Lee Magorrian wins one, loses one
Apprentice Lee Magorrian has had mixed fortunes at Rosehill, riding two winners and missing out on the possibility of another.
Magorrian won Saturday’s Beanie For Brain Cancer (1400m) on Invinzabeel for his master Chris Waller, claiming his full three kilograms to bring the gelding’s weight to 58.5kg.
He had earlier weighed out for the following race in which he was to ride the Gary Portelli-trained Single Bullet but had done so without the girth cover.
When he re-weighed he was 0.6kg over Single Bullet’s 54kg and stewards told him he would not be allowed to take the mount.
Magorrian tried to argue that because he had already weighed out he should be allowed to ride.
That fell on deaf ears and premier Sydney apprentice Andrew Adkins was swiftly recruited to ride the Group Two winner, a $7.50 chance in the Mark Hughes Foundation Handicap (1100m).
Adkins is at the other end of the weight scale to Magorrian and claimed his full 1.5kg allowance and also needed a couple of pieces of lead to bring him up to 52.5kg.
But Single Bullet had a torrid time, suffering early interference from which he never recovered and finished last of the 10 runners, leaving his Magic Millions Guineas campaign up in the air.
“We’ll have to regroup,” Portelli said.
“We will have to have a look at things over the next couple of days.”
Magorrian could take solace from his win on Invinzabeel, who won a similar race up on the speed two weeks ago with Jason Collett aboard.
“It was tough win. Everything went well today,” Magorrian said.
“I had to be patient and made them do a bit of work to get across.
“It burnt those horses out a bit.”
Invinzabeel ($14) beat Voilier ($61) by half a length, with New Universe ($4.20) another half-head third.
Waller’s racing manager Charlie Duckworth said although Invinzabeel was racing well, next week’s Group Two Villiers Stakes (1600m) would not be an option.
“I think he gets found out at a stiff mile,” he said.
Magorrian ended the day on a high with victory on the Tim Martin-trained King Darci and was able to take his claim on the 59kg topweight.