3 minute read
Mark Newnham will need a high attrition rate if Selhurst Park is to use the Magic Millions Wyong 2YO Classic as a launch pad to the Gold Coast carnival.
Twelve months ago Mark Newnham saddled up favourite Every Rose in the Wyong Magic Millions 2YO Classic, only to be upstaged by subsequent Golden Slipper winner Farnan.
He was hoping to get the chance to go one better with Selhurst Park on Wednesday but the colt has been made an emergency for the $200,000 race.
Newnham will have to rely on a high attrition rate for Selhurst Park to sneak into the 14-horse race, which has attracted a capacity line up plus five reserves.
By Not A Single Doubt, Selhurst Park is a granddaughter of 2009 Villiers Stakes winner Palacio De Cristal and fetched $325,000 at the yearling sales.
He was bred by Baramul Stud whose owner Gerry Harvey has retained a share.
Selhurst Park won his first trial at Randwick and finished runner-up to Swift Witness at Rosehill in his latest appearance.
Newnham says he is a readymade two-year-old.
"He's a really nice Not A Single Doubt colt. He's just a natural. He hits the ground running and does everything right," Newnham said.
"He's an ideal early two-year-old."
The Wyong race is a lead up to the $2 million Magic Millions Classic (1200m) at the Gold Coast on January 16 and Newnham is hoping to head that way with Selhurst Park.
Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott will chase their third successive Wyong Classic crown with debutante Swift Witness, a daughter of Star Witness who is unbeaten in two trials.
The in-form juvenile stable of Ciaron Maher and David Eustace will also be represented by first starter Snide.
Placed in a recent barrier trial, Snide will be out to continue the training partners' outstanding start to the two-year-old season which has already included a handful of feature race wins, most recently with Acrobat in Saturday's Inglis Nursery at Randwick.
Annabel Neasham decided against paying up for Ghostwriter and will take a different path to the Magic Millions Classic at the Gold Coast.
A winner on debut at Doomben, Ghostwriter has been freshened since he finished sixth to Sneaky Five in the Golden Gift.
"I nominated him for the Wyong race but he will most likely trial on Tuesday then run in the B J McLachlan Stakes on Boxing Day, then into the Magic Millions," Neasham said.
The Magic Millions Wyong 3YO and 4YO Stakes (1200m) has attracted a quality field of nine led by Peter and Paul Snowden's emerging colt Barbaric and Magic Millions Guineas winner Eleven Eleven.
