There is a good chance Sir Owen Glenn and racing manager Steve O’Conner won’t know where to look at the end of Saturday’s Magic Millions Classic with interests in a quarter of the field, including the top three in betting Empire Of Japan, Sovereign Fund and Platinum Jubilee.
A plan to revitalise the Go Bloodstock racing team with two-year-olds has paid off with the three stakes winners before Christmas as well as Royal Entrance, which got his place in the field by winning the Gold Nugget on Saturday.
Platinum Jubilee will be part of the Sir Owen Glenn team in the Magic Millions Classic.Credit:Getty
“We sat down last year and Sir Owen wanted to get right into two-year-olds, so we made a point of keeping a number of the ones we bred as well as being in Henry Field’s stallions syndicate,” Go Bloodstock’s racing manager O’Conner said.
“We ended up having an interest in about 50 two-year-olds, and the plan was to be in some good ones. We wanted to be in these big races and this is a great start.
“Sir Owen really enjoys his racing and although they are not in his colours, he is racing with people he respects. To be in a Magic Millions with Gai Waterhouse, the Snowdens, China Horse Club and Henry Field has him very excited.”
Platinum Jubilee, which won the Gimcrack Stakes, was a filly Go Bloodstock always earmarked as one they would stay in, even though she went through the Magic Millions ring where she was bought by Tulloch Lodge’s fillies syndicate for $600,000.
“We were able to keep 25 percent of her and she has turned into a very valuable filly after a couple of runs,” O’Conner said. “When you have a good judge like Gai Waterhouse buying her and training her it’s a big tick.”
Waterhouse trains in partnership with Adrian Bott, who is confident Platinum Jubilee will step off her last stride second behind Fire Lane at Randwick last start.
“She has done really well off that run and we will be able to ride her with a sit, rather than leading in the Magic Millions,” Bott said. “I think the pressure of the race will suit her.”
Royal Entrance, a member of the Newgate colts syndicate, did what was expected of him at the Gold Coast on Saturday and Bott said it was a plan to go into the Magic Millions on the week back-up.
“He is very tough and we decided to wait for that race [on Saturday] because of the way he is,” Bott said. “He is the type of colt that will take another big step from that win.”
Royal Entrance and Sovereign Fund are the only two unbeaten colts heading into the Magic Millions and could be set to continue the success of the Newgate stallion syndicate.
McLachlan Stakes winner Sovereign Fund has been deliberately separated from Empire Of Japan, which won the Breeders’ Plate, by trainers Peter and Paul Snowden. They have measured their preparations to have the first peak in the Magic Millions with Golden Slipper in mind.
“We get to go Saturday knowing that they have not run their best race yet,” Paul Snowden said. “They have both continued to improve from their last starts and pleased us.”
Empire Of Japan ran one of the fastest final sections at Randwick on Christmas Eve as he came from well back to run third behind Fire Lane and Platinum Jubilee. It has him the $4.60 Magic Millions favourite with Sovereign Fund and Platinum Jubilee sharing the second line of betting at $6
“There will be a lot more pressure in the Magic Millions and it will just suit [Empire OF Japan],” Snowden said. “Sovereign Fund started as a raw talent and with every start, he is getting better but I still have Empire Of Japan just in front of him.”
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