Trainer Michael Costa could end up a home-town hero if Perfect Mission wins the $2 million Magic Millions Two-Year-Old Classic on Saturday.
The astute Gold Coast based trainer is well aware of the size of the challenge facing Perfect Mission but, equally, he is well satisfied with his runner going into the race.
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‘If the race was won on how horses are feeling … I can tell you she is just jumping right out of her skin,” said Costa.
“The way she has recovered from her run on the weekend (when she finished second to another Classic contender Miss Hellfire) … well, she is just full of beans.”
Perfect Mission will be racing over 1200m for the first time in the Classic, but Costa also sees that as a plus.
“She is looking for the 1200m. Definitely.” said Costa. “If you look at all of her 1000m runs she was really searching for the line.”
There was a minor hiccup in the Perfect Mission’s preparation along the way, as Costa explains.
“After her win at the Gold Coast (in her second last start), she did get galloped on and we had to give here six days in the paddock … and we really only had a very soft workout leading into the last race.
“She really loomed up like she was going to go past the leader there, but just blew out … and when she came back to the mounting yard, I just looked at the recoveries of the two horses and our girl had really blown up over the back.
“She looked like she needed that run and, even though it wasn’t the initial plan to run her the week before the Millions, it may turn out to have been the best option the way she has recovered so well now.
“Earlier, it was a bit frustrating with those seconds placing.” (Perfect Mission finished as runner-up in both of her first two starts). “She was just extremely unlucky in her first two starts … drawing wide gates or getting creamed out of the gates and things like that … and then only touched off by a whisker in one of those races … but all of that only added to the theatre of it all in terms of trying to qualify for the race.
“We are in the race now. She is fit and well. We’ll just hope for a good run in transit now.
‘It is what it is … and it’s going to come down to the circumstances of the race. We did see a lot of horses get to the middle of the track last week, so, with the good weather, whether the rail becomes on fire on Saturday and it could be a disadvantage for horses drawn wider out … we will find out on Saturday.
“We’ll just have to see how it all pans out. One thing is for sure, they’ll probably be going extremely quickly. Hopefully we can be there is a nice neutral position not too far off them.
‘Yeah, maybe I can be the GC of the GC … the Golden Child of the Gold Coast … if we can land the win,” said Costa, tongue in cheek.
“The money is good. The bonus’s on offer are good … but there is much more to it than that.
“Just having a runner in the race in your own backyard … the owners are elated. For one of the owners, it is his dream to have a runner in the race and he has been beside himself for the last couple of days.
‘It really is a pretty exciting time for the stable.”
