Magician, who was recently announced as a top three finalist for the 2024 Tasmanian Horse Of The Year award, will make his race track return in Launceston on Sunday night.
Magician returned to the Todd Rattray stable earlier in the year after being in the care of Todd’s brother James during a New South Wales campaign, where he did contest heats of the Inter Dominion before his break.
“He had a spell in New South Wales and then came down here to continue it.
“He was a bit disappointing up there (in NSW) last preparation. A few things went wrong with him, and that’s why he had some time off, but everything appears okay at the moment,” said Todd.
Magician’s race track return is in the sixth race on Sunday, a mobile start free-for-all over 2200m, where he has drawn inside of the second row.
“He is going okay at home. He is still a funny horse to do anything with, but his work has been good. But he probably needs a few runs to get him up and going again. He is that sort of horse.
“It’s going to be a hard race on Sunday, and he has drawn inside the second row, which is not handy, but we will just see how he goes.
“The Tassie Cup is our aim, and we wanted to get a run or two in before that race.
“He is not the easiest horse to handle and can be a temperamental horse that does need those runs to switch him on,” explained the trainer-driver.
Another pacer Todd has on a Tasmania Cup mission is Star Major, who ran second in the Devonport Cup last start.
He will contest the Rodney Burgess Patrons Marathon (2698m), where he shares the 30m back mark with Hot Deal for Victorian trainer Aaron Dunn.
“It was a big run coming off 20m and working around (in the Devonport Cup).
“We hadn’t had him long, and hopefully, he improves this time.
“There are some handy horses in there and a few that will be hard to beat as they will settle up near the front,” Todd said.
Other highlights on the card include the Harry Holgate Memorial, where Eureka Joe is the favourite in early betting, and the N.W.T.L.H.A Mares Feature for horses with a national rating of 50 to 69.
The first race is at the earlier twilight start time of 16:10 and will be shown on Sky Racing 2, with the remaining races scheduled for Sky Racing 1.
All races will be shown on Tasracing Live.
