Carriages was allocated the outside gate at the 2015 Magic Millions Classic Barrier draw this morning and jockey Tommy Berry admits that the wide draw is far for ideal from the talented filly.
Tommy Berry is chasing his third win in the Magic Millions Classic when he partners Carriages in the $2 million event at the Gold Coast on Saturday. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia
12 of the last 13 winners of the Magic Millions Classic have drawn single figure barriers and Berry believes that barriers play a crucial role in deciding the outcome of the $2 million event, but is hoping that the current state of the Gold Coast track may help those horses drawn towards the outside of the field.
“It is definitely not ideal,” Berry told TVN.
“I’ve always believed that you have to draw a barrier to win the Magic Millions and I don’t believe it is always the best horse that wins it, but the horse that gets the best run in the race around the Gold Coast.
“This year is a little bit different with the weather and the way that the track has been racing, they have been racing away from the fence in the past few meets I’ve seen and that might help horses drawing a little bit out wide, but it is definitely not ideal still.
Carriages made her racing debut with a third place finish in the Betting Season Plate (1000m) at Royal Randwick on November 7 before she stamped herself as a Magic Millions Classic contender with an impressive victory in the Magic Millions Clockwise Classic (1000m) at Ballarat on November 22.
The Hinchinbrook filly was ruled out of the Calaway Gal Stakes at Doomben on December 13 after she cut her leg in a sand roll, while trainer Gai Waterhouse elected not to run the two-year-old in the Group 3 BJ McLachlan Stakes (1200m) at the Gold Coast on December 27.
Berry was not able to partner Carriages in her trackwork gallop at Doomben this morning, but he said that the reports coming out of the Waterhouse camp are very positive and he believes that the lack of race fitness will not hurt the juvenile in the $2 million event this weekend.
“I was doing the gallop on the sand quiet early, so it would have been impossible to get up to Brisbane to ride her,” Berry said.
“From all reports she is going very well and she is fit and ready to go.
“She has only had a couple of starts going into it and she is definitely going to be on fresh legs.”
Berry is chasing a third win in the Magic Millions Classic after previously winning the race with Karuta Queen in 2011 and Driefontein in 2012.
