Champion reinsman Chris Lewis holds the record of four winners in the 40-year history of the prestigious Retravision Golden Nugget Championship and he is upbeat about his prospects in the $200,000 Group 1 classic for four-year-olds at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Lewis will drive former Victorian performer Mirragon, who will be making his first appearance at Gloucester Park after scoring an impressive victory in moderate company at his West Australian debut at Pinjarra on Monday afternoon.
Mirragon, trained by Lewis’s wife Debra, has drawn favourably at the No. 2 barrier on the front line in the 2536m event and the phlegmatic master reinsman, noted for his conservative predictions, gave a strong indication of his confidence when he declared that Mirragon was capable of a bold showing.
“He has gone around at Pinjarra pretty nicely and he could definitely measure up,” he said. “It’s nice to get a decent barrier, particularly with the favourite (Magnificent Storm) drawn nine. Whether that will stop him remains to be seen; he’s a very good horse.”
Lewis did not bustle Mirragon from barrier five at Pinjarra and the son of Art Major settled down in last place in the field of eleven. He was tenth at the bell, seven length from the leader, before starting a three-wide move at the 800m, bursting to the front with 400m to travel and going on to win by more than four lengths at a 1.56.5 rate over 2185m. He sprinted over the final 800m in 56.8sec.
This was Mirragon’s first start since he finished seventh behind Pacifico Dream in the group 1 Vicbred Sires Series classic for three-year-old colts and geldings at Melton on December 31.
He gave an early indication of his class for trainer Emma Stewart when, at his fourth outing, he scored an easy victory over Withoutthetuh in the group 2 Vicbred Classic for two-year-old colts and geldings over 1720m at a 1.57 rate at Melton in May 2019.
Four starts after that Mirragon raced in the breeze before finishing second to Yejele Hammer in the 2240m group 1 Vicbred Super Series at Melton. He has raced 34 times for eight wins, seven seconds and three thirds.
“I didn’t attempt to use his gate speed at Pinjarra,” Lewis explained. “He has shown gate speed over east, and we will have options at the start on Friday night. He has been at our place for about six weeks and had a little time off after travelling by float from Victoria. He is a very relaxed little stallion.”
Mirragon has led and won at Melton, but most of his wins have been when he has produced a strong finishing burst.
For the record, Lewis has won the Golden Nugget with Vero Prince (1987), Flashing Star (1994), Saab (1998) and Dasher VC (2010).
Astute Henley Brook trainer Mike Reed will be seeking his third training Nugget success, and he will be looking for an all-the-way win with Power And Grace, who will be driven by Michael Grantham from the prized No. 1 barrier. Power And Grace, the winner of nine races, impressed two starts ago when he trailed the pacemaker Al Guerrero before finishing solidly to be second to Magnificent Storm in the 2130m Four-Year-Old Championship.
Reed has won the Nugget with the pacemaker Tricky Vic in 2002 and Libertybelle Midfrew, who started from barrier nine, raced in the one-out, one-back position, took the lead 475m from home and defeated the fast-finishing Waylade in 2014.
Despite drawing the outside barrier (No. 9), Magnificent Storm is sure to take a power of beating and extending his winning sequence to 13. Reinsman Aldo Cortopassi was philosophical when he learnt that the rising superstar had drawn the outside, saying: “It’s what it is. Someone had to draw there and unfortunately, it’s us.
“There’s a lot of speed to our inside, so there may be a spot for us to fall into early. We’ve got a fair few strings to our bow, so it’s not that we’re a one-trick pony.
“We’ll come out and find a spot, and if they’re walking, we will be off early. And if they’re running, we will have to come late. It’s going to be up to the leaders; if they want to go slow, I’ll be right up there beside them. If they are rolling, they are going to make me chase them.
“I’m looking forward to Friday, and this will be another test for Magnificent Storm. Winning the Nugget is on the bucket list, and we’ll see if we can tick it off this week. My only realistic chance of winning the Nugget was in 2008 when Total Defiance started from the inside of the back line. But the one horse (Can Return Fire) galloped on release and put us out of the race. Hopefully, we will have better luck this week.”
Rob Tomlinson, the major part-owner of Magnificent Storm, and the pacer’s trainer Ray Williams are particularly anxious to win the big race for the first time after they had celebrated prematurely in December 2005 when 2/1 favourite Precious Dylan set the pace from barrier two and turned for home with a big lead.
Precious Dylan was owned by Tomlinson and trained and driven by Williams’s son Grant. “For about five seconds I thought we had won in 2005 when Grant waved the whip,” Tomlinson said. “But Gee Whiz Fizz (driven by Ryan Warwick) flew down the extreme outside and got us to win by a nose.
“Only good horses win Nuggets, and hopefully Magnificent Storm can win.”
Ray Williams said that he was hoping that Magnificent Storm could maintain his winning form and help to erase the disappointment of 2005.
“The Nugget is a race which means a lot to us, to the family and to Robbie’s family,” he said. “We thought we had won with Precious Dylan, but he hadn’t. We celebrated when he was a couple of lengths clear of the rest of the field and when it was announced that there would be a photo we didn’t realise that Ryan had come down the outside with Gee Whiz Fizz.
“I don’t think that Grant was able to talk about the race for about three years.”
Warwick will be seeking his third Nugget victory after scoring with Gee Whiz Fizz and the Greg and Skye Bond-trained Ana Malak in 2018. He will handle the brilliant Patronus Star, the winner at 11 of his 20 starts who will begin from the No. 6 barrier. His nine wins from his past 13 starts include the 2019 WA Derby.
Patronus Star hasn’t enjoyed much luck in recent starts and is capable of a bold showing. He is one of four runners from the powerful Bond stable, the other being See Ya Write (Deni Roberts), Howard Hughes (Dylan Egerton-Green) and Minstrel (Colin Brown).
Champion trainer Gary Hall Snr drove the Des Parr-trained Valley Champ to victory in the 1993 Nugget and prepared The Gold Ace (2011) and Beaudiene Boaz (2015). He will be represented by Silent Major (outside of the back line) and Copy N Pace (inside of the back line).
Copy N Pace will be driven by Stuart McDonald and should enjoy an ideal passage behind the likely pacemaker Power And Grace. Gary Hall Jnr will drive the New Zealand-bred and former Victorian performer Silent Major, who made a god WA debut when he enjoyed the one-out, one-back trail before finishing strongly to win comfortably from Our Burling and Millwood Gucci over 2185m at Pinjarra four Mondays ago.
“He hasn’t had the ideal preparation since coming over by road from Victoria,” said Hall. “We haven’t had him for long, but he did a pretty good job at Pinjarra under the circumstances. And he has improved since that run.
“I’m happy with the draw. He probably hasn’t had the racing to use him out of the gate, and he hasn’t got great gate speed anyway. It should be a truly-run 2500m and that will suit Silent Major. It’s a hard race to line them all up and I’m hoping he can finish in the top five.”
