Weight can sometimes stop a train, but Tony Gollan’s Better Than Ready gelding carried top weight to victory in Saturday’s $200,000 Listed BRC Magic Millions Falvelon (1200m) at Eagle Farm with the win securing the gelding automatic entry to the $1m Magic Millions Snippets (1200m) on January 17.
Disappointing when finishing last in this race 12 months prior as the short-priced favourite, Gollan saddled up four runners in this year's Favelon on Saturday and while his heart was with Hidden Wealth, he knew that the weight could prove problematic.
With 100/1 outsider Prince Of Boom going forward to take up the lead, jockey Ryan Maloney tracked the leader aboard Hidden Wealth.
With Vodka Martini taking on Prince Of Boom in the lead, Maloney was getting the perfect run in transit, and although Peter Snowden’s Fire Star pushed up along the rail to leave Maloney without a run, he was still in a challenging position.
As the field rounded the home bend and Prince Of Boom was starting to weaken, Fire Star went up along the inside to look a serious threat while Maloney had come to the outside to make his run.
The question was always going to be how would Hidden Wealth handle the weight, and it was answered in an instant as he went to the lead, and under hands and heels ridding, the gelding took the win, recording his third black type victory.
Fire Star showed he was ready to win with a fighting second while the former Godolphin trained Pereille, a stablemate of the winner worked home well to take third with favourite Payline finishing in fourth.
"The pressure kept coming and Ryan was able to tuck him in behind them," Gollan said.
"Then it was a matter of just presenting him and not letting his momentum stop which he was able to do.
"The horse has done a great job. He's gone from winning these races at 54-55kg to now carrying 60kg.
"It seemed like a job that was going to be too hard for him but the three weeks between runs and getting on a track with that little bit of juice in it has been ideal for him."
Disappointing last time out in the G3 George Moore Stakes when fourth as favourite, Gollan felt he was ready to show his best once again.
"I was really confident he could bounce back," Gollan said.
"He's a beautiful horse. I remember when we bought him as a yearling.
"He was in and out for years with all the mini trials and tribulations but I've liked this horse all the way along and when he started putting that winning record together, he became a horse we can be really proud of.
"We'll make our way to the Gold Coast now and chase some riches down there."
Taking his overall record to 11 wins and four placed efforts from 24 starts with earnings of $1,749,925, Hidden Wealth was a $110,000 purchase for Gollan Racing and John Foote Bloodstock from the Kynoch Thoroughbreds draft at the Magic Millions Gold Coast March Yearling Sale.
Bred by Ms JB Fraser and Don Loomis, Hidden Wealth is the best of three winners from three to the races out of the Bradbury's Luck mare Miss Stash.
One of 10 winners from 12 runners bred on the Better Than Ready x Bradbury's Luck nick, the win of Hidden Wealth secured an automatic entry to the $1m Magic Millions Snippets, and with the gelding being successful in last year’s $1.5m Magic Millions QTIS (1300m), which is run a week earlier in 2026, it will be interesting to see which way connections head.
One of 16 stakes winners for Lyndhurst Stud’s better Than Ready, whose stars include G1 winners Apache Chase and Lockroy, the stakes-winning son of More Than Ready stood this season at a fee of $27,500 (inc. GST) and will be represented by 35 yearlings at January’s Magic Millions yearling sale.
