OUTSIDERS STAR AT DOOMBEN
Curtis-trained filly earns crack at Millions
THE pointy end of the Magic Millions market remained unchanged as former $101 pops Meryl and Quackerjack booked their place in the field with Doomben and Randwick wins yesterday.
Quackerjack firmed to $15, while Meryl was clipped to $26 after becoming the first stakes winner for her sire Epaulette, the former Doomben 10,000 winner, in the Group 3 B.J. McLachlan Stakes.
Meryl is trained at Rosehill by Lee Curtis, whose biggest success in recent times was the 2016 VRC Oaks with outsider Lasqueti Spirit.
Coincidentally, both Meryl and Lasqueti Spirit were purchased for $150,000 out of the Gold Coast Magic Millions sales ring.
Curtis said he probably erred by starting Meryl in the Gimcrack Stakes earlier in the season and he was thrilled to see her produce her real form yesterday.
“I’m very proud. She wasn’t at her peak in the Gimcrack and it might have been remiss of me to run her,” he said.
“Originally we were going to start her at Wyong, but we had a little setback in that she had a cough for a few days and we had to treat her.
“You can’t be too cautious with these things, so we just had to change her preparation around. We could have run in Sydney but this race was here, so we decided to come up and have a crack.
“(Jockey) Christian (Reith) thought there wasn’t a lot of speed in the race, but I told him if they did want to go hard just to sit in behind and that’s what he did.
“She will have heaps of improvement off this. She’s just coming into her own and she will keep going on from here.”
Reith paid tribute to Curtis for having Meryl fit enough to win a fast-run 1200m first up.
“It’s a big ask at 1200m, especially against this class of opposition, so full credit to Lee,” Reith said.
“She did it all for me. I just wanted to make sure I gave her as easy a run as possible.
“It’s always good to come home but it’s exciting to come back and get on quality animals like this.”
Meryl is eligible for a slice of the $500,000 Magic Millions Racing Women Bonus, being raced by an all-female team.
Magic Millions have a halfbrother to Meryl by Exceed And Excel catalogued as Lot 476 in next month’s Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
Curtis’s best horse was multiple Group 1-winning sprinter Mistegic. He was also the original trainer of Private Steer and he saddled her when she was a beaten favourite in the 2003 Magic Millions 3YO.