Off the back of some consistent form, the multiple stakes placed Magnus gelding Magnaspin broke through for his first black type victory, winning the Listed MRC Victoria Gold Cup (2000m) and taking his earnings past $1m for Bennett Racing.
In the small seven horse field, the 6yo gelding was on the fourth line of betting with the Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young trained Immediacy jumping the race favourite.
From the middle of the line, jockey Ben Allen jumped the Leon & Troy Corstens & Will Larkin trained Magnaspin better than anything before settling in third on the rail after with Saganti going forward to lead with fellow Bennett Racing owned gelding Night Endeavour (FR) coming across from the outside gate to settle in second.
As Saganti stepped up the pace at the 800m mark and Night Endeavour started to struggle, Allen continued on his forward path until just before the home turn when he came off the heels of the leader to make his run.
Coming from back in the pack, the Jamie Melham ridden Taken and the race favourite Immediacy both looked as if they were going to make the race interesting, but alas their challenges was over as qucikly as it started.
Although it took Magnaspin a while to get the better of Saganti, once he did, he pulled clear to win buy three parts of a length with the Waikato Stud colour bearer Sun Gift (NZ) charging late under Craig Williams to finish in second, just ahead of Saganti.
Co-trainer Will Larkin represented the stable post-race
“I was a little bit nervous when they crossed him,” said Larkin. “I thought, 'Oh no, does he need to be in front?' But he was always travelling, before this preparation Caulfield’s been a bit of a bogey track for him and now, he’s got three here. It just goes to show, he’s an older gelding and he’s still learning. He was very good.”
“He definitely is tough. It's definitely his asset.
“He just knows how to try, whatever race you're putting him in, whether it’s against really good opposition or slightly inferior he just tries his heart out.”
“When you’ve got these races that don't have much pace in them, you're always a little bit hesitant about what other horses are going to want to do.
“We thought we were going to be the natural leader, but I thought Jamie's would be, if anything, was going to take us on a little bit there. So, I just said, if they want to go lickety split early just leave them alone."
Having not ridden the gelding for some time, Allen was pleased to get the win for the stable who have supported him strongly.
“The plan was to begin and lead but there was just a bit more pressure today so took the drop, quietly confident that Beau’s would take me far enough.
“Probably got into the race a little bit early but I wasn’t sure how much Jamie’s one had left so I wanted to get on my bike a little bit early. I was regretting that a bit when I was in battle with Mertens the whole way.
“It’s good to be able to repay them (the stable) and it’s good to get another winner for this syndication.
“They do a great job picking their horses, the team have done a good job getting this horse firing because I think last time I rode him at Warrnambool I was thinking ‘just retire him’ and that’s why you don’t listen to jockeys.”
Taking his overall record to eight wins and 11 placed efforts from 41 starts, Magnaspin’s prizemoney haul of $1,089,200 is a great return on the $60,000 Bennett Racing parted ways with to secure him from the Inglis Premier yearling sale draft of Maluka Thoroughbreds.
Having originally been passed in when offered as a weanling at the Inglis Great Southern Sale as part of the Moorookyle Park, the J A & J M Anderson Pty Ltd-bred Magnaspin is the best of two winners out of the Hard Spun mare Luxaspin, a half-sister to Magnapal and to the dam of Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner Le Chef.
Luxaspin, who is also a half-sister to the dam of Griffith Racing’s $2m earner and dual G2 winner Rey Magnerio, foaled a full brother to Magnaspin in November 2023, but has not been served since.
Passing away in September 2023, Magnus is now the sire of 34 stakes winners headed by four individual G1 winners and will be represented l;ater today by last start G2-winning filly Streisand in the $2m G1 MRC Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m).
