Southern Highlands breeder John Muir was totally crestfallen when his Hellbent-Time Awaits filly fell well short of her reserve at the 2021 Gold Coast Yearling Sale. As a daughter of I Am Invincible’s Group 1 winning son Hellbent from a Gr 3 winning mare, the astute breeder thought she was worth every cent of $150,000. When bidding stalled at $110,000 and private offers were not forthcoming, John decided to take the filly home and race her under his Milburn Creek Thoroughbreds banner.
Fast forward almost three years and imagine the scene in the Muirs’ Southern Highlands living room on Saturday, as John and his wife Trish cheered their sale ring reject home in the Gr 1 Rupert Clarke Stakes at Caulfield. By his own admission John had been like a cat on a hot tin roof all day. His tensions mounted through the afternoon when it was obvious horses near the lead and close to the fence seemed to have the edge.
Trainer Grahame Begg had advised that jockey Michael Dee would be taking Magic Time back from her wide gate, in the hope she’d find some cover if obliged to travel wide. “I thought we were in deep trouble when she got caught three wide from the outset,” said the owner/breeder. “She never looked like finding cover and I just about gave up when she got carted five deep on the corner. “I couldn’t believe it when she dropped into another gear and exploded past I Am Me. She’s one classy mare.”
Michael Dee gets another Gr. 1 as Magic Time stamps herself as a quality mare in the Rupert Clarke - courtesy Racing Photos.
The Rupert Clarke win extended Magic Time’s record to five wins and two placings from only eight starts for a cool $1.21 million. Her only unplaced effort came at her first run back in September when fifth only two lengths behind Asfoora in an 1100m Gr 3 sprint at Caulfield. A wide run may well have cost her a placing on that occasion. Buoyed by the mare’s previous adaptability to clockwise racing, Grahame Begg immediately implemented a two race Sydney campaign. Three weeks later Magic Time overcame a “stop start” run when she easily accounted for Parisal and Dalchini in the Gr 3 Nivison at Rosehill with Nash Rawiller in the saddle.
An awkward gate did her no favours in the $2 million Invitation at Randwick in which she was obliged to race three wide outside Banana Queen and Alcohol Free to the hometurn. With Tyler Schiller doing the honours, the Hellbent mare still had her head in front fifty metres out before being collared in the last few strides by Espiona and Ruthless Dame. The form was franked by Espiona when she finished on the heels of the placegetters in the Gr 1 Champions Sprint on the final day of the Melbourne Cup carnival. “That gave Magic Time a three week gap into the Rupert Clarke,” said Grahame Begg. “I believe she’s at her most lethal with three weeks between runs, and we’ll be planning her future campaigns along those lines.
“She’ll go straight to the paddock now as the winner of five races including a Gr 1 and a couple of Gr 3’s, a tidy CV for a filly who was completely shunned at the Gold Coast yearling sale. The plan is to give her a very light autumn preparation with one lead up run into the All Aged Stakes, followed by a freshen before a Brisbane campaign. She’ll be nominated for the Stradbroke, Doomben $10,000 and Tatts Tiara. There are several options. We’ll just take it one step at a time. The amazing thing about this mare is her versatility. She can handle rain affected ground if necessary and she can race right or left handed. It takes a lot of pressure off the trainer.”
Magic Time is equally at home in a clockwise or anti clockwise direction. Here she is winning the PJ Bell Stakes at Randwick - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
Under normal circumstances John Muir would have been at Caulfield on Saturday to offer encouragement, but he was still battling jet lag following a whirlwind visit to Kentucky in search of sensibly priced broodmares at the famed Keeneland Sale. The astute Muir has been a regular at this sale in recent years, managing to source several impressive matrons. He added to that tally two weeks ago when he came away with three well credentialed American mares, one of them a veritable afterthought. “I don’t do anything without seeking the opinion of my stud manager Scott Holcombe who accompanies me on these trips to Kentucky,” said John. “Scott has an uncanny eye for a potential broodmare type.”
Buying from Book 2 John secured the stakes placed Beyond Mybudget for AU$345,380 and three time stakes winner Bipartisanship for almost identical money. He had all but ceased operations when his attention was drawn to a stakes winning three year old filly called Mom’s Town whose sire Speightstown is one of his personal favourites. John decided to throw in one quick bid of US$100,000, with absolutely no intention of going any higher. “I wasn’t there when the filly came into the ring,” said John. “I had to duck away to another appointment, but I left instructions with Magic Millions CEO Barry Bowditch who was one of several Australians in attendance at the sale. I was pretty chuffed when Barry called me later to say our bid had been successful.”
John had to go to $300,000 for Magic Time’s dam Time Awaits at the 2018 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale. He was cognisant of the mare’s three win record in Adelaide which included the listed Cinderella Stakes and the Gr 3 Sires Produce Stakes. He was also aware that her sire Nicconi was producing regular winners - horses like Nature Strip who’d just won a string of races in Victoria. In selecting a consort for Time Awaits in 2018 the breeder settled on Hellbent who’d taken up residence at Yarraman Park alongside his own celebrated sire I Am Invincible. It wasn’t lost on John Muir that Magic Time, in winning the Rupert Clarke Stakes provided Hellbent with his all important first Gr 1 winner.
John Muir was special guest on Sky's Inside Racing programme 2011.
John reports that Time Awaits has a three year old Zoustar filly called Cosmonova currently spelling after one unplaced run in August. She’s in the Joe Pride stable, and is raced by a Proven Thoroughbreds syndicate. Her next foal is an unraced two year old Dundeel colt called Henlein who was a $300,000 purchase for Michael Freedman at the 2021 Inglis Easter Sale. Then followed a Maurice colt already earmarked for next year’s Inglis Easter Sale. His value has been dramatically boosted by his half sister’s Gr 1 Caulfield win on Saturday. Unfortunately, Time Awaits missed to a service by Wild Ruler last year, but is currently safely in foal to I Am Invincible.
Magic Time’s emergence as one of Australia’s most talented race mares bears a striking resemblance to another fairytale story involving John Muir in the mid 2000’s. He “pinhooked” a Dubawi filly for $38,000 at a 2008 Inglis Weanling Sale, hoping to sell her on as a yearling for a significant profit. John was left lamenting the following year when the chestnut filly failed to attract a single bid at the Inglis Classic Sale. Grahame Begg had seen something he liked in the filly and put up his hand to train her should John decide to race the daughter of Dubawi in the Milburn colours.
She did indeed race twenty eight times in the brown and white checked silks for three wins, and an amazing fifteen placings. You’d wonder how she managed to accumulate $1.4 million in prize money with just three wins on her record. Two of those wins were at Gr 1 level - the 2010 Flight Stakes and Epsom Hcp of 2011. A large slice of her earnings came from placings in eight other Gr 1 races. To think that Grahame Begg has trained two outstanding mares for John Muir who between them failed to attract a bid as yearlings. I’m not sure who first wrote about the glorious uncertainty of the turf, but Secret Admirer and Magic Time have lent further weight to the theory.
Brenton Avdulla brings Secret Admirer with a barnstorming run to win the 2011 Epsom - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
Grahame with Brenton Avdulla after a thrilling Epsom win - courtesy Bradley Photos
A Gr 1 win with Magic Time was just the kind of tonic Grahame Begg was needing after a bleak start to his spring carnival. To begin with his hardy stayer Nonconformist pulled up with severe bone bruising in a hind leg after a gallant fourth to Alligator Blood in the Might And Power Stakes on October 14th. Caulfield Cup plans were immediately aborted, and the seven year old was sent to the paddock. “He’s a great old horse with at least one good preparation left in him,” said the trainer. “We’ll probably skip the autumn and aim him for the Brisbane winter. The extra time will ensure he gets over the injury completely.”
Grahame’s second “kick in the guts” came only a week later when his veteran staying mare Lunar Flare sustained a career ending tendon injury in the Moonee Valley Gold Cup. “It must have happened very late in the race because she was charging home to run fourth to Cleveland,” said Grahame. “I was already thinking about a Melbourne Cup appearance when we discovered the injury. You’ll remember she was going to run in the 2022 Cup when ruled out by industry vets. I was barely over that disappointment when the unthinkable happened. She won nine races and $2 million in stakes. To lose Nonconformist and Lunar Flare within a week was pretty hard to cop. Magic Time’s win was a massive consolation.”
Nonconformist wins MRC Foundation Cup at Caulfield 2021 - courtesy Racing Photos.
The experienced trainer put all celebrations on hold to attend to his final runner at the Caulfield meeting. His well known affinity with fillies and mares had been on display all day. He’d run second with Miraval Rose in the Thoroughbred Club Stakes and a handy sixth with Carina Queen in the Thousand Guineas. Magic Time’s win had been the icing on the cake, but Rose Quartz still had to strut her stuff in the Gr 3 How Now Stakes. The highly strung six year old mare found the top after 200m and refused to yield all the way down the straight. With Michael Dee again doing the honours for the stable, Rose Quartz held out fast finisher Ghaanati to give Grahame a timely double.
Rose Quartz completes a black type double for Grahame Begg and Michael Dee in the How Now Stakes - courtesy Racing Photos.
Begg was one of several trainers forced to relocate last year when the Caulfield training centre closed its doors. He was fortunate to acquire first class accommodation at the widely lauded Cranbourne training facility, where he maintains a team of horses not exceeding thirty. He paused for a moment when asked to nominate a member of that team likely to generate a future headline.
The name he volunteered is De Bergerac, almost certainly borrowed from the legend of seventeenth century playwright, author and duellist Cyrano De Bergerac. The name has no connection with sire Zoustar or dam Yau Chin. His pedigree makes him a half brother to Blue Diamond winner Written By and to C’est Magique who won only once in a nine start career, but she did manage a cracking second to In Secret in the 2022 Coolmore Stud Stakes. De Bergerac made his long awaited debut in a Seymour maiden recently, and proved that he’s inherited a fair chunk of the family genes. With Jordan Childs up, he covered plenty of ground before putting average opposition away with contempt. “He doesn’t know where he is yet but his raw ability is unmistakable,” said Grahame.
Grahame with De Bergerac's half brother Written By after the 2018 Blue Diamond - courtesy Racing Photos.
Like C’est Magique and Written By, the colt is raced by Grahame’s dad Neville who pays little attention to the fact that he’s now in his ninety second year. By way of a special tribute to a giant of the Australian turf I’ll let Magic Time’s owner/breeder John Muir bring down the curtain on this week’s story. “My wife and I were pretty excited as we watched Magic Time win the Gr 1 at Caulfield,” said John. “When you’ve reared a horse on your own place and watched it grow up, there’s something surreal about a win at the elite level. My phone rang before the horses had pulled up, and I wondered who it might be. It was none other than Neville Begg who sounded like a much younger man as he conveyed his congratulations. That phone call made an all too rare racing moment even more special.”
Grahame with his father Neville Begg at the races in Sydney - courtesy Steve Hart Photograhics.
(Banner image - Despite a wide run Magic Time was dominant at the finish of Saturday's Rupert Clarke Stakes - courtesy Racing Photos.)