Sanderson eager for homecoming magic

By Jordan Gerrans

A few home-cooked meals back where he cut his teeth in the industry has trainer Shane Sanderson primed for an assault on Saturday evening’s rich Protostar with promising juvenile Atua Magic.

The 47-year-old horseman calls country Victoria home these days after a stint training at Menangle in New South Wales, as well.

It all started at ‘The Triangle’ for the Group 1-winning conditioner.

He has been back to where his passion for the sport commenced over the last fortnight ahead of the prized race for two-year-olds during the Queensland Constellations.

Sanderson’s family was not involved in the code when he was a young fella, but he got his taste for the game by hanging around the famous Knight street complex.

That is where he has based emerging colt Atua Magic since he lobbed in the Sunshine State.

“It is a bit of a trip down memory lane and I am glad to be back,” he said on Monday morning at the Peninsula club.

“It is great to spend time with my parents as this is where it all started for me. 

“I’d get down to the Redcliffe trots on Friday night then eventually found my way up to the stables. I started helping out and learning what I could.

“The conditions to work horses here are really good, I cannot complain.”

Sanderson has several black-type victories on his resume, but his lone Group 1 triumph occurred in a juvenile event.  

He prepared Maywyn Jasper to claim the three-year-old boys division of the APG series back in 2010 at Menangle. 

Fast forward to 2025 and while Saturday’s contest is for the two-year-olds, Atua Magic’s Protostar bid is similar to that of Maywyn Jasper all those years ago. 

Maywyn Jasper won at $25 on that occasion and Atua Magic is also likely to start as an outsider in the market on Saturday evening in the $500,000 race.

Atua Magic drew the four alley at Monday’s barrier draw which Sanderson says he is pleased with as he is likely to follow Pure Grunt into the race, who is drawn in the three.

Atua Magic was unbeaten in his first two Victorian starts which confirmed his ticket to the Sunshine State.

“I am really happy with him,” Sanderson said.

“He has done everything we have asked of him and he has come through those two runs really well.

“As he is a Bettors Delight, he should only improve, we hope.

“It is going to be very tough in the Protostar, last year in the first running they went super quick time and you look at this year’s field, there is lots of horses from the powerful stables such as Emma Stewart and Grant Dixon.

“They are always very hard to beat so it will be a very tough ask.”

The Grant Dixon-trained Fate Awaits won the inaugural running of the $500,000 Protostar at Albion Park in 2024. 

After those two Victorian debut efforts, Sanderson was keen for his colt to have a hit-out before his ‘grand final’ and he finished fifth in the Group 3 Wayne Wilson Memorial Paleface Adios Classic on Saturday over a mile.

Atua Magic worked into the race late but did not figure in the finish.

“He had only had the two race starts before Saturday and he was almost a month between runs,” he said.

“We have had a few little setbacks with him so we thought we would use that race as a springboard into the Protostar.”

The Victorian visitor will race in the Willowood Farm slot in the second edition of the Protostar.

The Sanderson family operate Willowood Farm in regional Victoria alongside Paul and Daniel Lowry who also own shares in Atua Magic.

Willowood Farms specialises in the spelling, agistment, conditioning and rehabilitation of equine athletes, providing personalised care for thoroughbreds, standardbreds and equestrian horses.

“We have formed a good partnership together,” Sanderson said of their dealings with the Lowrys. 

“We decided to purchase the property a little over a year ago and we race horses together while going into business together.”

Atua Magic has been described as a colt with prestigious breeding as he is by Bettors Delight out of Double Twist.

Double Twist is a mare from the same family as champion King Of Swing.  

Purchased across the ditch in 2024, a race such as the Protostar has been a long-term goal for the stable. 

“We bought him last year in New Zealand and therefore he is not eligible for too many of the feature races here,” he said.

“We decided to put our hat in the ring to try and get a slot for the Protostar and if he was good enough, we would put him in.

“It has been on the radar for quite a while.

“Our breaker always had a good opinion of this horse and the more I got to do with him, the more I liked him.

“I thought he was going to be quite a nice horse.”

Sanderson also had Gotta Hav Me race at Albion Park on Friday of last week where the mare ran second. 

Gotta Hav Me has since transferred to the barn of Colin Godden. 

Sanderson’s two children are drivers with son Ryan in the bike in the Protostar while daughter Abby drove the colt at his last start.