Black Magnum started his racing career on a synthetic track through necessity and now trainer Mark Newnham is keen to discover how he fares on the real thing.
The two-year-old colt made an encouraging start to his career at Canberra last month, and now he encounters what is expected to be heavy ground at Randwick on Saturday.
“I’m not sure how he’ll handle the heavy but at least he’s had race experience. We’ll find out whether we’ve got a wet tracker on our hands,” Newnham said.
Black Magnum kicked off at Canberra because he drew badly in his only other option for a debut at Gosford.
Black Magnum was an $18 chance for the Spring On Sale Handicap (1000m) with the TAB on Friday.
The Chris Waller-trained Beidi, who made a winning debut at Canterbury on a good track, led the market at $3.80.
Newnham has added blinkers to Black Magnum to sharpen him up for a slight drop back in distance from 1080m.
“He’s a nice uncomplicated horse and he’s handling the workload well so far,” he said.
Newnham’s main focus on Saturday will be on a proven wet track performer at Doomben, where Burning Passion is a $26 chance for the $1.5 million Group One Stradbroke Handicap (1350m).
Back in action after a seventh in the Group One Doomben 10,000 (1200m) on May 12, Burning Passion should appreciate the heavy ground after recording four of his seven career wins on wet tracks.
“The wetter the better for him,” Newnham said.
“He’s also meets a lot of those horses better at the weights with 52kg so he’s in there with a shot.”
