Connections of All Aged Stakes winner Magic Time are dreaming of an Everest slot after the mare ploughed through mud and rain to capture the final Group One race of the Sydney autumn carnival at Randwick.
In a slogging finish, Magic Time ($6.50) chased down roughie Amenable ($51) to edge him out by a long neck with Private Eye ($12) holding down third after leading, another 2-3/4 lengths away.
Magic Time’s All Aged Stakes (1400m) win was her second at the highest level after she took out the Rupert Clarke Stakes over the same journey in the spring and owner John Muir was immediately thinking about The Everest.
“Did someone say The Everest? Come and take my money,” Muir quipped.
Trainer Grahame Begg confirmed The Everest was back of mind but said they had also been looking at taking Magic Time to Brisbane for a winter carnival tilt.
However, her success in Saturday’s All Aged Stakes (1400m) may have changed the goal posts given she has now proven herself at weight-for-age level, the conditions under which The Everest (1200m) is run.
“Mr Muir has mentioned The Everest, so we had to tick that (weight-for-age) box,” Begg said.
“She loves Randwick and has a great will to win.
“We were thinking of Brisbane, but maybe not now….We will see what happens.”
Begg trained out of Randwick for many years with great success before eventually resettling in Victoria.
He has made a number of successful carnival raids in his former hometown over the past few years, but Saturday was his first Sydney Group 1 since Secret Admirer captured the 2011 Epsom Handicap.
“We haven’t had too many Group One runners in Sydney, but the horses we bring up usually go well,” Begg said.
Magic Time was partnered by the Melbourne-based Michael Dee, who had been having a lean run over the carnival until Saturday.
“I was starting to think I was getting a little bit sick of flying up here every Saturday,” Dee said.
“This certainly tops it off.”
James Mcdonald said Private Eye “stuck to his guns well” after taking up an unfamiliar leadership role, while Chad Schofield thought he had pinched the race aboard Amenable.
“He came off the bridle, quickened well, I thought we were the winner,” Schofield said.
“He just felt it late with the mare a bit stronger on the line.”
Run in heavy 10 conditions, the All Aged Stakes was not only the final major of the Sydney carnival, but also the final race.
Stewards called off the last two events due to concerns over visibility and the deteriorating state of the track.
Magic Time continued a great carnival for the Victorians whose other Group 1 pillages included the T J Smith Stakes with Chain Of Lightning, the Oaks with Autumn Angel and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes with Pride Of Jenni.