A patient approach could result in an early Christmas present for connections of Amathuba when she bids to stake her Magic Millions claims at Randwick.
The mare was scratched from races in Sydney and Brisbane last weekend due to awkward draws, but co-trainer Will Freedman said she needed to line up on Saturday to give herself every opportunity to book her passage to the Gold Coast.
In a significant boost, the four-year-old has come up with gate three for Saturday’s Grainshaker Australian Vodka Handicap (1200m) and will be ridden by Kerrin Mcevoy.
“We were planning on running (last Saturday) but she got a wide draw in Sydney,” Freedman said.
“Then we got a wide draw up in Queensland and it wasn’t really our first preference so we thought, ‘is it worth sending her up?’
“We’ve decided to run her in the 1200 metre benchmark 78 for fillies and mares at Randwick (this week).”
Amathuba was a close third behind Starboreta and Pretty Wild first-first-up at The Gong meeting then missed a place against the males last time out.
She returns to fillies and mares’ company on Saturday and has thrived between runs, and while both Starboreta and Pretty Wild again be among her rivals, both have tricky draws in barriers 11 and 14 respectively.
“She is flying at the moment,” Freedman said.
“She qualifies for the Magic Millions syndicate race with her amount of owners so if we can get her there that’s the goal.”
The $1 million Magic Millions The Syndicate (1200m) is a new addition to the 2023 Gold Coast program and is open to horses owned by a minimum of 20 individual owners or syndicate members.