By Glenn Davis
Sydney visitor Pierata staked his claim for next month’s $2 million Magic Millions Guineas at the Gold Coast with a dominant victory in the Winning Rupert Plate at Doomben on Saturday.
Ridden by Melbourne Cup winning jockey Corey Brown, Pierata had little trouble disposing of his opposition to score by 2-3/4 lengths win over local hope Bring It Home Pop in the 1200-metre feature.
Eisemann was third, a further three-quarters of a length asway.
Warwick Farm trainer Greg Hickman pulled a master stroke by removing blinkers from Pierata for the first time in his comeback appearance.
Pierata was a $160,000 buy at the Magic Millions sales and has now earned more than $128,000 with two wins from five starts.
A son of multiple Group 1 winning sire, Pierro, Pierata was having his first start since finishing seventh in the Group 1 J J Atkins at Doomben in June during the Brisbane winter carnival.
The colt went into the Winning Rupert with two barrier trials under his belt including an easy five length win at Randwick last month.
Pierata will now chase the Summer Crown series including the Listed Gold Edition Stakes on December 16 and Group 3 Vo Rogue Plate at Doombgen on December 30 before the Magic Millions Guineas.
A $500,00 bonus is up for grabs if Pierata can win three of the five-race series.
“He’s not there yet but I think he’s a very smart horse,” Hickman said.
“He trialled very well before coming up here and we were very confident.”
Earlier a superb ride from Michael Cahill put My Giuliano on course for next month’s $1 million Magic Millions Trophy at the Gold Coast with a narrow win in the Hamilton Hotel Benchmark 90 Handicap (2200m).
My Giuliano was with the tailenders nearing the home turn before Cahill grabbed a rails run to down stablemate The Rumour Mill by a long neck.,
Anton En Avant was third, a further three-quarters of a length away.
It was My Giuliano’s third win in a row since coming from Sydney and continued the great run enjoyed by leading trainer Chris Waller since opening his Gold Coast satellite stable in August
Waller’s Gold Coast stable foreman Paul Shailer said the Magic Millions Trophy (2200m) on January 13 looked an ideal race for the five-year-old.
Racing Queensland webnews Dec 2