Will Lucky Magic’s good fortunes continue in the RM300,000 NZB Ready To Run Sale Championship (1400m) at Sungai Besi on Sunday?

No doubt the son of Mendelssohn – bought by his trainer Winson Cheng Han Yong for NZ$75,000 Ready To Run Sale three years ago – is super-talented galloper, there is also no denying that he has been very lucky in his last two runs.

In the RM1mil Selangor Mile (1600m) in July, Good Star just failed to run him down by a neck after getting into a lot of trouble in the home straight.

Following that, in the Selangor Gold Cup (1600m) last month, his potentially closest challengers – Platinum Emperor, Good Star and Valois – lost their riders halfway in the Malaysia Group 1 event. Lucky Magic avoided serious interefences to run down the two front-running horses.

Lucky Magic  won that race to bring his record to to nine wins and two seconds in 12 starts, victories that included the Penang Gold Cup (2000m) last December and the Perak Derby (2000m) back in March.

Fortunate or not in this recent two runs, Lucky Magic will be the horse to beat come Sunday. 

Platinum Emperor  (recuperating), Good Star and Valois (both not eligible) are not in the line-up on Sunday, nor are Berry Bliss and Pacific Warrior, who unexpectedly finished in the placings in the Selangor Gold Cup after avoiding the troubles behind them by racing in front.

It now seems that we are left with Antipodean, fourth in the Selangor Gold Cup, to provide Lucky Magic with the stiffest test in the Championship this Sunday.

Antipodean  was inconvenienced when horses in front lost their riders in the Selangor Gold Cup but nevertheless battled on to finish on the podium. He is, of course, better than that.

Antipodean, 11-time winner in 16 starts in the country, also finished third to Lucky Magic in the Selangor Mile when Antipodean gave away 3kgs in the weights.

Antipodean now meets Lucky Magic on 2kgs better terms compared with their last run. Owner Yee Kin Kong has called up Bernardo Pinheiro, who is in the Middle East, to ride the Derryn galloper who was purchased by his trainer Simon Dunderdale for a modest NZ$23,000 at the 2022 Ready To Run sale.

Antipodean and Lucky Magic are perhaps the two best 'adverts' for this year's New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale coming up on Nov 12 and 13. The sale's Breeze Up will take place at Rapa racecourse next Monday and Tuesday.

Joining Antipodean and Lucky Magic in the line-up on Sunday will be fellow 2022 sale graduates Graphjet Express, Navy Seals and Red Dragonfly.

Graphjet Express , also trained by Cheng, has won four times in 12 starts, including the Selangor Silver (1300m) on Selangor Mile day.

Interestingly, the Belardo gelding has never clashed with Lucky Magic but was second to Antipodean in the New Zealand Bloodstock 3YO Trophy (1400m) in July last year.

Navy Seals, a three-time winner in Class 5 in Singapore, has picked up four wins in 13 starts in the country and comes into the race on the back of two consecutives wins in Class 4. He will need to show a lot more to pose a threat in this company.

Red Dragonfly  came over from Singapore as a maiden, started his campaign in Class 5 but caught the imagination of local racing fans by winning his first five starts in the country. The Rubick gelding picked up his sixth win – his second in Class 4 – back in April.

His best effort in four starts since was a third to Navy Seals last month. Prior to that he was placed sixth in the Selangor Mile.

Duma heads the "class of 2023" which include Rocky Bhai, Trees Of Valinor, Campionessa, Rocky Pegasus and Singha Bay in the race on Sunday.

These classmates have met one another several times in the course of the last few months with differing results but Duma, winner of four of 11 runs, is the highest rated at 67 points.

Duma beat Trees Of Valinor twice prior but ran a disappointing fifth to the latter in the 3YO Mile Championship in June which was also particpated by Rocky Bhai (second), Rocky Pegasus (third) and Campionessa (sixth).

In the 3YO Sprint Championship in early June, Duma finished second to Elite Prince, ahead of Campionessa (fourth), Rocky Bhai (sixth) and Rocky Pegasus (ninth).

Banker's Princess, bought at the Ready To Run Sale last year, made a winning debut when accounting for a Restricted Maiden race over 1200m a month ago. She is the only three-year-old in the race.

Also throwing their hats in the ring are seven-year-olds Arigato and Kong Fu Panda.

Arigato, a NZ$150,000 at the 2020 Ready To Run Sale, won nine races in two seasons in Macau and was an early success in Malaysia, winning his second start in Supreme A last December.

But the son of Charm Spirit failed to find his right form again until very recently with back-to-back wins in Ipoh – after overcoming a lung infection. His last two wins might not be much but his past credentials cannot be ignored.

Kong Fu Panda has raced and won at the highest level in the country, winning the Perak Gold Vase (1100m) last year, followed by a third to Circuit Mission in the Penang Sprint Trophy (1400m). But he has been unplaced since and really need to pick up to stand any chance on Sunday.