THERE are all sorts of zany theme parks on the Gold Coast but only one place you can defy gravity.
That's the Gold Coast Magic Millions yearling sales which are essentially a tiny bubble of super-charged spending which floats above the rest of an economy where most wise men are protecting their savings like a palace guard protecting the Queen.
It was raining dollars from the first day of the sale last week when the car park was overflowing and the average price was $141,000.
That's what you might pay for a new Porsche or Maserati which, unlike your horse, is certain to get out of first gear and won't cost $3000 a month to feed.
"Did you know there was a recession on?" quipped leading Brisbane horse trainer Rob Heathcote with a knowing smile that suggested the spending blitz, while stunning, was nothing less than he expected.
It was once said that when things are tough the three things you don't buy are a race horse, a painting and a speed boat.
Artists and boat salesmen have been heard complaining about tough times but the racing industry churns on like one of those mango trees that gets belted by summer storms each year but still drops barrows full of fruit.
That's despite the lingering stench of the mysterious death of Black Caviar's younger half brother, a $5 million Sydney yearling purchase, and the perennial issue over whether some yearling prices are artificially inflated by private deals.
"When times are tough people gamble more,'" said Bill Mitchell, former trainer of crack sprinter General Nediym, who became one of the Magic Millions best advertisements when he was bought for just $20,000 at the sales, won the Magic Millions race and sired two other winners of it.
"You buy a horse and it is a ticket in the lottery. When the Global Financial Crisis hit Australia the breeders were still getting good money for good horses."
In the first Magic Million sales in 1986, 200 horses were auctioned and one of them was guaranteed to win the million dollar race snared by Snippets.
Now there are more than 3000 chasing $18 million in a number of races including Saturday's $2 million classic on the Gold Coast won by Unencumbered.
The pot of gold is enormous but it's a rugged journey with a brutal attrition rate.
If you took your yearling purchase plan to a bank manager and tried to convince him of its sense, you wouldn't even get to sit down before he picked up the phone, called security and sent you off with a Monopoly board and the suggestion you could get your big-spending thrills that way.
The purchase of the horse is just the start of your costs. A Brisbane-trained horse is likely to cost its owner around $30,000 to train each year, and if you put it with a top southern trainer, it could be another $10,000.
There were 18,355 registered horses who did not win a race in Australia last year, 4308 starters who did not make a cent and thousands more who did not even make the races.
The numbers crush you from all directions but horse racing is as much about the dream as the dollars.
It is a joyful moment for the industry when the winners are not Arab sheiks or casino owners but humble folk who unearth a gold nugget - like Scone breeder and mother of two Jilly Henderson who runs an agistment farm with her husband.
A couple of years ago she quietly slipped into a Scone broodmare sale and paid $18,000 for the mare called Zelady who was days away from dropping a filly to the then unproven sire I Am Invincible.
Such has been the strong impression created since by I Am Invincible's first crop of youngsters that Henderson's filly brought a staggering $450,000 at the sales last week.
When the bidding reached beyond $250,000 Henderson dissolved into tears and days later is still floating on that lottery winner's cloud.
"I'm still blown away - I have not come back to reality yet," she said on Sunday.
"When she was knocked down I had tears rolling down my face. I was in complete shock. I still struggle to even talk about it. I was very emotional because the day-to-day slog of running the farm is hard but this is the reward.
"I do find it a bit intimidating at the sales. I think 'little old me, what am I trying to do?' I sometimes get that feeling but I am passionate about what I do and I think why cannot I do as good a job as they do. This has been a dream really."
Big dreams that just occasionally come true ... racing would be nothing without them.
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