Toowoomba trainer Michael Nolan is giving his three year old gelding Unconditional a great chance to score an upset win in the 2019 $2m Gold Coast Magic Millions 3yo Guineas (1400m) at the Gold Coast on Saturday.
Jockey Jeff Lloyd, above, rides Unconditional in the 2019 Magic Millions 3yo Guineas at the Gold Coast. Photo by Daniel Costello.
Unconditional is coming off a last start third in the 1200m QTIS Three Years Old Handicap at the Gold Coast last Saturday and Nolan believes that run was good enough to make the Jet Spur gelding competitive in the Magic Millions 3yo Guineas.
Bookies at Ladbrokes.com.au disagree and have posted Unconditional as a $51 chance, a long way off the pace set by the Tony Golan trained Outback Barbie who heads the market order at $2.30.
“We give him a real chance of winning despite what the bookies’ markets say,” Nolan told AAP.
“He was a very good third at the Gold Coast last Saturday against some smart horses at 1200 metres.”
“It is out to 1400 metres on Saturday and that is his distance.”
Nolan’s luck changed for the better early in the week after Unconditional was originally listed as the first emergency for the Magic Millions 3yo Guineas but was then elevated in the final sixteen horse field with the early scratching of the Ron Quinton trained Ljungberg who was included in the field under mysterious circumstances.
Quinton insisted that the stable didn’t accept with Ljungberg and that the three year old wasn’t going to run while Racing Queensland said that he had been a final acceptor for the Magic Millions 3yo Guineas.
Ljungberg was subsequently withdrawn which made way for Unconditional to take his place in the field and give Nolan and his connections a chance to share in the $2m prizemoney.
“We were gutted when he missed by one for this race. After all how often do you get to run for a share of $2 million,” Nolan said.
Brisbane’s leading jockey Jeff Lloyd has been booked to ride Unconditional who will most likely jump from gate ten if there are no more scratchings.
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