When Justin Huxtable lost the ride on the then unbeaten Miss Coota in the Group 3 Bruce McLachlan Stakes, he would have been forgiven for thinking that his chance of riding the Chris Munce trained filly in the $2 million Magic Millions Classic was gone.
Huxtable had partnered Miss Coota to successive, resounding successes in her first two starts but then gave way to Craig Williams in the Bruce McLachlan in which Miss Coota ultimately performed well below expectations.
Whatever the reasons for that defeat … pilot error, race circumstances … the connections of Miss Coota wasted no time in reinstating Huxtable for the Magic Millions ride where he will now pit his skills against some of the best jockeys in the land.
Two years ago, on January 9, the Magic Millions Carnival was not kind to Huxtable when another Chris Munce trained runner, Rhapsody Rose, initiated a sequence of events that left Huxtable poleaxed on the ground in the parade ring with serious injuries after a pre-race incident.
The filly had been unruly. Huxtable had dismounted. The clerk of the course moved in to help but, when Huxtable looked to remount, the clerk of the course’s horse kicked out and caught Huxtable full on, leaving him in agony with injuries severe enough to keep the young rider out of action for six weeks.
Huxtable was absent from the Magic Millions Carnival last year with his career taking a number of turns … good and bad … over the last two years, yet now, thanks to the massive vote of confidence shown in him by Miss Coota’s connections, Huxtable now has the chance to scale the highest of heights and take his career to a whole new level.
Miss Coota won her first two starts, with Huxtable in the saddle, by a combined total of thirteen lengths when basically running her opposition into the ground with strong front-running tactics and, if she is allowed to make play in front again in the Two-Year-old Classic, she could well make a strong claim for the big race honours.
