EF DEC 15 - SPARKLING DEBUT WIN PUTS SIR LUMINAR RIGHT IN THE MIX FOR THE MAGIC MILLIONS

By Graham Potter | Saturday, December 15, 2012

Eagle Farm, December 15, 2012.
Track - Good 3. Rail - True.
Phelan Ready Stakes (Listed - 2yo C & G) - 1000m.
1 SIR LUMINAR; 2 Sir Moments; 3 Londehero; 4 Eliminator.
Time: 57.14. (New Race Record - Beating the 57.64 set by Janzen in 2009).
Last 600: 33.81.
Margins: 1.30; 2.30.

SIR LUMINAR (2 ch c Choisir - Illuminar)
Owners: M G Nolan, D N Clark, R S Jewell, R S Lipovac & I L Booth.
Trainer: Michael Nolan. Breeder: Torryburn Stud.
The $60 000 purchase took home the $64 000 first prize on debut.

WINNER FEEDBACK:

TRAINER MICHAEL NOLAN: “It’s pretty exciting.

“We sort of knew he was pretty good, but that was only at home. We only trialled him in Toowoomba (where he won a trial by five lengths), so we weren’t totally sure coming down here because there were nice horses in this race.

“He has just always been a lovely horse to train from day one. He’s been in once before. We turned him out because he went shin-sore. We brought him back in and his shins have been good.

“He was a lovely yearling and he just developed into a lovely horse.

“His is big, but he is well balanced and he is strong.

“You know, he just jumps. He is a professional and he was that way out there today. I’m just happy that I bought him.

“We’ve always had the Magic Millions in mind. Now we’ve got the prize-money on board we are in it.

“I’d have to get Chris Munce’s view on the 1200 and that … but I’m pretty happy with what he has done already.

“He has done a bit of work to get to here, so I’m not certain if he’ll race again before the Millions or not. We’ll just see how he pulls up and then decide whether he runs one more time or whether that’s it for now. I’m not sure at the moment.”

JOCKEY CHRIS MUNCE: “He is a lovely horse. You can see he is a beautiful type and a very strong bloke. On top of all that he is beautifully educated.

“He’s done everything right today and you would have to think he is even going to improve on that effort again.

“As I’ve said he’s a big bloke, but he’s got it all together really well. He is really powerful which is a great attribute to have.

‘I’m excited for him more as a three-year-old than for what he has done here today. I think you’ll probably see the best of him as a three-year-old.”

PRICE FLUCTUATIONS:

Winner (Sir Luminar): 3.80 out to 4.60.
Favourite (Londehero): 1.80 in to 1.55 out to 1.70. Finished third.

STEWARDS REPORT EXTRACT:

Sir Moments (R. Wiggins) jumped away awkwardly and shifted out, bumping heavily with Aquator (P. Hammersley), resulting in jockey P. Hammersley, rider of Aquator, becoming unbalanced.

El Toranado (J. Byrne) jumped awkwardly and shifted out, bumping the hind quarters of Sir Moments (R. Wiggins) and losing ground. A short distance later, El Toranado had to be checked from the heels of Londehero (G. Colless), which shifted out

A short distance after the start, Valhalla Mist (A. Spinks) shifted in abruptly resulting in Always A Gibberer (D. Browne) having to be steadied to avoid that horse's heels.

Near the 800m, Aquator shifted out, taking Aldous (M. Cahill) out, resulting in Always A Gibberer having to be steadied from the heels of Aldous. When being steadied, Always A Gibberer shifted in abruptly and when corrected by its rider shifted out, inconveniencing El Toranado.

Aquator raced greenly rounding the home turn and raced wide on the track.

Sir Luminar (C. Munce) had a tendency to hang out for the entire race.

D. Browne reported that after receiving interference at the start, Always A Gibberer was reluctant to race and raced very greenly and on the home turn shifted out inconveniencing Aldous. Stable representative Mr B. Killian was advised that a warning would be placed on Always A Gibberer regarding its racing manners.

G. Colless reported at scale Londehero raced greenly in the straight and was disappointing in the run to the finish. A post-race veterinary examination of Londehero failed to reveal any significant abnormalities.

R. Wiggins, rider of Sir Moments, was fined $400 for using his whip more than 5 times prior to the 100m.

Sir Moments lost its off-fore plate in running.