James McDonald sharpened up for Saturday’s Magic Millions meeting with a pair of effortless wins at Randwick Kensington on Wednesday.
The 123-time Group 1-winning jockey claimed the opener aboard the John O’Shea and Tom Charlton-trained debutant Astronomix before producing an almost identical ride to salute on hot favourite Unleeshing for the Bjorn Baker stable.
Dropping back from a close third in Benchmark 78 grade, Unleeshing proved far too strong in the Myplates Benchmark 64 (1550m), starting a heavily backed $1.55 and never giving her rivals a look in.
McDonald settled the MyRacehorse-owned mare just off the speed, eased her into clear air approaching the turn and quickly put the race to bed, drawing away to score by four lengths over Shanoni ($14), with Kilkenny ($3.80) another length back in third.
As Bjorn Baker readies Magic Millions 2YO Classic favourite Warwoven, stable racing manager Luke Hilton was hopeful the win could spark a strong run of form for Unleeshing.
“It was an easy win,” Hilton said.
“She might even get a little bit further and hopefully she takes some confidence.”
For McDonald, it was a stress-free success, though with added interest given racing manager Mark Guest’s father holds a share in the mare.
“That was painless, she never felt like she was ever going to lose,” McDonald said.
“They just dawdled the first furlong and a half, and then obviously a little bit of pace got injected. We ended up in a good spot and away she went.”
“There’s about a million owners so I’m sure there’s uncles and sisters and brothers that are related to anyone in the horse!”
With McDonald locked in for a busy Magic Millions program, markets across leading Australian betting sites are already active for Saturday’s feature races.
McDonald has eight rides at the Gold Coast on Saturday, including Knightsbridge for Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott in the Magic Millions 2YO Classic and Memo for Peter Snowden in the Magic Millions 3YO Guineas.
The post Bjorn Baker mare unleeshes to give James McDonald soft double first appeared on Just Horse Racing.