Victoria Derby winner Ace High entered for rich Magic Millions race day on Gold Coast
VICTORIA Derby winner Ace High is among the early nominations for the rich Magic Millions race day on the Gold Coast in January.
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VICTORIA Derby winner Ace High is among the early nominations for the rich Magic Millions race day on the Gold Coast in January.
The dual Group 1 winner is entered for the $2 million Magic Millions 3YO Guineas (1400m) in what could be the forerunner to an exciting autumn campaign for the Sydney colt.
Gold Coast Turf Club CEO Steve Lines said the number and quality of nominations for the Guineas on January 13 was unprecedented.
The club has received 569 nominations already from leading southern trainers including Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, Chris Waller, Peter and Paul Snowden, Darren Weir, David Hayes and Bjorn Baker.
“From what I have seen so far it has been huge,” Lines said of the Guineas entries.
“The nominations are fabulous. The quality continues to rise and the presence of interstate trainers is really good.”
The David Payne-trained Ace High, winner of the Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes at Randwick and the Victoria Derby at Flemington over the spring carnivals, headlines the list of Guineas nominations.
Waterhouse and Bott have nominated Our Crown Mistress, who took her record to four wins from five starts when she claimed the Listed Lexus Hybrid Stakes at Flemington on Melbourne Cup day.
Gold Coast trainer Toby Edmonds has nominated 13 horses for the Guineas, including this year’s Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner Houtzen.
His other entries include Eptimum, who won at Group 3 level during the Melbourne spring carnival, and Whypeeo.
Edmonds is confident he has made the right decision in not trialling Whypeeo before the gelding’s comeback run at Doomben today.
Whypeeo confirmed he is one of the best three-year-olds in Queensland by beating quality fields at his two runs before a break.
Edmonds resisted the temptation to take the gelding to Sydney for the Group 1 Golden Rose (1400m) after he won over 1110m at Doomben on September 9.
“Our aim was always going to be the Magic Millions carnival. I thought he was racing too keenly for a race like the Golden Rose,” Edmonds said.
“It was the right time for a break and we have him back now. I don’t think he needed a trial to get him ready for the 1050 metres (today).”
Whypeeo is being set for the Guineas over 1400m but Edmonds has a back-up plan with the Magic Millions Sprint (1200m) an option.
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