Melbourne Cup winner Black Magic Opal will look to bounce back from a surprise defeat when he tackles race 8 - the Lion Quality Products Free For All (450m) - at Ballarat tonight. But no matter how good his performance is tonight, there is no chance he will be making the trip to Sydney for the Macro Meats Golden Easter Egg.
Black Magic Opal (pictured) returned from a two month layoff at Sale on March 16, and despite being sent out as a $1.20 favourite, was beaten into second place by Zambora Storm.
While several pundits described the performance as disappointing, trainer Jason Thompson saw some positives in the run.
"He missed the start and got into a bit of trouble but still ended coming second, so it was still a good effort," Thompson said.
"Since then he's broken the track record at Warragul in a trial over the 400m so it seems like he's getting back on track."
Black Magic Opal will exit from box one for tonight's assignment where he will line up against only five opponents following the scratchings of Take Charge and recently crowned 2013 NSW Greyhound of the Year Jagger Swagger.
"He probably couldn't have drawn much better than he has and the way the race has panned out, hopefully it will be perfect for him."
No matter how Black Magic Opal performs tonight, Thompson has no intention of running the Group 1 winner in the Golden Easter Egg.
"I'm definitley not bringing him up for the (Golden Easter) Egg. He'll stay down in Victoria and head of to Bendigo and Warrnambool for the Country Cups. He just doesn't seem to like (Wentworth Park) so we'll be steering clear of it.
Black Magic Opal has had five starts at Wentworth Park, with his most recent effort being a sixth place finish in a heat of the Sportingbet Paws Of Thunder.
