Tony Gollan can’t speak highly enough of the group of three-year-olds he currently has within his Eagle Farm stable and with a pair of winners in Magic Millions features on Saturday his fondness is, understandably, growing by the day.
Spiritualised won the $250,000 Magic Millions Rising Stars (1300m) for three and four-year-old colts and geldings while Latakia won the filles version over the same distance.
All being well, Brisbane’s premier trainer intends to back both up in the Magic Millions 3yo Guineas (1400m) this Saturday and while the step up in grade will be another test for them, for Spiritualised there is added interest in that success over that trip will heighten Gollan’s hopes of the colt being a genuine Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) chance in June instead of looking further south, for now.
“The money is too good in Queensland to pass up,” Gollan said of the state’s premier race worth $1.5 million in 2022.
“And I genuinely think this horse has the ability to raise himself to that level which makes Saturday’s run over 1400m even more of an exciting test.”
Post-race on Saturday, jockey James Orman noted that being able to get to the front early and backing off the pace midrace was key to the colt by Spirit Of Boom being able to ‘breath’.
“Once he gets there he’s able to relax underneath me,” Orman said.
“It is all about breathing and if he breaths, not much can beat him.”
Should similar conditions prevail again at the Gold Coast this week, Spiritualised’s further Magic Millions conquest sees Gollan aiming for the winter feature and then a look to either the Sydney or Melbourne spring carnivals.
“He’s shown that he’s versatile,” Gollan adds.
“We can run him anywhere between 1200 and 1400 metres and Group 1 races over those distances outside of Brisbane are within his grasp for now but it will depend what happens when he gets older whether that range narrows.
“The more he matures and learns to control himself means he has so much ahead of him. Time will tell.”
Spiritualised is rated an $11 chance for the $2 million 3yo Guineas with Russian Conquest the favourite at $5.
“We’ve got a lovely bunch of three-year-olds and they seem to be rolling off like a production line every couple of weeks and all sprinter-miler types.”
“It’s a really exciting time for the stable and we’ll see a lot of them travel interstate.”
Together with Golden Boom impressing in the last month and Antino winning four races from five starts, Golan described Latakia as “highly talented” with the filly also taking on the Guineas.
Currently a $15 chance, he reinforces that her ability shouldn’t be underestimated.
“The 1400 metres will suit her down to the ground,” he said.
“I know that she won that race and has also only won a maiden at Doomben but she’s a really talented filly.”
Spiritualised was purchased for $575,000 at the 2021 Magic Millions Gold Coast sale while Latakia, by Deep Field was a $520,000 buy.