Image courtesy of Trackside Photography
Ninja firing on all cylinders for Gold Coast double
Fashion Legend (Deep Field) in 2023 was the most recent horse to complete the G3 Vo Rogue Stakes–R. Listed Magic Million 3YO Guineas double, and exciting 3-year-old Ninja (Farnan) steps up to the plate on Saturday to attempt the same. If he can swing it, it will be a magical victory for Michael Freedman, who has yet to win one of the headline races at the Magic Millions racing carnival.
One small bump in the road; drawing barrier 17.
“It is what it is, right?" Freedman said earlier in the week. "It's not ideal, but you can't do much about it. We've just got to have a good look at the race and see how we ride him. Tommy (Berry) will do a lot of homework on the race, so hopefully we get it right.”
“Tommy (Berry) will do a lot of homework on the race, so hopefully we get it right.” - Michael Freedman
At the very least, the gelding has bounced through his Vo Rogue victory, where he came from near last after a blunder out of the barriers to streak away from the competition.
Ninja | Image courtesy of Trackside Photography
“He's terrific, I couldn't be happier with him, he's thrived since his last win,” Freedman said. “There's a nice run into that first part (of the Guineas) so we'll just get Tommy to do a lot of homework on the race and try and hatch a plan to overcome the gate. He's good to go.”
“I couldn't be happier with him (Ninja), he's thrived since his last win.” - Michael Freedman
Michael Freedman | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Fashion Legend - then trained by Freedman’s brother Richard and nephew Will - also had to contend with coming from out wide, jumping from barrier 14 in a field of 15. He swooped on Yellow Brick (The Mission) - who returns to the Gold Coast for a different event on the card - to win by a long neck three years ago.
It's not all bad news, as the outside barriers haven’t been unlucky; Aim (Star Witness) in 2021 and Mahuta (Flying Spur) in 2016 both won from barrier 15, and Boomsara (Spirit Of Boom) in 2019 came from barrier 13 carrying the field’s topweight.
In fact, five of the last 10 winners of the event have carried 57kg or more to victory. Aim even put his rivals away by a length and three quarters, with runner-up Amish Boy (Star Witness) jumping from just inside him in barrier 14.
Classic combatants return to Gold Coast in Guineas clash
Icarian Dream (Blue Point {Ire}) is one of several returning faces in the R. Listed Magic Millions 3YO Guineas who lined up in the same barriers 12 months ago for a shot at the R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic. The Ciaron Maher-trained filly was sent out well favoured in the juvenile event but failed to finish closer than 12th, and she is back for revenge on Saturday in the 3-year-old counterpart.
“We were coming to the Gold Coast 2YO (Classic) full of confidence until the barrier draw (when) I think we got 20-something,” Maher recounted to Racing Queensland on Wednesday. After winning the G3 BJ McLachlan Stakes, a traditional 2YO Classic lead-up race, the filly jumped from barrier 16 and was beaten six and a half lengths.
“She's always been a horse with a lot of ability. Just two starts ago, she ran well and it was then we thought, 'right, we'll aim up here at this race'.”
“Just two starts ago, she (Icarian Dream) ran well and it was then we thought, 'right, we'll aim up here at this race'.” - Ciaron Maher
Icarian Dream | Image courtesy of Trackside Photography
She will be joined by the Classic winner, O’ Ole (Ole Kirk), and runner-up Memo (Capitalist), the latter of which only shed her bridesmaid tag in the G3 Magic Night Stakes. Memo hasn’t had much luck since, but recently ran third in the Listed Gosford Guineas before returning for round two in the Magic Millions racing carnival.
Memo jumped from barrier one last year, and she will leap from eight in the Guineas, in the middle of the 17-horse field. O’ Ole, who wasn’t seen between her Gold Coast win and November, was fourth in the G3 Vo Rogue Plate last start behind well favoured Ninja, and has drawn barrier 10 in contrast to barrier three last year. She also has the application of blinkers to keep her sharp for her Magic Millions return.
Memo | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“I think the blinkers will really help her, but she needs to lift to beat the favourite because he flew past us (in the Vo Rogue),” O' Ole's jockey Jason Collett said to betsy.com. “I think she has room to improve.”
“She needs to lift to beat the favourite because he flew past us (in the Vo Rogue).” - Jason Collett
Sixth in the 2YO Classic, Hi Barbie (I Am Invincible) also lines up for the Guineas, having finished ninth in the Vo Rogue. She jumped from 11 in last year’s event and moves slightly to the outside this year, drawing barrier 13.
Top weight no impediment as Yellow Brick goes for gold
It has always been the aim that Yellow Brick (The Mission) attempt to achieve the $3.5 million improbable; take out the double of the $1.5 million Magic Millions QTIS Open and the R. Listed Magic Millions Cup. The 6-year-old gelding has already achieved the first leg, and he comes barreling into Saturday’s multimillion dollar meet lumping a topweight of 60.5kg - two kilos more than his nearest rival, Bosustow (Blue Point {Ire}).
Yellow Brick | Image courtesy of Trackside Photography
“I'm speechless really," co-trainer Maddysen Sears told Racing Queensland on Wednesday, when recapping the gelding’s QTIS Open performance last weekend. "He did what we expected him to do, but to actually do it, yes. He has come through it super and you wouldn't even know that he had been around. He bounced onto the track this morning and hasn't missed a grain.
“He (Yellow Brick) has come through it (the QTIS Open) super and you wouldn't even know that he had been around.” - Maddysen Sears
“We were a little bit worried with other horses with lighter weights. as light weights win races but, on his class, he carried nine kilograms more than the second and third horses (last start).”
Indeed, Yellow Brick actually gets 500 grams taken off his QTIS Open impost, where he carried 61kg and still defeated Bossed Up (Better Than Ready) by a length and a quarter.
Maddy Sears | Image courtesy of Sears Racing
“I think if the race had been a little bit further, he'd probably have put them away even further,” Sears added.
“I think if the (QTIS Open) race had been a little bit further, he'd (Yellow Brick) probably have put them away even further.” - Maddysen Sears
The gelding has been something special for Sears and her co-trainer father Tony. The $20,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast National Yearling Sale purchase has raked in $3.45 million in prizemoney to date and shows no signs of slowing down. He faces a higher calibre field in the $2 million Cup - Bosustow being Group 1-performed and Need Some Luck (Rubick) being a last start winner of the $300,000 The Buffering - than in the open, but he has his trainers’ confidence that he can do it all again this week.
Big weights don’t always fare well in these races, but it’s not unprecedented; Eleven Eleven (Fastnet Rock) won back to back Cups in 2021 and 2022 carrying 58.5kg and 58kg respectively, and Lucky Hussler (Husson {Arg}) carried 60.5kg to second place’s 56kg in his 2016 victory, and his time of 1:20.43s hasn’t been beaten since.
Juvenile magic not just located on Gold Coast
After Friday morning scratchings, there will be 48 individual stallions with 2-year-old runners on Saturday when 68 runners head to the starting gates across six tracks. Most of the excitement will be on the Gold Coast where a final field of 15 - after the scratching of Lumbini (Russian Revolution) and both emergencies - lines up for the R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic and 12 fight it out for the $500,000 Magic Millions The Debut.
Lumbini | Image courtesy of Trackside Photography
Only four stallions have three runners each; Spirit Of Boom will be the busiest on the Gold Coast where three of his offspring line up in the Debut, and first season sire Splintex will have three runners in Ascot’s juvenile feature. Farnan has the most spread representation with runners in three states - and as far flung as possible, with a runner at Ascot, Murray Bridge, and also one in the Debut at the Gold Coast.
| Spirit Of Boom | 3 | 3 | Gold Coast |
| Written Tycoon | 3 | 1 | Rosehill, Gold Coast |
| Farnan | 3 | 1 | Ascot, Murray Bridge, Gold Coast |
| Splintex | 3 | Ascot | |
| Too Darn Hot | 2 | 2 | Gold Coast |
| Cool Aza Beel | 2 | 2 | Gold Coast |
Table: Sires with the most juveniles running on Saturday
Too Darn Hot (GB) and Cool Aza Beel (NZ) have the distinction of being the only stallions with two runners in the 2YO Classic, and thus the only stallions out of 12 with two runners to have both their runners on the Gold Coast.
Eight of the cohort are first season sires, of which six will have runners at the Gold Coast meeting. Sword Of State, Tiger Of Malay, and Stay Inside will be tussling over the $3 million prizemoney in the 2YO Classic, while offspring of Profiteer and Home Affairs face off in the Debut, where the $299,950 first prize could go a long way to assisting them in their battle for the first season sire premiership.
Tom Charlton | Image courtesy of Australian Turf Club
“This is a race we've targeted,” Tom Charlton told Racing And Sports on Friday, referring to Tiger Of Malay's daughter Tigroni in the 2YO Classic. "We're under no illusion, but if there's a few chinks in the armours of the top picks then she might be a good top-three chance.”
After Jacaranda won impressively on Thursday, Home Affairs is biting at Sword Of State’s heels for the top spot.
| Splintex | 3 | Ascot | |
| Profiteer | 2 | 1 | Flemington, Gold Coast |
| Tiger Of Malay | 2 | 1 | Flemington, Gold Coast |
| Acrobat | 2 | Flemington, Ascot | |
| Home Affairs | 1 | 1 | Gold Coast |
| Standout | 1 | 1 | Gold Coast |
| Sword Of State | 1 | 1 | Gold Coast |
| Stay Inside | 1 | 1 | Gold Coast |
Table: First season sires with runners on Saturday
As of Friday afternoon, a cloud hangs over Sword Of State's son Warwoven, who was found to be lame by the vets at the Gold Coast, with the colt due to be reinspected at 6:30am on Saturday morning. Stablemate Masvingo (Zoustar) was also found to be lame and has been withdrawn on Friday afternoon.
Warwoven | Image courtesy of Trackside Photography
“It is devastating to even be in this position,” the pair's trainer Bjorn Baker told racenet.com. "I'm not a vet and I'm not the judge and jury, so it's up to the vets who are best placed to make a decision.
“Warwoven won't be there if he is not 100%, but I'm confident he is ready to run a great race. Hopefully he will be fine and if he runs up to his best, he will be hard to beat.”
“Hopefully he (Warwoven) will be fine and if he runs up to his best, he will be hard to beat.” - Bjorn Baker
Hellbent holds onto the top spot on the 2-year-old sires’ leaderboard and he currently has the top seed for the 2YO Classic in red hot local Zip Lock. He is over $540,000 clear of second seed Too Darn Hot, with Trapeze Artist currently in third, another $80,000 behind.
| Hellbent | 6 | 2 | 1(1) | $863,140 | Zip Lock (Gold Coast) |
| Too Darn Hot | 6 | 2 | 2(2) | $517,145 | Shiki, Tornado Valley (Gold Coast) |
| Trapeze Artist | 4 | 1 | 1(1) | $425,500 | My Mate Max (Ascot), Image Artist (Murray Bridge) |
| Street Boss | 6 | 1 | 1(1) | $305,474 | Tatiana (Rosehill) |
| Russian Revolution | 5 | 2 | 0(0) | $293,615 | Sweet Rebellion (Gold Coast), Krasina (Rosehill) |
Table: Current 2-year-old sires' premiership standings
Trapeze Artist is one of the 12 with two runners, with offspring at Murray Bridge and Ascot. First season sire Acrobat is another, also with a runner at Ascot and one down at Flemington as well. Fellow first crop stallion Standout sends one to the Debut in the hopes of getting off the blocks with a bang.
January Cup resumes racing at Rosehill
Racing returns to Rosehill on Saturday after the track underwent a six-week freshen-up and the Listed January Cup kicks off stakes racing at the track once more. Cup topweight Future History (GB) (Showcasing {GB}) however is still only a possibility for the event, with trainer Ciaron Maher on weather watch ahead of the 2000-metre race.
“I've got to work out what I'm going to do for the race,” Maher said to Racing And Sports on Friday. “I'm sort of targeting him at next week (in the Listed Australia Day Cup), and I'll work out whether I'm backing him up or not.”
Future History | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Future History will be dropping back from 2800 metres in his last-start win in the Listed Bagot Handicap, and that is as much of a query as the surface for Maher. The Listed Australia Day Cup on January 26 is over 2400 metres, and has more breathing room for the gelding to drop back two furlongs.
“It's just whether the race shape works for him because he likes to dictate and get his own way,” he said. “If he leads, it doesn't matter how far the race is. You question whether he'd go 2800 (metres) before his last run, but when they just canter along, it doesn't matter whether it's 2000 or 3000 (metres) for him. It’s just about the race shape.”
“It's just whether the race shape works for him (Future History) because he likes to dictate and get his own way.” - Ciaron Maher
Storms swept the state on Thursday, and more is forecast for Saturday over Rosehill, something that Maher is keenly aware of. Any downpour over Friday night could see the 61kg carrier withdrawn - his nearest rival carries two kilos less and most of the eight-horse field will only carry 53kg.
“If it's wet, I'll probably just pull him out,” Maher concluded.
