General Managers Introduction to 2026
We hope everyone enjoyed a safe and relaxing Christmas and New Year break. After a well-deserved pause, it’s time to refocus and launch into 2026.
With a number of exciting developments on the horizon at miRunners, we’re heading into the yearling sale season and the Autumn Carnival with real momentum and enthusiasm.
Anyone who knows Mick Rees understands the dedication and passion he brings to everything he does. He recently took a well-earned break with his family in Europe—and even managed to represent miRunners abroad, sporting our merchandise at Disneyland Paris.
Hear Mick’s thoughts below as we look ahead to what promises to be an exciting year.
Happy New Year and welcome to our first miRunners mail for the year. This week the decision was made to retire Val De Grise from racing. Val De Grise has been successfully rehomed. Her new owners are involved with dressage and they intend to use her as a dressage horse. We are delighted to see her heading into the next chapter of her life and would like to sincerely thank her ownership group for their ongoing support.
It was an exciting week on the track, highlighted by the impressive win of Global Eclipse at Pakenham last week, with Ben Melham in the saddle. Global Eclipse will now progress to a Benchmark 70 over 2000 metres at Caulfield. With Ben currently suspended, a senior jockey will be appointed for the ride.
The Inglis Classic Sale is not far away, and the miRunners bloodstock team is extremely excited about the 2026 catalogue. It is shaping up to be a very strong offering, and we are currently working overtime to identify the right lots to secure on behalf of our owners.
Following the Inglis Classic Sale, we will also attend the March Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale and the Adelaide Magic Millions Sale later in March, as we continue to source quality bloodstock and deliver the best possible ownership opportunities for our owners.
We currently have two horses available via our Platinum Package:
15% remaining in our Pinatubo (IRE) Colt Donny
18% available in our Graff Colt Jake with the Price Kent Racing team
Please note that the Pinatubo (IRE) Colt ownership group will be finalised within the next seven days, so time is running out if you would like to be involved. If you are interested, please email us or give us a call on 1300 282 941.
2025 was a big year, and 2026 promises to be even bigger. I am extremely excited about the year ahead and look forward to catching up with many of you at the sales or the races.
Best Regards,
Mick
Global Eclipse is now a two-time winner
And just how deserving of that is he!? We were beyond thrilled to see our beautiful big boy salute at Pakenham last week with his mate Ben Melham in the saddle. After running 2nd on 3 occasions this preparation, Global Eclipse never gave up for his owners and put in an amazing run coming from nearly last to first in Race 5 at Pakenham, last Friday night. A huge congratulations to his large group of owners. We can’t wait to see him continue the fun this preparation.
A super trial from Xtravagant Johnny at Deagon
Our beautiful 2YO Xtravagant Johnny attended the official barrier trials at Deagon last week and ran a super race. He’s shown the team at Tony Gollan Racing this preparation that he is a professional horse and has thrived in the racing environment, handling his outing to the trials with ease. He has now gone for a short break of 6 weeks for him to continue to develop and grow both physically and mentally. We are super proud of all his efforts so far and we cannot wait to see him back in work very soon!
Inglis Classic shopping spree ahead!
With the Magic Millions Sale this year being incredibly strong, and the team being under bidder on 9 horses, we’ve now turned our attention to the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale in Sydney, to be held from the 8th-10th of February. We have previously purchased a number of horses from this sale with great success including stable favourite Rusty Tycoon and our very exciting 2YO Pinatubo (IRE) colt ‘Donny’.
While we are searching for our next stable stars, we’ll be taking you on the ride with us! Our Owners Tour will be held from 11am on the 9th of February. RSVP’s are essential to support@mirunners.com. Can’t make it? No worries! We’ll continue to share all updates with our current miRunners owners first, so you’ll always have first dibs on new purchases. Plus, keep an eye on our social media for plenty of updates along the way.
Rusty Tycoon will head to the Barrier Trials next week
Rusty Tycoon has so far executed an almost faultless campaign with Robert Heathcote – the team have advised that he has done nothing but improve day in and day out. He was set to ping from the gates on the 28th of January at Doomben races, but after drawing Barrier 18 the decision was made to scratch him. At only his 5th start, we want to continue building his confidence and jumping from such a wide gate only makes things harder to gain an economical run, which in turn impacts Rusty’s overall race day experience.
He will now head towards a Barrier Trial at Deagon next week before his next race day assignment.
The Publican’s Story
There is a new PubCast (Podcast) in town! We are very excited to be a part of this fantastic project, highlighting hard working everyday Australians and the yarns that come along with it! Congratulations to everyone involved in bringing it to life. miRunners has always been proud of our ownership community, so a big shout out to some of Xtravagant Johnny’s owners for creating this pubcast. It will have something everyone can relate to, that’s for sure. Stay tuned for the first episode! Click the image above to learn more.
It’s time for a sea change for Val De Grise
It is not always a fairy tale ending in racing, and thing’s don’t always go to plan. But, we think Val De Grise aka Missy will get her own fairy tale ending. After many discussions we have decided to retire Missy and give her a new life as a dressage horse. At miRunners we always put the horse first and feel this is the best path forward for her. Stay tuned for updates.
What’s available with miRunners RIGHT NOW?
Donny is back at Randwick! Now commencing his third preparation as a 2YO, it is looking very positive as we edge closer to towards the Autumn Carnival! Having just completed 6 weeks of pre-training, he is now starting to buckle down and Golden Slipper winning trainer, Michael Freedman continues to develop Donny’s fitness as we head towards his first Barrier Trial and then hopefully, in time his first race start.
Shares are proving very popular with Donny – with shares now nearly SOLD OUT, you can head to our website via the link below to get involved before it’s too late!
Shares are proving very popular with Donny – with shares now nearly SOLD OUT, you can head to our website via the link below to get involved before it’s too late!
Our Graff colt ‘Jake’ has just commenced his third preparation as a 2YO with the Price Kent Racing team, at the incredible Cranbourne training facility. We are so excited about this colt – he has the most professional attitude and really looks like a ready-made race horse. Even more so when his sire Graff sired the winner of the 2026 Magic Millions Sunlight in Grafterburners!
Something about Jake that you may not have realised, is that he is out of a Not A Single Doubt mare. Not A Single Doubt as a Broodmare Sire has earnings over $4,000,000 this season so far and over $13,000,000 last season – now that is seriously impressive. Shares are available in Jake via our website, follow the link below to get involved, but be quick as he is nearly sold out.
Be race day ready with your very own miRunners merchandise!
It’s been a huge year in 2025 here at miRunners with the launch of our new miRunners Platinum Syndicate, where we are offering 2 exceptional colts for traditional syndication. A wide range of merchandise is now available via our partners at FanFave! Including hats, beanies, hoodies, jackets, vests, t-shirts, polo shirts and stubby coolers!
