Adelaide three year old Magic Boy will be tested to see if he is up to running in the Group 2 $400,000 Sky Racing Queensland Guineas (1600m) at Doomben on June 6 when he lines up at Flemington on Saturday.
Magic Boy, brown and white hooped cap, slices in between runners to win the Adelaide Guineas at Morphettville. Photo by Jenny Barnes.
Morphettville trainer Jon O’Connor has called on the services of champion Melbourne jockey Damien Oliver to assess Magic Boy in the $80,000 Henry Bolte Handicap (1600m) to see if he is up to the standard needed to travel to Brisbane for the Winter Carnival.
Magic Boy put O’Connor on notice that he was destined for better things when he finished over the top of the leaders to win the Listed $80,000 Adelaide Galvanising Adelaide Guineas (1600m) at Morphettville on May 9.
“Winning the race was good, but in another sense it created a ‘where to now’ situation,” O’Connor told racing.com.
“It was great to win that but you get home on the Monday after you’ve celebrated and you think now what are you going to do with him?
“He’s a tough three-year-old gelding, so going to the paddock was never an option – especially a horse who can handle the sting out the ground like he does.
“Is he good enough for Queensland, the Guineas up there? The only way we’re going to find that out is to take him over to Melbourne for this race and get someone like ‘Ollie’ to have a ride on him and say ‘What do you think?’
“We’re going to be very much guided by Ollie’s report and whether he’s good enough for the Queensland carnival, I’m certainly not convinced, but there’s only one way we can find out.”
Magic Boy has been allocated 60kg against the three year olds in the Henry Bolte Handicap and O’Connor thinks he will have the job ahead of him with that weight.
“I’m disappointed he got that sort of weight to tell you the truth, I was thinking maybe 58.5kg/59kg but 60kg – it’s going to take a hell of an effort to win that,” O’Connor said.
O’Connor said that if Magic Boy failed the Oliver test and doesn’t go to Brisbane for the Queensland Guineas he will more than likely head to Moonee Valley in two weeks time for a 1600m three year old race at Moonee Valley.
“If not, there’s nothing at home in his own age group we can run in so there’s a mile at Moonee Valley a fortnight later,” O’Connor said.
The Ciaron Maher trained Duibio finished fifth in the Adelaide Guineas at set weight, meets Magic Boy 2kg better at Flemington and has been installed the $3.80 favourite for the Henry Bolte Handicap at Ladbrokes.com.au.
The Robert Smerdon trained Warrior King, a winner at his only two starts at Geelong and Warrnambool, is the second pick in the market order at $4.80 with Magic Boy on the third line of betting at $8.50.
