| Torque To Be Sure survived a protest in the stewards’ room to shrug his maiden tag on the biggest stage with a win in the $3 million Gold Coast Magic Millions 3YO Guineas (1400m) on Saturday. |
| The Matt Dunn-trained gelding was wayward in the straight under Ben Melham and made contact with odds-on favourite Ninja on several occasions, prompting jockey Tommy Berry to lodge a protest on behalf of connections. While stewards took their time to consider the interference and deliberate over the result, they could not be satisfied that the contact cost Ninja the race and dismissed the objection. For Dunn, the lucrative win was one to savour and came after a string of near misses with the son of Shamus Award. Torque To Be Sure had run minor placings in five of his 10 starts prior to Saturday. “He’s been a frustration and I’m lucky I’ve got a very patient ownership group in him,” Dunn said. “But look what he did today, he’s certainly always had the talent and he did a wonderful job. “The sky is the limit, who knows what he can do. “We probably should’ve finished right next to Ninja two starts ago when Ninja nearly shoved him through the inside fence so maybe that was a square up late today. “They ($3 million races) are special, especially when you have a maiden going into them. “This week is incredible and it’s getting bigger, it’s a wonderful carnival.” Dunn combined with Neil Jenkinson to buy Torque To Be Sure for $260,000 out of the Attunga Stud draft at the 2024 Gold Coast Yearling Sale. The duo partnered on four yearlings during Book 1 of the 2026 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, including a colt and a filly by Harry Angel. Melham said Torque To Be Sure’s win was full of merit, despite the interference in the concluding stages of the race. “He is a horse that can do a little bit wrong as we saw but he was dominant today I felt,” Melham said. “He was a bit wayward but he had a margin on the second horse.” The win advanced Torque To Be Sure’s career earnings to just shy of $2 million. Crash The Party finished fourth in the race and, in addition to $135,000 prizemoney, picked up $162,500 as the first of the horses eligible for the Magic Millions Racing Women Bonus past the post. Icarian Dream (7th – $50,000), Hi Barbie (9th – $25,000) and Norty Forty (16th – $12,500) also picked up Magic Millions Racing Women bonuses for their female connections. |
