Latest news with #MagicMillionsCup
7NEWS
15-05-2025
- Sport
- 7NEWS
West Of Africa chasing Big Dance qualification in Scone Cup
West Of Africa already has one Cup win in the bag this campaign and he will be bidding to add another when he heads to Scone chasing qualification for the Big Dance. The gelding was a devastating winner of the Magic Millions Cup (1400m) at the Gold Coast in January when he unleashed a whirlwind finish from near-last to blouse his rivals. He has continued to race consistently, placing in three of his subsequent four starts and while he is closer to the end of his preparation than the beginning, co-trainer Rob Archibald is seeing only positive signs at home. 'We have just tried to space his runs as best we can but he has been up for a while,' Archibald said. 'That is always a little query. It's going to come to an end at some stage, but at home he seems to be holding his form well.' West Of Africa has been the subject of early market support, backed from $11 into $6.50. A two-time winner over the 1600m journey of Friday's Scone Cup, he has drawn barrier 13, a gate Archibald believes will suit the backmarker. 'He's got a wide draw which I don't think will worry him as he's a horse that gets back and runs on,' he said. 'The Scone track, we feel, will suit him because it has a big, long straight. 'He's going well and of all our chances, he is probably one of the main ones.' West Of Africa will be joined in the Scone Cup (1600m) by stablemates Port Lockroy and Redstone Well, while Might Ulysses is a dual acceptor for the Luskin Star Stakes (1300m) a day later. Archibald says they are leaning towards the latter with Mighty Ulysses in the hope the shorter trip will ensure it is run at a genuine speed. 'We are leaning towards the 1300 metre race. We are just trying to find a bit of confidence with him and help him settle a little bit behind a good tempo,' Archibald sad. 'But we are still looking at both races and are still undecided.' Port Lockroy, who captured the Group 1 Railway Stakes (1600m) at Ascot in November, is top weight with 59.5kg, while Redstone Well is dropping back in journey after disappointing at his recent middle-distance runs. 'Port Lockroy, he's a Group One winner so it's hard to discount him even though he's got a bit of weight,' Archibald said. 'Redstone Well has been tested over 2000 and we feel like he's not quite seeing it out so we're giving him a chance back to the mile.' Both Al Mubhir and Sibaaq have been scratched from the Scone Cup in favour of assignments in Queensland.
News.com.au
30-04-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Brisbane trainer Rob Heathcote confident ironhorse Rothfire will be competitive in Victory Stakes at Eagle Farm
It could be Queensland racing's comeback of the year if old warrior Rothfire wins Saturday's $300,000 Group 2 Victory Stakes (1200m) at Eagle Farm but trainer Rob Heathcote will never write off this champion. The seven-year-old gelding will make his first race appearance of 2025 when he competes against a stacked field in the Victory Stakes on the opening day of the Queensland winter carnival. He will go up against the likes of Tony Gollan-trained stars Hidden Wealth and Freedom Rally, Group 1-winning mare Lady Laguna and The Kosciuszko champion Far Too Easy, who will be ridden by top jockey Craig Williams. TAB has posted Hidden Wealth as the early $5 favourite ahead of the Chris Waller-trained Coleman and David McColm's Far Too Easy (both $5.50), with Rothfire paying $18 on Wednesday afternoon. 'It's a quality field but that's to be expected for a $300,000 race,' Heathcote said. 'I've said it a thousand times with my old boy Rothfire, there's no doubting his ability. 'I need a track that's not too firm and he'll be competitive. It's just his nature, he doesn't know how to be non-competitive.' This is likely to be the final winter carnival for Rothfire, the winner of 10 of 32 races, including the 2020 Group 1 JJ Atkins (1400m), given his well-documented battle with career-threatening injuries. It was nearly all over for Rothfire in September 2020 when he suffered a severe sesamoid injury but the ironhorse made a miraculous comeback to racing just 12 months later. Heathcote also has high hopes in the Victory Stakes for his four-year-old mare Abounding, who finished seventh in her last start, the $2m Magic Millions Cup (1400m) on the Gold Coast on January 17, although she has drawn awkwardly in barrier 13 for Saturday. 'She's going super. The 1200m is probably going to be a shade on the sharp side for her but last preparation she ran a cracker first-up,' Heathcote said. 'She won a Listed fillies and mares race first-up over 1200m, the Tatts Classic (in late November), and she was really strong late. 'I'm expecting a good run from her on Saturday. She didn't have a lot of luck in her subsequent two runs – the Nudgee Listed (on December 28) and the Magic Millions Cup down on the Gold Coast – but she's quality plus and she'll run a big race.' Heathcote nominated five-year-old gelding Hidden Wealth, the winner of more than $1.4m in prizemoney, as 'clearly the one to beat' in the Victory Stakes, which Gollan won last year with his stable star Antino. 'You don't just have to beat Tony Gollan, you've got Annabel Neasham, Chris Waller and James Cummings,' Heathcote said of the top trainers looking for an early scalp in the winter carnival. 'You need to have your horses in the best order to be competitive against this lot.' Cosmo Centaurus will run in Sunday's $1m The Archer (1300m) slot race.
