Gai Waterhouse has won more than a quarter of all Magic Millions Wyong Classics and the Hall of Fame trainer has again targeted the race with one of her leading contenders for the Gold Coast follow-up.
Summer Loving will continue her path towards next month’s $2.5 million Magic Millions 2YO Classic on the Gold Coast via Wednesday’s 1100-metre event.
The daughter of Exceed And Excel was part of an impressive team of babies that Waterhouse and her training partner Adrian Bott unveiled in October and early November, most of whom have been partnered by Tim Clark in either races or trials.
Clark will ride Summer Loving on Wednesday, which will be her first start since her debut third placing under Regan Bayliss in the $1 million Golden Gift on November 5, and he is looking forward to getting a feel for her under conditions.
His main priority will be to get her to jump better than she did at Rosehill.
“She is a very talented filly and her Golden Gift run was outstanding, I rode her in a recent tick over trial and she felt good,” Clark said.
“However, Summer Loving did not jump well in the Golden Gift and she won’t want to miss the start from the one barrier here or we are in trouble around the tight track.
“It is a good field but this filly is pretty good,” Clark said.
Summer Loving, a $425,000 Gold Coast yearling, is one of two Waterhouse/Bott fillies prominent in betting on the Gold Coast Magic Millions feature, which will be run on January 14, along with Gimcrack Stakes winner Platinum Jubilee.
She will provide Waterhouse with a sixth win in the Wyong lead-up if she can win the 20th edition of the event that has proven a key guide to the Gold Coast finale.
None of Waterhouse’s five winners – Pulsator (2005), She’s Meaner (2008), Brightexpectations (2009), Unite And Conquer (2018) and Farnan (2019) – have gone on to win at the Gold Coast, although She’s Meaner finished second to August Proud in 2008.
The Wyong-Gold Coast double has been done three times, by Karuta Queen (2010), Unencumbered (2013) and Capitalist (2016).
Wednesday’s event boasts a number of leading contenders with $1.2m Exceed And Excel colt Mach Ten, who was runner-up in the Breeders Plate at his only start, engaged along with I Am Invincible filly Infatuation, who finished immediately ahead of Summer Loving in the Golden Gift.