Mornington trainer Shane Nicholls is happy with the preparation of his exciting colt I Am The General ahead of Saturday’s $2 million Jeep Australia Magic Millions Classic (1200m) on the Gold Coast.

The son of Invincible Spirit has settled in well at his Gold Coast base after flying up in the early hours of Friday morning. He will contest the feature juvenile event on the rich raceday restricted to graduates of the Magic Million sale.

I Am The General followed up a placing on a rain-affected track in his Ballarat debut in November with an impressive win in the LeadWest Plate (1000m) at Flemington where he defeated subsequent Moonee Valley winner Chivalry, trained by Mark Kavanagh.

“He’s very good, I’m more than pleased with what I saw this morning,” Nichols told RSN’s Nadia Horne.

“It all sort of fell into place after the Flemington win.

“I worked him up the Sydney way a couple of times on the course proper at Mornington with a handy work mate and I couldn’t have been happier with how he worked.  Jake Noonan rode him and got off him and said this is not a two year old he’s more like a four-year-old sprinter

“He’ll just have a look at the course proper here tomorrow and hopefully we can draw a gate”.

I Am The General is currently listed as a $12 chance on TAB Fixed odds behind the Bjorn Baker-trained Unencumbered $3.80, with Team Hawkes’ Invisible on the next line of betting at $4.50.

The first of the Victorians in the market is the Mick Price pair Nordic Empire $8.50 with stablemate Geromayo listed at $12.

Fields for the Gold Coast $1 Million Magic Millions Guineas (1400m) and Jeep $2 Million Classic (1200m) were released early Monday afternoon with barriers to be allotted on Tuesday morning. 

Caulfield trainer Tony Vasil is looking for a change of luck with his three-year-old The Bowler in the Guineas.

The Bowler was well supported last time out at Moonee Valley but the saddle shifted forward on apprentice Jye McNeil taking away any chance of victory.

Vasil won the Classic in 1996 with Winger Charger and would love to add the Guineas to his list of big wins.

The Bowler is rated a $26 outsider in the Guineas but could represent value if he draws well at tomorrow’s barrier draw.

Other Victorian-trained horses to line up in the Guineas are Lindsay Park’s Gracious Prospect ($26), Peter Moody’s colt Weinholt ($12) and Salute To Jude ($10), prepared by Robert Smerdon.

Click here to view the full TAB fixed odds market for the Magic Millions Classic 


Click here to view the full TAB fixed odds market for the Magic Millions Guineas