GOLLAN FILLY TO LAY DOWN LAW
TONY Gollan has declared x-factor filly Skirt The Law the best chance he has had to score the race which has eluded him, the $2m Gold Coast Magic Millions 2YO Classic.
Gollan has long been Queensland’s premier trainer but the closest he has come to winning the Magic Millions was when stablemates Outback Barbie and Ef Troop finished third and fourth in 2018.
Ef Troop was the $4.20 Magic Millions second pick that year, but jockey Matt McGillivray was suspended for a month for causing severe interference in a race which future Group 1 star Sunlight won.
Now Gollan feels Skirt The Law, who storms into the Magic Millions as a well-backed $7 chance after drawing sweetly in barrier four, can give him his first victory in the race which has proved the nut he has not been able to crack.
The filly is unbeaten after two thumping victories at Doomben – the last of which was on December 3.
But Gollan is certain she will measure up to the bigger-name southern two-year-olds and hand him his first Magic Millions Classic trophy.
“I think she is probably the best chance I’ve ever had to win this race,” he said. “She has done everything right and she has a great sense of timing about her.
“I haven’t had a bulk load of runners over the years in the Classic but I had a couple of good chances one year with Outback Barbie and Ef Troop.
“Skirt The Law probably gives me a feel of where they were at, or actually a touch better.
“The final piece of the puzzle was the barrier draw on Tuesday, I really wanted to draw low with her because I thought it was a very even field.”
Queensland jockey Ryan Maloney has the job on Skirt The Law and he can go into Saturday with a singleminded focus as the speedy filly is his only ride of the day.
A win would be a great tonic for Maloney given Magic Millions day delivered one of his most disappointing moments in racing when he fell on Isotope when the Gollan sprinter was a hot favourite in the Guineas in 2021.
And for Gollan, it would be one of the final pieces of the puzzle in an outstanding training career that has netted six Group 1s but so far been without success in the rich Magic Millions 2YO and 3YO races.
“These Magic Millions races definitely give you that Group 1 feeling,” the trainer said.
“The Classic has Group 1 pressure and if I can win it, it will be right up there with anything I have done in my training career.”
Magic Millions day could potentially be one of Gollan’s most lucrative yet, given he also has Spiritualised ($9.50) and Latakia ($13) in the $2m Guineas.