It spluttered and stuttered for a period but the opening session of the Magic Millions Yearling sale ended gathering a head of steam on Wednesday with all key indicators up on last year.

The 158 lots sold grossed $29,119,500 - up $5.7 million on last year - while the average price for the session of $184,301 was up nearly 10 percent on the corresponding figure in 2015.

Magic Millions managing director Vin Cox summed the trade up in four words.

"It’s a phenomenal result,” Cox said.

"The key figures are up and apart from a bit of a sticky spot in the middle, to end the day with an 80 percent clearance rate is amazing. We knew there was going to be a bit of a soft patch but once we got over that it was very strong,

"For the average to be well up on last year is fantastic. Markets tend to build on themselves and with this catalogue, it’s governed by the alphabet so the good lots can fall anywhere,

"Seemingly there’s a few more to come later on. Certainly at the end of today it was super strong.”

Cox pointed to the diversity of the buying bench with purchasers from Europe, Asia and North America figuring prominently.

"The international market has been strong from all sorts of regions and the domestic market is standing up as well,

"It’s very pleasing to see Domeland back in the market, they have not bought here since 1998 but they purchased today and the horses will be staying here in Australia,

"It’s hard to isolate one particular part of the sale after one day but it seems strong across the board."

Cox said he felt the falling Australian dollar had a positive impact on the sale.

"No question it has made the sale more attractive to international buyers, those buying in American dollars noticed it and I’m sure it helped.”

Session two commences at 10am on Thursday.

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