WARRNAMBOOL trainer Matthew Williams hopes a $5000 investment on the back of an $80,000 gamble will reap a big financial windfall.
Williams encouraged former Warrnambool identity Darren Dance, who heads up Australian Thoroughbred Bloodstock, to bid $80,000 on a yearling colt by Northern Meteor out of Ballet d’Amour at the 2012 Magic Millions yearling sale on the Gold Coast in January.
Dance parted with an extra $5000 to allow the colt, now called Ticket To Toorak, to be eligible for some of Australia’s richest two-year-old races.
Among those is the $2 million Magic Millions two-year-old classic on the Gold Coast on January 12 next year.
On the back of good track work at Warrnambool, Williams will enter Ticket To Toorak in the inaugural $200,000 Clockwise Classic for two-year-olds at Ballarat on November 25.
The 1000-metre dash for juveniles will be the first time a race is run clockwise in Victoria for more than 60 years.
Racing Victoria ticked off the proposal by Magic Millions for the race after two successful clockwise trials at Ballarat in May.
Williams said he was impressed by the colt the first time he saw him.
“He’s a very athletic colt. I liked him the first time I saw him,” he said.
“Darren has got a lot of Warrnambool people involved in the ownership of the horse.
“We’ve done a bit of track work going the reverse way on the artificial track at Warrnambool. He seems to handle going the other way all right.
“We’ll give him about five or six gallops going in the clockwise direction at Warrnambool over the next few weeks before trialling him at Ballarat and then racing him on November 25.”
Williams said he was confident that Victorian and interstate trainers who had purchased yearlings at the Magic Millions yearling sales would take advantage of the inaugural $200,000 race on Ballarat Cup day.
“It’s been a clever move by the Magic Millions people to put on the race at Ballarat,” he said. “A lot of Victoria trainers purchased yearlings at the sales and I think they may have paid the extra $5000, which makes them eligible for the Ballarat race.
“I’m sure the race will create a lot of interest as they run in the opposite direction to the way we run in Victoria.
“The prizemoney is great. It would be great for the owners if the horse was competitive at Ballarat.
“And then we might be able to run him in the $2 million race on the Gold Coast in January.”