Ballarat trainer Matt Cumani will chase a Magic Millions start with two-year-old Akkadian via a trip to Sydney.
Cumani will start the colt in the $100,000 Two-Year-Old Plate over 1200m at Warwick Farm on Saturday.
The trainer says Akkadian needs to win to confirm a place in the $2 million Magic Millions 2YO Classic (1200m) at the Gold Coast on January 13 and join stablemate Anthemoessa.
He is one of 11 entries for Saturday’s race which include Lagarde who ran second to Ragged Rascal at Muswellbrook on December 8.
The Paul Perry-trained Ragged Rascal ran second to Irish bet in Saturday’s $500,000 Inglis Nursery at Randwick.
Akkadian has started twice, finishing fifth on debut behind Nomothaj in the Maribyrnong Plate at Flemington in October before running fourth to La Pomme De Pin in the Magic Millions Two-Year-Old Clockwise Classic (1000m) at Ballarat on November 25.
Cumani said he considered giving Akkadian a break following his latest performance but decided to press on, hoping the extra ground in Sydney would be an advantage.
“I half thought about giving him a break and bringing him back for 1400-metre races because he looks that kind of horse to me,” Cumani said.
“But I’m just hopeful that an extra furlong will do the trick with him.
“We’re going to go up to Warwick Farm to see if we can’t snag it and the race serves a couple of purposes.
“It will get us the money we need for the Gold Coast race and it will also tell us whether the horse is good enough.”
Cumani said Akkadian would have no problems handling racing right handed after his fourth at Ballarat.
He said the colt had done plenty of work in the lead-up to Ballarat and raced tractably.
“Experience-wise he is mature enough to tackle the Magic Millions,” Cumani said.
Anthemoessa moved up the order of entry for the Magic Millions with her second placing behind Ollivander at Caulfield on Saturday.
The filly has now earned $54,000 from her two second placings, the first of which came behind La Pomme De Pin in the Clockwise Classic.
