CHANNEL SEVEN

QUEENSLAND DERBY

(GROUP 1)

VICTORIAN trainer Ciaron Maher has unearthed another Cup horse with the Domesday colt Ruthven franking his second in the South Australian Derby with a four-length win in Saturday’s Queensland Derby over 2,200 metres. It was the third Derby the homebred had competed in, having run fourth in the Australian Derby in April.

“It’s a big credit to the team to keep this horse up who’s run in three Derbys,” said Maher. “We opted to keep him racing because he’s a big, raw horse and needed to learn his craft. He’s got better with every start.”

Placed handy in fourth by Hugh Bowman, Ruthven moved up with 700 metres to run before applying his imprimatur on the race around the final bend, running to the line unchallenged. Second was the Darren Weir-trained Rebel Raider colt Rockstar Rebel, his stablemate Volatile Mix with Johnny Allen up finishing sixth, while third went the way of the Ciaron Maher-trained Anacheeva filly Ana Royale.

“Amazing win,” was the summation of Bowman. “He’s been known to sort of be a little immature, letting horses run past him, wanting to chase again but I just tried to keep his mind on the job and didn’t he deliver in flying style.”

Gold Coast sale

THE 2017 Magic Millions National Sale on the Gold Coast has concluded, setting a new high watermark to best last year’s gross by A$37 million, or 35%. “The National Sale has closed out with a gross of over $144 million, which all but equalled the gross from our record-breaking January Yearling Sale of $146 million and far surpassing the $107 million of the 2016 National Sale,” said Magic Millions managing director Vin Cox. “We started selling 15 days ago and everyone has played a significant part in what has been an outstanding couple of weeks on the Gold Coast.”

The sale closed out with Paul Perry topping the racehorses sale buying a Stratum filly for $100,000.

The previous two days saw Book 1 of the Magic Millions National Yearling Sale average $51,215 for 333 lots sold at a clearance rate of 75.3%.

The top lot went the way of George Moore who secured a More Then Ready colt for $380,000, just ahead of the top filly for the sale, a Fastnet Rock that made $350,000.