Neville Layt has spent his working life in racing waiting for a horse to come along good enough to be in a race like the Golden Sipper.
In Magic Millions winner Karuta Queen, the 67-year-old Queanbeyan-based trainer and former jockey gets that chance on Saturday.
“It’s our greatest two-year-old race in Australia and I’m honoured to have the highest prizemoney earner in the race,” Layt said.
“Just to have her there is a big honour.”
And while Layt says being involved in the $3.5 million event is something to savour, he doesn’t plan to just be a participant.
He believes the filly can win. Her trackwork on Tuesday morning, when he clocked the filly to run 32.77 seconds for her final 600 metres, had him oozing optimism.
“Of course I am,” he said when asked if he was confident the filly could win.
“She hasn’t done anything wrong other than one defeat. And probably if she won the Black Opal last start she would be one of the co-favourites. That’s all it comes down to, she got beaten in the Opal but the little filly is back to where she was before then.”
Karuta Queen burst into feature race contention with two early season wins at Rosehill in October.
Layt then gave the filly a freshen-up and she showed blistering speed to win the Wyong Magic Millions over 1000 metres in December.
The ride for the daughter of Not A Single Doubt’s connections continued and hit a high when she produced a dominant display to win the $2 million Magic Millions (1200m) at the Gold Coast in January.
Layt believes the filly may have been suffering a slight virus and wasn’t at her top when beaten as favourite in the Black Opal last month, which saw her drift in Slipper betting.
After her work on Tuesday, Layt says the filly is back.
“I think she’s better than before the Magic Millions,” he said of the filly who has firmed from $17 to $11 with TAB Sportsbet since Tuesday.
Karuta Queen hasn’t raced on a Sydney track since October but Layt has kept an eye on all the lead-ups and knows what he’s up against.
He has plenty of respect for his rivals, including the Anthony Cummings-trained Smart Missile who he said was a brilliant winner of the Todman Stakes.
“But the great part about my filly is that she is going to be up out of trouble on the speed,” he said.
“… and what a great little story if we turn it around and pull it off, us battlers from Queanbeyan up against those big blokes from Sydney.”
AAP TURF
