Begg hopes wider draw opens up chance at magic All Aged double
By Craig Kerry
Victorian trainer Grahame Begg believes a wider draw holds the key to Magic Time becoming the first back-to-back winner of the All Aged Stakes since Rough Habit in 1992-93 on Saturday at Randwick.
The $1.5 million All Aged Stakes (1400m) and the Champagne Stakes (1600m) for two-year-olds are the final group 1s of the Sydney autumn carnival, and both appear open affairs.
Jordan Childs rides Magic Time to victory in the Expressway Stakes.Credit: Getty Images
Magic Time, a five-year-old Yulong-owned mare, won the All Aged on a bottomless track last year, after taking out the PJ Bell Stakes a year earlier on another heavy Randwick surface.
She returned to Randwick this time in with a sharp finish on a Good 4 to win the group 2 Expressway Stakes over 1200m, before coming a length away third in the group 1 Canterbury Stakes (1300m), then sixth, less two lengths behind winner Briasa, in the $3 million TJ Smith Stakes (1200m), again on dry tracks.
The two losses came after runs in behind the leader on the fence, the latest when jumping from gate one.
Begg welcomed a draw in barrier seven on Wednesday for the 14-horse race. Childs again has the ride.
Grahame Begg is confident Magic Time will perform, even on a dry track.Credit: Racing Photos
“It’s a good gate for her,” Begg said. “She got held up in the Canterbury Stakes in behind them, then the other day, the one barrier was a no-go zone, the way the track played. You’ve got to ride them out of their comfort zone the whole way, just to hold their position.
“Hopefully she will be in the first half-dozen this time, with a bit of clear air.”
Begg was not disappointed with the horse’s last two runs and was surprised to see Magic Time a $12 (Sportsbet) chance.
“She got beaten a length and a half and there were two lengths between the top 10, against some very good horses, multiple group 1 winners. She went well,” he said of the TJ Smith run. “She’s trained on beautifully.
“The flashing-light runners coming down the middle of the track the other day, they are probably the ones they want to chase after. But we’ll just look after what we’re doing.
“Obviously Briasa, and Jimmysstar was the flashing light runner the other day, and they will be hard to hold out. But there wasn’t much between the top 10 the other day.”
Begg had hoped to find wet tracks for Magic Time in Sydney, but she will likely again strike a dry surface on Saturday.
“That’s OK, that’s fine. She’s won a group 1 on a Good 3,” he said of her win in the 2023 Rupert Clarke Stakes over 1400m at Caulfield.
On Thursday, Paul Snowden was second at Wyong with his first runner, Lunaite, as a solo trainer after the split with his father, Peter, at the end of last season.
Paul, who won 20 group 1s and more than 1200 races in partnership with Peter, has set up stables at Port Macquarie.
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