Golden Easter Egg finalist Magic Display and her handler Len Harris will make the 20-hour drive from their Northern Rivers base to Sandown Park to compete in the Group 1 Macro Meats Sapphire Crown on Thursday night.
The lure of a Group 1 win was enough for Len and trainer Evelyn Harris to make the arduous drive with Magic Display, where their kennel star will jump from box three in the third heat of the Group 1 series.
“I looked at flying down but wasn't too keen on being separated from her for such a long time," Len said.
"She travels beautifully so she will be fine with the drive.”
After finishing seventh in the final of the Golden Easter Egg, Magic Display (pictured) tried her tilt at the Group 3 Ladies Bracelet at Wentworth Park but missed out on a spot in the final after finishing third in her heat.
Len believes an incident at the start of the heat ruined any chance Magic Display had of winning.
"She tried to begin too quickly, hit her head on the boxes and that's probably what caused her to only place third,” he said.
"But I said to Evelyn after that heat, 'she's got to win a final sometime soon’ and she's flying at the moment so why not keep putting her in big races.
"She's proven she's more than capable of being competitive so I think she should give the Sapphire Crown heats a shake-up."
Magic Display has never raced outside NSW before but Harris doesn't think this will affect her performance.
"She hasn't raced at Sandown before but she hadn't seen Wentworth Park either before the Egg and won a couple straight there first up so I don't think her not seeing the track will be a major issue."
Harris hopes Magic Display’s favourite box will bring a little bit of luck for her. Magic Display won both her Golden Easter Egg heat and semi final from box three.
"Box three seems to be our magic box with her. I'm happy she's drawn closer to the rails and hopefully her record from box three will continue," he said.
Magic Display will be one of three NSW representatives in the Sapphire Crown heats with the Ritza Hattie (box four, heat four) and recent Dubbo Gold Cup winner Tricky Jade (box six, heat two) also making the trip to Melbourne for the series.
Other notable females making the trip to Sandown for the series include star Western Australian trio Zelemar Fever, Te Amo and Gone To Heaven as well as group race winning stayer Born Ali who will drop back in distance for the Sapphire Crown heats.
