Racing: Millennium more than ready to tackle wfa feature

By MIKE DILLON

It's a long way from minor 3-year-old class to weight-for-age, but if you saw Millennium win at Tauranga on Saturday you just know he's got the bridge to cover that gap.

You would be surprised if any of those who finished behind Millennium on Saturday made it through to weight-for-age class, as the closest of those was five and a half lengths behind and the winning margin could have been greater.

Millennium will probably be set for the weight-for-age $25,000 Foxbridge Plate at Te Rapa on August 11.

"There's actually not a hell of a lot around for him before then," said co-trainer Stephen McKee yesterday.

Millennium was taken to the Queensland winter carnival looking for the rain that has dogged that scene in recent years, but was brought undone by one of the driest winter patches in the past decade.

"He can handle firm tracks, but only for one or two runs then he starts to feel it," said McKee.

"He showed he could manage a good surface when he came from last to finish third to Butterscotch in the Sunline Stakes at Te Rapa."

There was no question Millennium was at home in the heavy stuff on Saturday.

He was doing threequarter pace under a hold by Peter Johnson when sharing the lead to the home turn then worked away to a long lead without being pushed.

The race was so easy on Millennium, McKee says the horse was in great shape yesterday morning.

"I know it's a fair step up to weight-for-age from what he met on Saturday, but mud's a good leveller and he should be up to a race like the Foxbridge Plate.

"There are a couple of similar races around like Wanganui before the gun horses in the spring get fit.

"Having said that, he's probably marginally better racing right-handed, although that Sunline Stakes run showed he's learning in that direction."

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You look Jim Campin straight in the eye and ask if he's serious.

He wouldn't really take the $20,000 winning stake for a maiden race with Revolution, unbeaten in three starts after Tauranga on Saturday - would he?

"I would so," said Campin.

Remarkably, Revolution, a coming star in the making, gets into a special condition maiden race at Trentham on Saturday week with only 57kg.

The race is for maidens on May 1 with penalties for each win, but escalating to 57kg for three wins looks a sweetheart deal for the dashing Cambridge galloper.

"We've actually won the Trentham race for the last two years, last year with Sharif," said Campin.

Revolution could seriously test the lowest win dividend of the last five years in the Trentham race.

He lost either his balance or his confidence, or both, on the home turn on Saturday, but balanced up again in the closing stages to win as easily as he had in his two previous races.

"He'll be even better when he gets up to a middle distance," predicts Campin.

"Even though he does things pretty professionally, he's still had only two trials and three races - he really knows nothing yet."

Campin is not sure where Revolution will head to after Trentham.

"We're taking the kids to Surfers for the school holidays after Trentham so he'll be having a race while we're away."

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Former New Zealand trainer Paddy Busuttin had his biggest win in racing in Singapore on Saturday night and is looking for an even bigger payday.

Busuttin won the $S800,000 Singapore Derby with former Kiwi galloper Bocelli, picking up an additional $S150,000 triple crown bonus.

His is now setting Bocelli for the second of Singapore's triple crowns, starting with the $S150,000 Raffles Cup in two weeks.

If Bocelli wins that then the $S150,000 Queen Elizabeth Cup in October and November's $S1 million Singapore Gold Cup, he picks up a $S1 million bonus.

"My long-term aim for him is to have him in the Hong Kong Cup in December," said Busuttin from Singapore last night.

Bocelli, formerly trained by Donna Logan, has long been considered the best young horse in Singapore.

He was ridden by Grant Cooksley on Saturday night and surprised Busuttin how far back in running he got.

"I hadn't planned on that, but he started to work into the race coming up to the home turn.

"He went past Malcolm Thwaites' horse Aristotle quickly and won pretty easily."

Bocelli is owned in New Zealand by his breeder, Whangarei's Dr John Sprague in partnership with Rod Nobilo of Hawkes Bay, with the third share belonging to Singapore's Terry Lee.