Royal Entrance earns a Magic Millions 2YO spot after big win
Royal Entrance joins Platinum Jubilee for trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott in the order of entry of next weeks Magic Millions 2YO’s, race after a dominant win in Saturday’s Gold Nugget on the Gold Coast.
The Snitzel colt proved far too strong for his rivals in the $150,000 lead-up race, as jockey James McDonald took luck completely out of the equation with a superb front running effort on the starting favourite ($2.60).
It was a classy win from the two-year-old seeing him lead throughout leaving his rivals chasing a long way from home, with second placegetter Sonny Daze ($11) putting in a bold effort in behind the tempo, while the drifting second favourite Quasimoto ($5) to the eye was disappointing turning for home well back in the field.
This comes after the stable had back news for another runner, Novelist, that sadly suffered a setback leaving the Waterhouse and Bott stable now with two runners heading into next weekend.
It’s all honours the winner however, as Adrian Bott confirmed post-race that Royal Entrance will indeed do the one-week back up into the $2,000,000 feature next Saturday over the 1200m on the Gold Coast.
“It’s an important win for some important connections and we brought him up here thinking he could be the kind of colt that could do the back-up next week, so that’s the intention.” Said trainer Adrian Bott speaking post-race.
“He’s a lovely individual and just great to see the improvement today from his first-up run, he was a little bit raw on that occasion.”
“The main works done, we brought a fit horse here today, hopefully he comes through it well and in right order and we’ll press forward.”
“He’s beautifully proportioned and a lovely balanced horse you know, a nice athletic type, which is what we saw today.”
Jockey James McDonald found himself late to the track missing the first, but fortunately was available to ride Royal Entrance in the second race of the program.
“He’s a lovely horse, very professional as you’d expect from them (Waterhouse and Bott) and makes his own luck which helps, but he’s a high cruising speed sort of two-year-old.” Said James McDonald after steering Royal Entrance to victory.
When briefly discussing his mounts chance in next weekends feature McDonald was confident he’ll improve.
“He’s definitely come on, and he’ll come on again I’d say. He’s on track.”
After that performance in the Gold Nugget, online bookmakers have marked him an $11 chance, as Empire of Japan ($4.50) holds favouritism while stablemate Platinum Jubilee ($7) is on the third line of betting for the Magic Millions 2YO feature next Saturday.
2023 Gold Nugget Race Replay – Gold Coast: Race 2
Horse: Royal Entrance | Jockey: James McDonald | Trainer: Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott