| Eleven Eleven scored back-to-back Magic Millions wins on the Gold Coast with a determined performance in Saturday’s $1 million Pacific Fair Magic Millions Cup (1400m). |
Greg Hickman’s pin-up galloper jumped well from barrier five, settled handy to the speed and burst a length clear when jockey Nash Rawiller took an inside run at the top of the straight. The son of Fastnet Rock, who was purchased by Hickman for $230,000 at the 2018 Gold Coast Yearling Sale, staved off late challenges from wildcard runner Soxagon and Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott’s Discharged to claim victory by a head. It came 12 months after he ran second to Alligator Blood in the $2 million Magic Millions 3YO Guineas, after which he was elevated to first place when that horse returned a positive swab to a banned substance. Nash Rawiller, who won the Magic Millions Cup on Theseo in 2008, didn’t ride Eleven Eleven last year but he said he was nonetheless delighted to combine with Hickman for a lucrative win. “What they’ve done with this carnival is amazing, with the lead-up to it last week gives you a taste of what is to come and everyone gets an opportunity to enjoy the week and support racing,” Rawiller said. “He’s a lovely horse and he’s just won a million-dollar race, it’s brilliant. “Greg’s done a great job with him, it’s a shame he can’t be here but he’ll be rapt. “He can keep coming back for the next two or three years and pinching this great money.” Saturday’s win, which was the seventh of the four-year-old’s career, took Eleven Eleven’s earnings beyond $2.1 million. The progeny of Fastnet Rock have again proved popular at the 2021 Magic Millions Yearling Sale with 17 lots being offered through the ring so far including Lot 163, a colt from Coolmore Stud’s draft that was sold to David Ellis and Andrew Williams Bloodstock for $825,000 and Lot 245, a filly from Strawberry Hill Stud that was sold to Ciaron Maher Bloodstock for $800,000. |
