Hayes opts for Plan B in Magic Millions bid

HAVING placed in the race seven times previously, David Hayes has taken an entirely different approach with Nomothaj as he tries to break his Magic Millions 2YO Classic duck today.

Hayes’s late brother Peter won the millions with Catnipped in 1998.

David’s seven placegetters date back to Mahaasin in the 1990 fillies’ race through to Madeenaty last year.

He rates Nomothaj as good as Mahaasin, who went on to win the Blue Diamond after running second on the Gold Coast.

Hayes’s other Magic Millions placegetters have been Dangerous Seam (the fillies division in 1991), Zodiac Miss (1992), St Covet (1994), Churchill Downs (2006) and Husson Lightning (2007).

If successful today, Nomothaj will be the first horse to win the Magic Millions at its second start and also set a record for the longest number of days since it last ran.

“We’ve taken an unusual path because she’s qualified and we’ve got the facilities in Sydney to train her on the Sydney leg,” Hayes said. “Her trial was outstanding. She’s got a great barrier and she’s got up here in fantastic order, so I think she’s good value.”

Hayes, who trains in partnership with son Ben and nephew Tom Dabernig, also believes by going into today first up, he will still have a filly when the major races are run in the autumn.

“My opinion of her is that she will be a factor in the autumn and maybe setting a new trend of going first up into the millions when you qualify gives you a lot of horse to work with after the millions,” he said. “So we are not treating it like a grand final, even though it’s very important. We think she will be a horse to follow out of the race.”

Nomothaj has only raced once, winning at Flemington in October, where her victims included today’s race favourite, Sunlight. So has Sunlight gone way ahead or is her subsequent form indicative of how good Nomothaj is? Hayes thinks it’s the latter.

“I think if we were against [the horses Sunlight beat], we would have won pretty easily too,” he said. “She’s very good.

“She was star gazing at Flemington and still won. She’s got blinkers, she will be better over the 1200m than 1000m and she’s probably a 1400m horse, so this is a good starting point.”

Hayes described this week’s Magic Millions Yearling Sale as “expensive”.