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Boomstress gets the right draw in make or break Magic Millions bid

2 January 2019

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By Glenn Davis

Trainer Darryl Hansen hopes it will be a case of de ja vu at the Gold Coast on Saturday when Queensland filly Boomstress attempts a last ditch bid to qualify for the $2 million Magic Millions Classic.

Boomstress jumps from barrier one in the QTIS Two-Year-Old Handicap (1100m) and is one of several runners trying to make the final 16-horse field for the Magic Millions Classic on Saturday week.

Hansen won the 2015 Magic Millions Classic with Le Chef who only qualified for the race after winning seven days earlier at the Gold Coast.

Last year’s Magic Millions winner Sunlight and Houtzen (2017) also won the race on a seven-day back up after winning at the Gold Coast the previous week.

Hansen hopes to repeat the feat with Boomstress after deciding to scratch her from the Group 3 Bruce McLachlan Stakes at Doomben last Saturday when she drew badly.

Hansen isn’t concerned about a seven-day back-up going into the Magic Millions Classic with Boomstress who is 25th in order of entry with $31,450 in prizemoney from her two starts.

She won a Maiden on debut at her home track at the Sunshine Coast on December 2 and was later runner-up to Rockhampton flyer Better Reflection in the Listed Calaway Gal Stakes at Doomben on December 15.

“She’s got a great barrier but she’s still got to win or run second to make the Magic Millions,” Hansen said.

“Le Chef backed up to win the Magic Millions but he was very tough whereas she’s lightly framed so it will be a lot tougher for her to back-up.”

If Boomstress qualifies and goes on to win the Magic Millions Classic, Hansen will join two illustrious Queensland trainers to have trained two or more Magic Millions Classic winners since the race was first won by Snippets in 1987.

The late Bruce McLachlan holds the record of successful Queensland trainers winning the Magic Millions three times with St Jude (1990), Our Fiction (2003) and Phelan Ready (2009) who he co-trained with son, Jason.

The late Eric Kirwan also trained two Magic Millions Classic winners with Sunblazer (1989) and Brave Warrior in 1994.

Sydney’s Gai Waterhouse holds the record of any trainer in the Magic Millions Classic winning it four times with Assertive Lad (2000), Excellerator (2001), Dance Hero (2004) and Driefontein (2012).

Racing Queensland webnews   January 2