Falconic has booked his place in the Magic Millions Classic
Trainer Gary Portelli’s remarkable run with two-year-olds has continued with Falconic booking his place in the Magic Millions Classic by winning at Rosehill.
Falconic’s win in Saturday’s two-year-old plate over 1200m made him the third individual Portelli-trained juvenile to score this season.
The most impressive of those was She Will Reign who was installed as Golden Slipper favourite after a dominant win in the $500,000 Inglis Nursery last Saturday, a week after a spectacular Kembla Grange debut.
Single Bullet signalled his talent when he dashed home late to grab second in the Wyong Magic Millions 2YO classic on Thursday.
Portelli rates Falconic as third in the pecking order behind those two but was delighted with the 1-1/4 length victory.
“It’s amazing, when things are going right, they go right,” Portelli said.
After being sent out the $3.60 favourite, Falconic settled in the second half of the field before making his presence felt around the home turn.
Despite showing signs of immaturity when he hit the front at the 150m mark, the colt was too strong for All Too Huiying ($7) with Whispered Secret ($4.20) filling the minor placing.
Falconic qualifies to win a share of the $500,000 bonus divided between the first four female-owned horses across the line in the $2 million race on the Gold Coast on January 14.
Portelli plans to run Single Bullet at Warwick Farm on January 7 in an 11th hour bid to give him a chance to rise in the order of Magic Millions entry.
“We’ll work out based on how he comes through it whether he goes round (at the Gold Coast) or whether I just back off and look at trying to qualify for the Slipper,” Portelli said.
She Will Reign is having a 12-day break before she returns to work to target the Silver Slipper first-up.
Sebring Express is the trainer’s other juvenile winner this season, claiming a race at Wyong before running fifth to She Will Reign in the Nursery.
