If exciting colt Sizzling is half as tough as his trainer Kelso Wood, he’s going to be hard to beat in the $2 million Magic Millions Classic at the Gold Coast in January.
Wood was back at work last week preparing his team for the upcoming Doomben Summer Series and the Magic Millions only a few days after undergoing heart bypass surgery.
The trainer went to his doctor for a check-up earlier this month and was found to have blocked arteries.
“It was a fluke the doctor found anything,” Wood said.
“I didn’t have any symptoms but the doc found a bit of a murmur and looked into it further.
“He found one of the arteries was 100 per cent blocked and another was 90 per cent closed.
“It was a heart attack waiting to happen and I had bypass surgery.”
Wood admitted he wasn’t the best patient in hospital and was glad to be discharged.
“The nurses were excellent while I was in intensive care but I’m not a good patient,” he said.
“I couldn’t sleep and wouldn’t eat.”
Wood believes Sizzling is in much better condition than himself ahead of the colt’s Magic Millions assignment on January 14.
“He’s coming along well and is pretty good. I wish I was as good as him,” Wood said.
Wood believes Sizzling could be the best two-year-old he has trained after he set a class record of 57.4 seconds when he strolled home by six lengths over 1000 metres on debut at Eagle Farm on November 12.
A $260,000 yearling, Sizzling is raced by David Devine and Neville Morgan in partnership with AFL legend Leigh Matthews.
Wood has given Sizzling an easy time following his spectacular win and has pencilled in the Listed Phelan Ready Stakes (1000m) at Eagle Farm on December 17 and the Group Three B J Mclachlan Stakes (1200m) at Doomben on December 31.
“I’ll give him a barrier trial at Doomben next week then he’ll have two runs before the Magic Millions,” he said.
Jockey Chris Munce rates Sizzling favourably with 1994 Magic Millions winner Brave Warrior.
Munce is chasing his fourth Magic Millions following his successes on Sunblazer (1989), Excellerator (2001) and Dance Hero (2004).
He missed out on the Magic Millions victory on Brave Warrior after being involved in a fall in one of the feature’s lead-up races and was replaced by the late Neil Williams.
Wood “won” a Magic Millions with his former star sprinter Prince Regent Wood only to lose the the race on protest to Molokai Prince in 1988.
AAP TURF
