Company director Wayne Sayers hopes his decision to send former Victorian Sons Of God to trainer Rob Heathcote will be further vindicated at next month’s Magic Millions carnival at the Gold Coast.
Sons Of God scored a narrow first-up victory at his Queensland debut with a nose win over Altai Warrior in the Racing Retro Handicap (1200m) at Eagle Farm on Wednesday.
Sayers, who runs a fit-out company in Melbourne, flew up to watch the four-year-old record his second win from 11 starts.
“I’ve currently got shares in about five horses and I’ve got a few with Rob,” Sayers said.
“I bought this bloke at the Adelaide Magic Millions for $80,000 and if all goes well he’ll run on Magic Millions day.
“He’s eligible for the Magic Millions Country Cup but there’s also the Magic Millions Cup we’re looking at if he progresses further.”
The son of God’s Own was previously prepared by Ballarat trainer Dan O’Sullivan but had not started since finishing fourth at the country track in April.
Heathcote admitted he had reservations whether Sons Of God had prevailed in the tight finish on a heavy track.
“Had I known it was going to rain all day and be a heavy track I wouldn’t have started him,” Heathcote said.
“The finish was very tight and I thought he got rolled.
“He’ll probably go to another midweek next but there’s some nice Saturday races in him.”
Earlier, Sydney trainer John Thompson credited his Queensland breaker Dave Mawhinney for Pear Tart’s breakthrough win in the Goa Billboards Maiden Plate (1200m).
The three-year-old daughter of Dehere excelled in the wet, downing Lucky Sound by 3-1/2 lengths.
“I had written her off as a lost cause,” Thompson said.
“She’s a nice filly but she had been a lot of trouble loading in the barriers.
“Dave is our Queensland breaker based at Beaudesert and he did a lot of work turning her around.
“He’s a very good horseman.”
Thompson said Pear Tart, who failed at her only previous start on debut at Eagle Farm in April, was a chance of heading to the $1 million Magic Millions Guineas (1400m) at the Gold Coast on January 14.
“I’ll give her another run shortly and if she goes well enough she could go on to the Magic Millions (Guineas),” he said.
Patinack Farm unveiled its Magic Millions Classic contenders at the Doomben barrier trials on Tuesday.
Fastnet Rock filly Nechita, a $130,000 buy, and Casino Prince filly Sookie, beat Queensland’s top two Magic Millions Classic hopefuls Sizzling and Snipzu.
Thompson predicted Metallurgical’s brother Reflectance who finished third to Sookie, would be a big improver.
“I was really impressed with Nechita and Sookie’s wins but I think the colt (Reflectance) will improve a lot more,” he said.
AAP TURF
