Eagle Farm ballot against interstate 2YOs
Tony McEvoy is reconsidering his support for the early part of the Brisbane summer carnival after his plans to qualify horses for the Magic Millions carnival were again stymied.
McEvoy accepted with King And King and Lopez in the $125,000 QTIS Two-Year-Old (1000m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday.
They were both made emergencies when the field was declared on Wednesday.
Under safety rules only 10 horses can run from the 1000m start in two-year-old races at Eagle Farm.
Racing Queensland had said it would consider splitting the race if there were sufficient acceptances.
When 16 horses accepted they declared a field of 10 with six emergencies.
McEvoy said he would seriously have to rethink his method of qualifying horses for the Magic Millions carnival.
He said it had now happened to him in the past three years including with eventual 2YO Classic winner Sunlight in 2018.
“I mean what do I tell my owners. They have paid to fly the horses to Queensland on the understanding they would get a chance to qualify for the Millions,” he said.
“They could have run two divisions of eight which is each-way betting. We like to support the Queensland carnivals and we aren’t asking much other than a chance to run in their races.
“It is not as if this hasn’t happened before.”
McEvoy said to make matters worse the Listed Phelan Ready had four starters and the Listed Calaway Gal had eight runners at Doomben on Wednesday.
“I would have had runners in them but our plane flights were cancelled last week so we couldn’t get here until last night (Tuesday),” he said.
Lopez and King And King are now likely to head to the Gold Coast for a two-year-old on Saturday.