahead to 2026 for Team Te Akau
As the 2026 sale unfolds, horses purchased from the 2025 Gold Coast Sale are beginning to emerge, led by Group 2 Wakefield Challenge Stakes winner Lara Antipova, debut winner With A Vengeance, and several promising two-year-olds progressing through their early education.
The Te Akau buying team, led by Ellis and supported by trainer Mark Walker, assistsant trainer Reece Trumper, bloodstock manager Marcus Corban, and our senior veterinary sepcialists led by Drs Douglas Black and Jack O'Brien, will again focus on securing the right horses to build strong, competitive syndicates.
Independent analysis continues to confirm that Te Akau holds the best stakes' race strike rate (five year period), reflecting a system built on preparation, discipline, and proven results.
Join the journey with Team Te Akau
If you would like to share in a racehorse with Te Akau Racing, our current yearlings are available to view and purchase online now. As new purchases are made, our website will be updated so you can enquire or simply secure your share immediately by clicking here: https://teakauracing.com/yearlings-shares
We also invite you to watch the live stream from the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/live/RQcDgyhYW7M
Join a team with a proven record at the highest level and take the next step toward making your racehorse ownership ambitions a reality. If you have any questions, we encourage you to chat with us online via our website, reach out through our social media pages, or email [email protected]