The evolving Magic Millions order of entry is uppermost in the mind of Kelly Schweida as he plots a path towards the Gold Coast with Miss Hipstar.
The giant filly toyed with her rivals to win an 800 metre two-year-old race at Ipswich last Friday and bank first prize money of $16,800, taking her overall tally to $59,500.
Her victory slightly improved her ranking to 13th on the all-important order of entry, which is based on prize money earnings, for the $2 million Magic Millions Classic (1200m) at the Gold Coast on January 16 but still does not guarantee her a start.
There remains the possibility of other contenders leap-frogging Miss Hipstar by winning lead-up races this weekend and again the following week.
With that in mind, Schweida has a back-up plan in mind if he feels Miss Hipstar needs to earn more prize money to lock in a spot.
“If she did run again it would be the week before the Millions in the Gold Pearl for fillies,” Schweida said.
“It’s not a bad pattern. I think four of the last six backed up from that week to win the Millions.
“It just depends on what catapults us in the order of entry. There’d be a few that would fall out I suppose.”
In 2015, Le Chef started the trend of Magic Millions winners backing up successfully after scoring at the Gold Coast seven days earlier.
Houtzen (2017) was followed in the following two years by Sunlight and Exhilarates to complete the double while Real Surreal (2013) won the Millions seven days after scoring at Eagle Farm.
The ease of Miss Hipstar’s Ipswich win impressed Schweida.
“She’s got quite a lot of speed for a big unit and once she found the fence I thought it would take a pretty slick one to get past her,” he said.
“You don’t normally win 800 metre races by big spaces but she did what we wanted her to do and makes things a bit easier going forward to the Magic Millions.
“She’s such a laid-back filly. That’s her biggest attribute.”