THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN - WHEN SECOND PLACE TRANSLATES INTO A VERY BIG WIN

By Graham Potter | Sunday, January 21, 2018

Graham Potter writes a weekly column for the Sunshine Coast daily. Due to demand from those having trouble accessing the paper these columns are now also published on HRO courtesy of the Sunshine Coast daily.

You don’t have to win a big race to be a big winner and never has that fact been more in evidence than at the Magic Millions race-day.

Take the case of the leading Sunshine Coast trainer and the connections of the two year old colt Fullazaboot for example.

The team basically set Fullazaboot up early for a place in the $2 million Magic Millions 2yo Classic. A debut win and a second placing in the son of Sepoy’s two starts had given Kendrick some sort of freedom to prepare his charge in a relatively comfortable, measured manner.

While the likes of the unbeaten Jonker and Ef Troop and the smart Sunlight were gathering most of the media attention and the pressure that comes with that building expectation, Fullazaboot stayed under the radar, hardly gaining a mention.

Kendrick was keeping more of an eye on the other end of the order of entry scale as some horses were having one last throw at the dice in order to try and gain qualification into the event while others on the border line sat waiting for those results with more than a little bit of apprehension.

Again Fullazaboot didn’t feature anywhere in that coverage of the chase for the final places in the lineup ... and then the field was finalised and Kendrick and his team could just sit back and enjoy the build-up to their big day out.

In the meantime Fullazaboot's absence from almost all commentary meant that he was roundly abandoned by punters, getting out to a starting price of $101.

Fullazaboot avoided the worst of now well documented chaos that occurred at the head of affairs early in the running in the Classic but that was because he was well back in the running and he was still well out of the ground turning into the straight.

A initial shift out didn’t do the trick because Fullazaboot was still momentarily caught behind a wall of horses, but when Tye Angland stepped him wider into clear running he unleashed in no uncertain terms, racing past good horses to ultimately claim a rousing second place finish behind Sunlight.

If you looked at the connections in the number two stall you would have thought they had won the race. They had 370 000 reasons to celebrate ... that prize money for second place taking Fullazaboot’s earnings to $421 000 in just three starts. Not bad for a $90 000 purchase.

Who says you can’t win at racing.

You can ... and you don’t even have to win the race!

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