DUAL Inter Dominion winner Jimmy Rattray has a warning for anyone dismissing the lone Tasmanian raider Magician as “just making up the numbers” in Saturday night’s $2.1mil TAB Eureka.
It was less than a decade ago when Rattray, who comes from one of Tasmania’s most famous harness racing families, took an emerging pacer to Sydney, where he won back-to-back Inter Dominion finals in 2014 and ’15 and became the standout pacer in this part of the world.
Despite that, there were widespread scoffs when Tasracing revealed it would fill its TAB Eureka slot – one of just 10 in the world’s richest harness racer – with a Tasmanian pacer.
Magician, trained-and-driven by Rattray’s brother Todd, grabbed his slot by winning the fittingly named $80,000 “Beautide” in Hobart on August 5.
Jimmy Rattray, who has been caretaker of Magician during his time in Sydney, flew down to Hobart to watch the four-year-old pacer win the Beautide.
“He didn’t win it by much, but the race was a bit of a sprint home,” he said.
Rattray was a lot more impressed when partnered Magician to an eye-catching third in a strong Menangle trial last Wednesday.
“Yeah, he’d settled in well here, and to have him trial so well was really exciting,” he said.
“Taipo won it, and he’s a budding Grand Circuit horse, while Petes Said So is a well-performed free-for-aller, and he ran second. I loved how strong Magician was late."
“Just as importantly, he’s really come on well and improved since."
“He’s lightly raced and an improving type. I really like him."
“I know how strong a race this is, especially with the likes of Leap To Fame and Catch A Wave, but he’s certainly not just making up the numbers."
“Everything tells me he’ll run a big race, and he’s still a bit green, so he’s going to keep on improving.”
Rattray says switching from the smaller tracks in Tasmania to Menangle’s spacious 1400m circuit has been another plus.
“No doubt about that,” he said. “He’s a big horse and still learning, and I’m sure he’ll get around the bends better here. It was the same when Beautide came up here."
“The way he’s thriving here, I hope he stays here after the race and keeps racing at Menangle.”
Magician has raced just 19 times for 11 wins, including his past four on end. He’s only been unplaced once and has already banked $167,073.
Magician’s presence in the TAB Eureka adds to the broad Australian flavour of the race where six states have direct involvement.
Victoria leads the way with five of the 10 runners trained in the state (Catch A Wave, The Lost Storm, Captain Ravishing, Encipher and Captain Hammerhead), while Queensland (Leap To Fame and Speak The Truth) and NSW (My Ultimate Ronnie and Ripp).
Magician is the Tasmanian representative, while the lone mare in the race, Encipher, is bred-and-owned in SA. The WA flavour comes through leviathan breeder Rob Watson and his Soho Standardbreds slot, which has been filled by My Ultimate Ronnie.
The barrier “reveal” for the TAB Eureka is at 9am tomorrow (Wednesday) at the Museum Of Contemporary Art in Sydney’s Circular Quay.
· Adam Hamilton is a paid contributor writing on harness racing for News Corp.
