Brilliant first up two year old winner Ardoyne Road will be spelled and bypass a start in the $2m Magic Millions 2yo Classic (1200m) at the Gold Coast on January 13.
Trainer Tony Sears, above, has elected to bypass the Magic Millions 2yo Classic with Ardoyne Road. Photo by Daniel Costello.
Toowoomba trainer Tony Sears was very impressed with the Ardoyne Road’s debut win in the $100,000 Sizzling Plate (1050m) at Doomben on December 2 but said that the Top Echelon filly took a couple of weeks to recover from the hard run.
“It took her two weeks to get over the Doomben run. It isn’t the reason we have decided not to run her in the Millions. It is more the heat and the owner is very patient,” Sears told AAP.
“He would rather have a horse for the long term than ruin her by pushing her too hard.”
“Some people might say it was a silly thing to say about a $2 million race. But a lot of horses have been ruined by being pushed too hard early.”
Ardoyne Road had to do plenty of work in the early stages of the race after missing the start and jockey Nozi Tomizawa had to dig the filly up to circle the field to find the front at the 600m before going on to record a three and a quarter lengths win.
“I did expect her to lead if she jumped properly as she’s got loads of ability,” Sears said.
“It was still a pretty impressive effort to win the way she did.”
Sears said that he won’t be rushing the filly back into work and will keep his options open for an Autumn Carnival campaign that could be aimed towards the Group 1 $3.5m Golden Slipper Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill in March.
“I have that big an opinion of her but again we won’t be rushing her,” Sears said.