Jockey Chris Munce was talking up his prospects of claiming a fourth Magic Millions Classic at the Gold Coast in January following Sizzling’s brilliant debut win at Eagle Farm.
Sizzling, a $260,000 buy, never looked in danger of defeat before scoring by six lengths over Dansonate in Saturday’s Tyquin Speech And Reading Handicap (1000m).
A son of Group One Oakleigh Plate winner Snitzel, Sizzling set a class record with his time of 57.43 seconds, 0.07 seconds inside the previous record set by Green Lagonda in 2004.
Munce has won the Magic Millions three times on Sunblazer (1989), Excellerator (2001) and Dance Hero (2004).
He missed out on another Magic Millions victory on Brave Warrior after being involved in a fall in one of the feature’s lead-up races in 1994 and was replaced by the late Neil Williams.
Trainer Kelso Wood declared Sizzling was his best hope of erasing the horror memories of losing the 1988 Magic Millions when Molokai Prince successfully protested against his former star sprinter Prince Regent.
“He’s the best chance I’ve had of winning the Magic Millions,” Wood said.
“I’ll see how he pulls up but we’ll probably give him another run in the BJ McLachlan.
“He was very impressive and I wasn’t concerned when he was under some pressure in the early stages.
“It was actually a good sign as he’ll be better once he gets to 1200 metres.”
Munce rated Sizzling favourably to Brave Warrior who was trained by his former boss, the late Eric Kirwan.
“From the first day he stepped out onto the track I drew a lot of comparisons with him and Brave Warrior,” Munce said.
“He’s not in the same class yet as Dance Hero who went on to win at Group One level but he’s on par with Brave Warrior.
“Brave Warrior used to do a few things wrong but this bloke is foolproof.”
Munce wasn’t concerned when Sizzling looked to be under pressure early behind leaders Dansonate and Default.
“I wanted him to get into a good spot and not be back in the ruck,” he said.
“It’ll be interesting when I give him one around the tail one day and he’ll be better suited once he gets to 1200 metres.”
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