The Magic Millions Race-day at the Gold Coast has ben kind to trainer Greg Hickman over the years, to the degree that it should be a pre-requisite for those who study form to see what he has in the 2022 edition of the event.
Enter Eleven Eleven, a five-year-old gelding who Hickman has primed for his challenge in the Magic Millions Cup … a race the son of Fastnet Rock won last year in the hands of Nash Rawiller.
Eleven Eleven is an old friend of the Magic Millions race-day patrons and he certainly knows how to get the job done on the glitter strip circuit.
The year before his 2021 Magic Millions Cup win, Eleven Eleven was ultimately declared the winner of the $2 million Magic Millions Guineas after Alligator Blood, who was first past the post was later disqualified for testing positive to altrenogest. Keagan Latham did the honours in the saddle that day.
The confirmation of that win and the payment of the prize-money was delayed for some time before the revised result was placed in the record books. When that result was finalised, it meant that Hickman had won two out of the last three runnings of the Magic Millions Three-Year-Old Classic at the time, having also taken out the 2018 race with Pierata.
Now the astute trainer has Eleven Eleven vying for his third win at a Magic Millions carnival, which would be no mean feat given the level of competition and pressure that comes with such high profile, immensely intense racing.
On Saturday Eleven Eleven, who will have Hugh Bowman in the saddle, will face sixteen rivals in the $1 million Magic Millions Cup, including the likes of some formidable opponents such Kementari, Apache Chase Bella Rossa and Aim, last year’s Magic Millions Three-Year-Old Guineas winner.
Eleven Eleven, an eight-time winner from twenty-six starts and with over $2.2 million banked in prize-money, currently sits on the third line of betting at $7 behind Kementari ($5.50) and Apache Chase ($6). Nudge is also at $7 in what the betting suggests is a very open race.
