It's sweet as Idea defies jitters, bad draw, loss of owners' confidence to storm to Guineas win

LUKE Henderson left Eagle Farm racecourse last Wednesday convinced Sweet Idea couldn't win. He was wrong.

Owners Luke and David Henderson admire the Magic Millions Guineas trophy after Sweet I...

LUKE Henderson left Eagle Farm racecourse last Wednesday morning convinced Sweet Idea couldn't win.

The filly had just been put through her final trackwork gallop before last Saturday's $1 million Magic Millions 3YO Guineas when Henderson's hopes of winning the feature race seemed shot within seconds.

"She only came home in 11.4 seconds (for the last 200m) and the jockey Brad Pengelly said to me 'she will be perfect in a couple of weeks'," Henderson recalled.

"I said 'but her grand final is this Saturday'."

Pengelly replied "Well I hope that tops her up".

But Henderson wasn't confident.

"After watching her, in my mind I didn't think she could do it," he said.

However, the ever optimistic trainer Gai Waterhouse soon gave him reason to hope again.

"I spoke to Gai and she was her positive self and said 'don't worry about it and she is not a great trackworker and she will still win it'," he said.

Waterhouse was proved right when Sweet Idea overcame a wide barrier and a betting drift to win the rich race by one length on Saturday.

It was brothers David and Luke Henderson's biggest triumph on their home track, easily eclipsing Kinnersley's win in last year's Magic Millions Stayers Cup.

It came just two months after the Gold Coast real estate agents claimed the holy grail of Australian racing when winning their first Melbourne Cup with Fiorente.

David admits it has been a crazy few months.

"Satisfying is a word to describe it," he said.

"People say you're lucky and maybe we are luckier than 95 per cent of owners but we probably work harder than 95 per cent of owners as well.

"Prior to the Melbourne Cup our week-to-week and month-to-month winners was less than we target.

"While the numbers aren't there we've now won two of the biggest races on the racing calendar and it was special (on Saturday) because most of the part-owners of Sweet Idea are locals.

"Wayne Cook has owned horses for years and that was his first major win and I think you will find Beric Lynton hasn't had a horse that hasn't won yet and he is a bit spoilt."

But the Henderson brothers aren't resting on their laurels.

Despite the dream run, there is still one race they desperately want to win, the $2 million Magic Millions 2YO Classic.

Sweet Idea finished second in the race last year and the Henderson part-owned No Looking Back was first past the post in the 2YO Classic in 2012 before losing the race on protest.

Luke still describes the protest loss as "the worst moment in my racing career" but it's only fuelled their hunger to win Queensland's richest race.

"That's the one David and I want to win," Luke said.

"We bought Sweet Idea's full-sister on Friday and hopefully she is here in 12 months.

"We bought three other yearlings as well, so hopefully we can win the two-year-old race next year."