Moore on southern raid

TRAINER Gary Moore will travel to Victoria to try to qualify Paquirri for the $2 million Magic Millions 2YO Classic at the Gold Coast.

Moore, who has stables in Sydney and on the Gold Coast, has opted to run the colt in the Magic Millions 2YO Clockwise Classic (1000m) at Ballarat on Saturday.

The race designed to give Victorian horses experience in the right-handed direction before they head north for the rich Coast race on January 13.

A $240,000 yearling pur- chase at the Perth Magic Millions sale, Paquirri has impressed Moore with his work and his barrier trials.

“He’s the quickest I’ve got at the present moment. I’ve al- ways thought highly of him,” Moore said.

Paquirri, a son of I Am Invincible, has had two trials, winning his second at Warwick Farm on November 6.

“He’s out of a fast mare (Miss Solis) which he’s showing in his work and I think he’ll go in with a very good chance,” Moore said.

Victorian jockey Michael Walker is booked to ride Paquirri at Ballarat where he will try to maintain a 100 per cent strike rate with Moore.

Walker rode Classic Uniform to win the Hill Stakes in Sydney in September and All Too Huiying in the Seppelt Wines Stakes during the Melbourne Cup carnival.

The jockey was stood down at Sandown on Saturday after riding Fanatic to win the Listed Sandown Cup (3200m).

He was suffering from pneumonia but said he hoped to be cleared to ride tomorrow.

Moore said about 75 per cent of his Rosehill stable were two-year-olds because several older horses had been moved to his Gold Coast set-up.

Classic Uniform and Moore’s Group 1 winner Takedown are spelling.

Moore said he would have a clearer idea next week regarding the time frame for other two-year-olds to start racing.

“There’s a few that need time. At this stage Paquirri is the one,” Moore said.

“He’s the right horse for the race. I’m confident because I watched the trials for twoyear-olds in Ballarat and I think he’ll be very hard to beat.

“If we can win that we’ll be in the Magic Millions twoyear-old race which is quite important at this stage.”

Adelaide trainer Lloyd Kennewell is another horseman heading at Ballarat for the Magic Millions race.

His two-year-old filly La Pomme de Pim won a trial going the clockwise direction at Ballarat last week and yesterday had her final hitout for the $200,000 feature.

“She had her final gallop when Zac (Spain) rode her at Flemington this morning she went well,” he said yesterday.

Kennewell said she was ticking along nicely.

“She trialled really well last week,’’ Kennewell said.

“And her form has been franked with Long Leaf winning (the Merson Cooper at Sandown) and she was probably stiff not to beat her.”