Barry Lockwood concedes Give Me Space needs a ‘miracle’ to win Magic Millions 3YO Guineas

Veteran trainer Barry Lockwood hasn’t been in the best of health and says it will be tough for his star performer Give Me Space to win to Magic Millions 3YO Guineas on Saturday.

Veteran trainer Barry Lockwood, knocked about by a recent bout of Covid, thinks he will need a miracle to score the $3m Gold Coast Magic Millions 3YO Guineas from a horrendous barrier.

Lockwood’s gelding Give Me Space produced an incredible win when he flew home like Superman to score the Vo Rogue Plate when he was last and all hope appeared lost.

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Give Me Space, a $75,000 buy for larrikin Queensland bushie Rodney Hay, will have to reproduce that performance and then some on Saturday.

He has drawn barrier 21 and Lockwood concedes his $11 chance will need absolutely everything to go right in the rich 1400m race.

“It will take a miracle,” Lockwood said.

“I know we have the ability to win but we will need all the luck in the world.

“Ability wont help you if you have bad luck.

“It will come down to how the race pans out.”

GIVE ME SPACE the first SW for Cosmic Force (Deep Field) in the Gr3 Vo Rogue Plate

1/2 bro to Gr3 Extra Time

Descended from Eulogy@mmsnippets@TomRyanKY@MatthewSandblom@[e-mail]/Ym7fKCNR0b

— Pedigree Update (@pedigreeupdate) December 29, 2024

Former Irish jumps jockey Luke Dempsey retains the ride on Give Me Space who has also been ridden by champion jockey Jimmy Orman in several races.

Lockwood explained Dempsey had the ride last start when Orman was out injured after having the tip of his finger bitten off by a horse.

“If the horse had got beaten the other day in the Vo Rogue, he wouldn’t even be in the Magic Millions Guineas,” Lockwood said.

“Luke qualified him for the Guineas, so he stays on.”

Give Me Space storms home to win the Group 3 Vo Rogue Plate at Eagle Farm. Picture: Grant Peters/Trackside Photography

Eagle Farm trainer Lockwood, 71, had a health setback recently when he contracted Covid and said he is still battling the impacts of the disease.

So he won’t be at Magic Millions day on Saturday.

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The popular trainer has been in the wars in recent years – in 2022 he recalled the horror of having “half my face eaten off” by cancer and then losing three toes to a nasty staph infection.

“They say only the good die young, so I guess I will be around for a fair bit longer yet,” Lockwood quipped.

“I never got Covid during the pandemic but I got it recently and it really knocked me around, it took the stuffing right out of me.

“I’ve been a bit stuffed every since, I just get bloody tired and work out and I struggle to keep going when I’ve done my work.

“I doubt I will be coming to the races on Saturday.”

Even if Lockwood isn’t at the track on Saturday, he says Give Me Space will be in good hands with his long-time offsider, Emma-Jane Vincent.

The pair are likely to go into a training partnership in the near future.