Ambition is for Gold hat-trick
THREE straight wins led to trainer Michael Costa claiming the Gold Coast Horse of the Year title with Malkara this week and he will now try to do the same with Gold Ambition.
A former Group 1 runner for major southern trainer Bjorn Baker, Gold Ambition will race in the BenchMark 90 Handicap (1800m) at the metropolitan meeting at Aquis Park today.
It could be a third straight win for the six-year-old and jockey Scott Galloway who combined to go back-to-back at Doomben at their past two starts.
It’s the first full preparation for Gold Ambition in Costa’s Gold Coast stables and the local trainer said today’s run at a higher grade would show if the horse had truly turned a corner.
“He was very competitive for Bjorn early down in Sydney but then he hit a bit of a flat spot,” Costa said.
“(Today’s) run is going to be the factor that tells us whether we have got him to turn or if we have just been placing him right.
“He is very well within himself. We have just been doing a lot of remedial work with him but he has been spending a lot of his time at the beach and he is really enjoying that.
“He is enjoying life on the Gold Coast.
“Bjorn felt he needed an environment change and we have had good success with Bjorn’s horses up here and hopefully we continue that this week.”
Gold Ambition is the $3.40 favourite with Ladbrokes for today’s race.
It is almost a year to the day Malkara won his third straight race for Costa at the Gold Coast on August 19 last year.
Costa went on to win another race with the gelding in April before selling him.
Malkara is now racing for Rockhampton trainer Clinton Thompson.
“He racked up his wins quickly and we always pick the eyes out of races and try to get a good grasp on where we think a horse’s ability will take them,” Costa said.
“We have the discussion with the owners about where we think they will be in the next couple of runs and we couldn’t guarantee he would be running Saturday class every weekend.
“He was at a stage where we thought he would find himself in no-man’s land.
“His rating was high and we didn’t think he would take the next step to that serious Saturday class so we thought it would be a better option to go somewhere he can continue to tick through the grades.”