Last Saturday’s Magic Millions 2yo Classic winner Sunlight has rocketed to the top of the betting for the 2018 Group 1 $3.5m Golden Slipper Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill in March.
Sunlight, above, will now be set for the 2018 Golden Slipper after winning the Magic Millions 2yo Classic at the Gold Coast. Photo by Steve Hart.
Ladbrokes.com.au have installed Sunlight as the $7 Golden Slipper favourite following her brilliant win in the $2m Magic Millions 2yo Classic (1200m) at the Gold Coast.
Trainer Tony McEvoy will now give the Zoustar filly a month off before beginning her preparation for the 2018 Sydney Autumn Carnival.
“I think I’ve got a month to cool her jets and then build a program into the Golden Slipper,” McEvoy said on Radio TAB’s Past The Post.
“The next seven days will tell me a lot.
“If everything has taken too much out of her she will go home, lay down and collapse in the next seven days when we take the grain out of her.
“It will be very interesting to see how she handles it and then I will be able to make some decisions going forward what I’m allowed to do with her.”
McEvoy is based in South Australia and said that his decision to bring Sunlight to Queensland six weeks ago to prepare for the Magic Millions Race Day was a major part of the filly’s success.
Sunlight was given a great chance to acclimatise and get experience on the Gold Coast track with two wins on the tricky circuit before last Saturday’s Magic Millions 2yo Classic win.
“But we then came to the Gold Coast and she won and won again here last week,” McEvoy said.
“I think the key was getting her here early. The Magic Millions Classic is a hard race to win from Victoria or South Australia.
“She was here settled in and almost like a local by the time the race got here.”
Sunlight was sent out as the $4 favouirte for the Magic Millions 2yo Classic and after receiving some early interference, winning jockey Luke Currie was able to give the filly a nice run behind the leader Ef Troop ($4.20) before exploding to the front shortly after heads were turned for home.
$101 chance Fullazaboot raced up to trainer Stuart Kendrick’s expectation with an eye catching second from the rear of the field while the Tony Gollan trained Outback Barbie ($26) also impressed with a tidy third with Ef Troop battling on for fourth place.
Early market order for the 2018 Golden Slipper Stakes at Ladbrokes.com.au: $7 Sunlight, $8 Performer, $17 Elessedi, $21 Neutrality, Setsuna, $26 Al Hasa, Dynamited, Ef Troop, Gongs, Irish Bet, Jonker, Landon, $34 Intensity, Legend Of Condor, Nomothaj, Pacific Crest, Plague Stone, Qafila, Santos, Satin Slipper, Spin, $41 or better the rest.