PRIVATE HARRY MAKES A VERY PUBLIC STATEMENT

By Graham Potter | Saturday, January 4, 2025

Four wins from four starts … you can’t ask for anything more than that, and when Private Harry’s latest win came in emphatic fashion in the $3 million TAB Magic Millions Sunlight Three-Year-old Plate … well, it doesn’t get much better than that.

Never mind that it was a slot race. The $1.2 million first prize is a huge and well-deserved win for trainer Nathan Doyle and Private Harry’s large ownership group.

Adding more credit to the win was that Private Harry beat Lady Of Camelot, the Golden Slipper winner and the horse who finished fourth in the latest edition of The Everest, by a clearcut 2.43 lengths when carrying 2kg more than the Waterhouse and Bott trained filly.

Private Harry had three official trials between March 2024 and October 2024 … winning every one of them … but Doyle only gave the Harry Angel colt his first taste of race action at Newcastle in a 900m dash on November 2, 2024 … an assignment which saw him claim a victory on debut by a more than comfortable 3.44 lengths in Maiden company.

On the back of hid unblemished trial form, Private Harry started at the restrictive odds of $1,55 on debut, and then he was at an even shorter price of $1,40 when he made it back-to-back wins nineteen days later when demolishing a BM64 Handicap over 1100m at Hawkesbury, romping in by no less than 7.00 lengths.

Ash Morgan was in the saddle on both of those occasions and that winning combination continued to carry all before them when completing a hat trick of wins in his first Sydney outing, winning a Three-Year-Old Handicap over 1200m at Randwick by 1.20 lengths, this time at a starting price of $2.10.

Then it was on to the big one at the Sunshine Coast … the $3 million Magic Millions Sunlight slot race … and the rest, as they say, is history as the $5 odds about his chances proved to be very generous as Private Harry runner-stamped his superior ability in no uncertain terms.

If there was any doubt beforehand, that washed away when the Sunlight field accelerated down the home straight at the Sunshine Coast.

Nathan Doyle, Ash Morgan and, last but not least, Private Harry have now truly arrived as a force to be reckoned with!

More articles