The Mark Kavanagh trained Magicool emerged as one of the leading Victoria Derby hopes with victory at Flemington on Saturday.
Ridden by Glen Boss, Magicool ($10) showed plenty of fight in scoring a neck victory over Atmosphere (Damien Oliver, $9) with War Point (Craig Newitt, $6.50) a long neck away third in the UCI Stakes over 1800m.
Magicool
Magicool will follow the same path as last year’s Victoria Derby winner Polanski by running at Caulfield in two weeks time in the lead-up to the Victoria Derby (2500m) at Flemington on November 1.
Kavanagh said Magicool had been earmarked as the stable’s Derby hope and said the gelding was heading in the right direction.
“We targeted him a long time back to be one of our Derby hopes,” Kavanagh said.
“These Fastnet Rock horses, when you cross them over Galileo mares, they are very stout, but you can get a good turn of foot on a stayer.
“There’s a fair bit of upside there; as he stargazed there a bit at the end.
“He’ll go to the Caulfield Classic (2000m). It’s two weeks from today and then another two weeks to the Derby, whereas the other horses we have may go via the (Moonee Valley) Vase a week later.”
Boss has the ride on a couple of nice three-year-olds of Kavanagh’s heading to big Group 1 races in the coming weeks.
He rides Chivalry in next week’s Caulfield Guineas over 1600m and said that colt and Magicool were different types.
“Chivalry is the Guineas horse and if he wins the Guineas maybe then he goes on to the Cox Plate,” Boss said.
“These two horses, they’re different types. One is big and strong, while this one, (Magicool) is more rangy and a real stayer.”
“I was holding him back at the 400 (metres) and they were dropping off. At some stage you have to push the button and as soon as I did he went to run away from them.”
