Bought at the Magic Millions — one for $1.9m, the other for $10,000 — these horses could still race on the same track

Spending $1 million on anything is an eye-watering thought for most people but for those in the horse racing industry, it's an investment in a horse that could be the next big thing.  

Every January, the spotlight shines on the Gold Coast where some of the best-bred young thoroughbreds enter the sale ring at the Magic Millions.

This year the sale grossed a record $242 million, and now the yearlings are settling into their new homes to hopefully be race-ready by spring.

Coolmore Stud in the Upper Hunter picked up six colts, with a combined price tag of more than $5 million.

One of those horses cost $1.9 million.

At the other end of the price scale, Scone trainer Rod Northam picked up two five-figure buys, including one of the most affordable horses of the sale, which cost just $10,000.

But despite the differences in price, these horses could hit the same track in under a year.

Sired by some of the best in the business — I Am Invincible, Justify and Snitzel — the colts at Coolmore are bred to run. 

But so are Rod Northam's purchases.

Coolmore's racing manager Rob Archibald says a good horse has a «combination of breeding and conformation».

«We have a team that look in-depth at the pedigrees and do a huge amount of research… [to] identify 50 to 60 colts that could potentially fit the mould of what we're looking for,» Mr Archibald said.

«As they go through and inspect them, that list obviously gets shorter and shorter.

»We're really shopping at the top of the market and then out of those 12 to 15 we were lucky to get six."

After the sale, many of the horses returned to the racing heartland of the Hunter Valley — just to a new studs.

«They were bought off a lot of local farms actually. Emirates Park, Newgate, Yarraman Park, so it's funny