Extraordinary debut from Magic Millions 2YO hopeful
They don’t often win like this. Rookie two-year-old filly Ardoyne Road missed the start from a wide barrier at Doomben, mustered explosive speed to circle the entire field and won the Sizzling Plate (1050m) by 3¼ lengths. In the process Tony Sears’ filly zoomed into Gold Coast Magic Millions 2YO Classic contention next month and gave the rider they call “Aussie Nozi” – Toowoomba based jockey Nozi Tomizawa – a deserved city win.
Bookmakers quickly wound the Magic Millions price of Ardoyne Road in from $101 to $26 after her remarkable debut.
Ardoyne Road ($17) should have been vulnerable in the Doomben straight but instead kept getting further ahead, beating second-placed Katy’s Daughter ($8) by 3 ¼ lengths with another short neck back to Veranes ($3.90fav) in third.
Ardoyne Road would have been entitled to run closer to last than first but she absolutely brained them.
Most were left gobsmacked by the arrogant manner of the win but Sears said he saw it coming.
“I know it sounds a bit bullish but I did expect that,” Sears said.
“She has been going unbelievably on the track at home.
“I brought Nozi down here to ride her because he has ridden her in all work.
“I told the owner we want to be running in the Magic Millions and we may have to put a different rider on, but we both wanted stay with Nozi.
“Nozi does a lot of work for my stable I can’t thank him enough, he is most probably the most loyal person besides my wife and children.
“He has been with me a long time and he deserves to win on a good horse like this.”
Japan-born Tomizawa, who has been riding for Sears for 15 years, believes the Top Echelon filly still has improvement.
“We were worried when we draw the carpark at Doomben, and I was real worried when she missed the start,” Tomizawa said.
“But she was still too good for them.
“She will keep improving as she was looking around at crowds and winning post.
“I have been riding this horse since she was a baby.
“I did her jumpouts and everything and when you do things together since when they are a baby it is very much appreciated when you ride her on raceday.”
Sears will monitor Ardoyne Road’s recovery closely over the next 24 hours, after the filly pulled up with some signs what was believed to be heat stress.
Ardoyne Road was a $70,000 purchase by Pinhook Bloodstock International & T J Sears Racing from the Magic Millions QTIS sale in 2017