Magician Cahill gifts Sears’ home double

THE Michael Cahill-Sears combination combined for a pair of winners at Clifford Park.

Michael Cahill had two winners at Clifford Park. Photo: File

RACING: Michael Cahill pulled a rabbit out of the hat to guide Magic Trick to an unlikely victory at Clifford Park on Sunday.

Sent out a $2.25 favourite on the back of a sustained push in the market, Cahill found himself in a tricky spot midway through the running of the QTIS Three-Years-Old Handicap (1000m).

The gelding drifted back as a number of horses pushed forward to ensure a genuine tempo over the sprint trip.

Cahill didn’t panic as Magic Trick stuck to the fence behind the wall in front, with others pushing off the rail at the 400m.

That opened up a run for the Tony and Maddysen Sears-trained galloper, with Cahill shifting Magic Trick off the heels of leader Spinning Spirit ($21) with 150m to go, and found enough of a burst to get the bob in and prevail by a nose.

Despite the heart-in-mouth nature of the win, Tony said he remained confident during the run.

“I wasn’t really nervous,” Sears said.

“Mick Cahill knows how to ride him. He’s won a couple of races on him.

“The plan was to ride him back. We knew that there’d be a bit of a run coming to the turn.

“He’s won a Saturday race in Brisbane so we knew he’d be hard to beat.”

Sears said Magic Trick would enjoy a bit of a break before assessing future options for him.

“We’re in a bit of a crisis at the moment so we run where we can. You can’t really pick and choose,” he said.

“You go where the races are on.

“Magic Trick will go to the paddock for 10 days, and down the track we’ll look for something.

“At the moment there is still big prizemoney at the Gold Coast.”

It was the second win for the Sears partnership and Cahill, who combined earlier in the day to score with Miss Silky.

Seasoned galloper I Am The General secured his 10th career victory with a strong turn of foot in the Sedl Agencies Benchmark 65 Handicap (1050m).

The veteran of 82 starts has found a new lease of life since joining the Todd Banks yard, recording his second win from three outings in his new stable.

Nick Keal positioned the gelding behind one-time favourite Write The Rules ($2.90), before kicking clear in the home straight for a length and three quarter victory.

My Belly Button ($7.50) made a winning return to the track courtesy of a length victory in the Wippels Mazda Benchmark 65 Handicap (1050m).

The lightly-raced five-year-old made it four wins from 15 starts, giving Lindsay Hatch a double and jockey Andrew Mallyon a treble for the meeting.

Mark Currie also had a double for the day, with Mishani Blossom ($2.70) closing out the program with a thrilling win in the Pro-Clear Benchmark 68 Handicap (1300m).

Beau Appo struggled to get clear running until the 150m mark, before the filly hit the line with intent to score by a long neck.

# CLIFFORD Park’s Easter Saturday meeting has been met with strong support from trainers.

Across the six-race program, a total of 134 nominations were taken for the evening meeting.

This follows on from Sunday’s meeting which took on 231 acceptances for eight races, which was subsequently expanded to 11 races.

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