Denying Cooly Gold
NEASHAM’S AMBITIOUS PLOT TO STOP MILLIONS RIVAL
ANNABEL Neasham knows better than anyone what to expect from Ciaron Maher’s top two-year-old, Coolangatta, but she says if any horse is capable of knocking her off in the Magic Millions in two weeks’ time, it is her filly, Soaring Ambition.
The multiple Group 1-winning trainer worked under Maher for a number of years but has made an enormous impact of her own since leaving to open stables in Sydney, and she could further add to her impressive resume with a
Magic Millions 2YO win on January 15.
Soaring Ambition kicks off her Queensland campaign at short odds in the 2YO Handicap (1200m) at Doomben on Saturday.
After watching Coolangatta win the Group 3 BJ McLachlan Stakes last week, Neasham’s filly occupies the second line of betting behind the $1.70 hotpot in the Magic Millions following her impressive performance in the Wyong Classic (1200m) earlier this month.
“Coolangatta is very good, obviously,” Neasham said.
“The stable, I know them well and they are the best at producing two-year-olds.
“She is certainly the one to beat, but I think Soaring Ambition is the one I have seen this season which can beat her.
“I think (Coolangatta) is (beatable), (in) a high-pressure 1200m race, every horse is beatable … I guess Winx wasn’t, but.
“She is going to be hard to beat, there’s no doubt about it, but I am looking forward to taking her on.”
Soaring Ambition was battered from pillar to post in her
debut run at Wyong but still managed to fight her way off the canvas and win under Tommy Berry, who will ride again on Saturday.
“She wasn’t entitled to win that, it’s hard to win from the back at Wyong as it is, and then to get the big check on the corner, which really unbalanced her,” Neasham said.
“She was able to pick herself up and dust herself off and go on with it, knuckle down and win by showing really good acceleration in such a short straight, it was a pretty good win, she was powering through the line.”
Owned by the emerging Chinese-based Zhongli Thoroughbreds, Soaring Ambition’s $270,000 price tag was somewhat of a bargain for Neasham, who said she was expecting to fork out about double that to secure the Not A Single Doubt filly.
“I loved this filly at the sales but I didn’t have anyone to buy her, I thought she’d make $500,000 or so, which was a bit much for me to be specking at my first ever sale. We were lucky (Zhongli) were willing and she ended up going for a lot less than we anticipated,” Neasham said.