Allan McDonough holding Loucasso after his Protostar win last year
ALLAN McDonough is used to taking stars to feature races for Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin, but now he wants a crack himself.
McDonough, a long serving stable foreman for Stewart and Tonkin, is chasing a spot in Australia’s richest two-year-old race, the $500,000 Group 1 Protostar, with his stunning filly Ideal Frankie.
It will be a shock if she’s not snapped up after a staggering 46.9m win in the Australian Gold 2YO fillies’ prelude at Kilmore last night.
It followed a 21.8m win at Bendigo on debut, meaning she’s won her two starts by an aggregate of 68.7m.
“And ‘Pitty’ (driver Mark Pitt) said she was still jogging on the line last night,” McDonough said.
“I’d love a Protostar slot. I’m sure she’d be a live shot in it.
“As well as her race form, she’s run against some really nice two-year-olds at the trials, including a third to Smack Bang Bart when we gave her an easy time. He went on and won the Bathurst final and is in the Protostar.
“If you take a line through Comeandsee, who has a slot, Clayton (Tonkin) says there’s nothing between the two fillies even though they don’t work together.
“It’s a year where there isn’t a standout colt and there could be three or four fillies in the race.
“This filly has good gate speed, is very tractable, has high speed and is tough, too.”
Ideal Frankie’s win last suggests she is almost unbeatable in the $100,000 Australian Gold final on June 27.
“The timing would be ideal to go to Brisbane after that,” McDonough said.
Tonkin and Stewart won last year’s Protostar with Loucasso and are set to have three runners in this year’s race on July 11 at Albion Park.
Cardigan Jem, Comeandsee and maybe Staunton are the three. The first two are locks and if Staunton doesn’t go, it is expected Kahula would take his spot.
They are booked on a flight from Melbourne to Brisbane on July 4.
McDonough, 49, has trained 335 winners in his own right and is no stranger to feature races.
He won the Group 1 Tasmanian Derby back in 2008 with Im Mark Anthony.
More recently, he won the 2022 Group 2 Golden Apple in Tasmania with Blitzern, who also won a heat and finished second to Act Now in the 2021 Group 1 Victoria Derby.
