Trainer Les Ross dares to dream of Magic Millions glory after Mishani Honcho upsets hotpot Wicked Intent in B.J. McLachlan Stakes

LES Ross enhanced his Magic Millions prospects when Mishani Honcho lowered the colours of hotpot Wicked Intent in the B.J. McLachlan Stakes.

Gold Coast Races

LES Ross enhanced his Magic Millions prospects with a horse not even in the rich 2YO Classic when Mishani Honcho lowered the colours of hotpot Wicked Intent in the B.J. McLachlan Stakes on the Gold Coast.

Mishani Honcho, a home-bred for Mike and Patty Crooks, is not eligible to run in the January 10 Millions, but Ross can line him up with Frequendly, who attempts to get her MM campaign back on track at Toowoomba on Wednesday night.

Initially, Ross declared Frequendly superior to Mishani Honcho, before backing away a little from that statement.

“That’s nice because I have one a little bit better at home,” Ross said.

“That’s probably not fair, because this bloke (Mishani Honcho) has improved so much.

“It’s nice to win a good race with him, because he’s not a Magic Millions horse and he will go to the paddock now.”

Mishani Honcho (left) upsets odds-on favourite Wicked Intent in the heavy going. Picture: Jono Searle

Frequendly was the early season star in Brisbane, running quicker time on debut than Wicked Intent at the Gold Coast before winning by nine lengths at Doomben. She hasn’t been seen since her below par third to Pepperano in November.

“She hasn’t raced for a while and that may count against her in the Millions, but I think she will be hard to beat at Toowoomba,” Ross said.

Both Ross and jockey Chris Whiteley said they were “hoping” rather than confident they could beat Wicked Intent.

“The wet track gave me a bit of confidence and so did barrier one. He’s been missing the start a bit but from that draw it gives him time to pick himself up,” Whiteley said.

“The inside is never the best place to be when it’s wet here, but Wicked Intent was drawn alongside him and we were able to follow him into the race, so it wasn’t a huge disadvantage.

“He dipped a couple of times in the run which was a concern, because against the favourite I thought we would need every single thing to go right.

“Not at any stage in the run did I think I had Wicked Intent covered.

“It was only at the 200m point when I got to within a half length of him that I could see he had no more to offer and I thought I would pin him down from that point.”

Chris Munce would not be drawn on the performance of Wicked Intent, other than to say he “ran well”.

Bookmakers had their own take and TattsBet eased Wicked Intent to $4.80 in the wake of his first defeat.

Sydney winner Perignon firmed to equal second favouritism at $7 with Wyong runner-up Surf Seeker.

TAB 2YO MAGIC MILLIONS UPDATE

Wicked Intent has drifted from $3.80 to $5.50 but remains favourite. The other one of note from today is Perignon — $41 opening quote and now $7.50 on the fourth line of betting.