Caulfield horseman Brendan McCarthy confirmed plans to travel up to the Gold Coast for the Magic Millions Race Day there in January with promising three-year-old Murt The Flirt who won on debut in the Magic Millions 3YO Classic 2014 at Ballarat today.

The Murtajill gelding was super impressive in his opening career run storming home clear on the straight, letting down well and hitting the line in fine style to secure connections the lucrative prize money on offer in the $100,000 Magic Millions 3YO Classic (1100m) on Ballarat Cup Day.

Passed in at the sales for $28,000, McCarthy came to train the horse after one of the owners in the syndication turned to him after having had a horse with him 15 or 20 years earlier.

McCarthy immediately targeted the Ballarat Magic Millions 3YO Classic with the youngster and it paid off with the $10 shot showing plenty of ability to defeat the Heath Conners-trained filly Boundary ($8.50), a 1300m winner at Geelong on debut last time out, by a length while Mick Price’s maiden Guajeo ($31) surprising with a brave run for third after getting blocked a few times on the straight.

“It takes quite a bit and you need a lot of luck but very happy with the way things have gone,” the winning trainer said.

“The owners and the horse are both excellent to work with and that makes the job a lot easier.”

Hot race favourite was Reigning Meteor($2.70) who missed the kick by about three-quarters of a length and never really got into the race with a luckless run.

The pace was set early by Euchre Star before the Craig Williams-ridden Betcher took up front running approaching the turn for home.

While a few came with their runs on the straight, jockey Chris Symons had his ride on Murt The Flirt timed perfectly and the eventual winner stormed home really accelerating well once he let down.

“How lucky are we with Magic Millions offering up all this money,” Symons said post-win.

“What a name, Murt The Flirt, he’s a bit crazy but I love him,” Symons added.

“Mentally he’s definitely not there, I’m surprise he made it into the barriers.

“I’m nuts as well and we just seem to gel.

“He had a lovely run, that wind’s really hectic down the side but we got that bit of cover to help us.

“He really took off. Good on him!”

He went up to Wild Rain, who was finishing strongly, and kicked away near the post doing a big job in a big prize money race after producing at just the right time to score the win.

Murt The Flirt did everything right on track today and will now head to Queensland during the summer for a shot at the $1 million Magic Millions 3YO Guineas (1400m) at the Gold Coast on January 10.

“The other horse today, the favourite has proved himself in nearly Listed level,” McCarthy said.

“But I thought we’ve got close to a Group horse coming into this.

“Hopefully we’re on our way up there (to the Gold Coast) so that’d be great.”

There’s still plenty of top action for Ballarat Cup Day in Melbourne this afternoon including Best Tote or SP + 20% markets on your winnings in the day’s feature race only at Ladbrokes.com.au!

2014 Magic Millions 3YO Classic Results & Finishing Order

Ballarat Race 4 – 22/11/2014

Place	#	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Br.	Wgt.	SP
1	6	MURT THE FLIRT	Brendan McCarthy	Chris Symons	–	7	57kg	$10
2	9	BOUNDARY	Heath Conners	Ms Linda Meech	1L	10	55kg	$8
3	11	GUAJEO	Mick Price	Craig Newitt	2.3L	12	55kg	$21
4	2	REIGNING METEOR	Matthew Williams	Damien Thornton (a)	2.7L	8	57kg	$2.60F
5	12	WILD RAIN	Mark Kavanagh	Damian Lane	3.7L	2	55kg	$7.50
6	5	CRINKLECUT	Brent Stanley	Dwayne Dunn	4.5L	3	57kg	$12
7	8	EUCHRE STAR	David Hayes & Tom Dabernig	Michael Walker	6.5L	9	55kg (cd 55.5kg)	$21
8	1	I AM THE GENERAL	Shane Nichols	Jack Hill	8.3L	5	57kg	$9
9	3	LOCK AND LOAD	Robbie Griffiths	Matthew Allen	9.1L	6	57kg	$26
10	7	I’M A FLYING STAR	Mark Riley	Stephen Baster	10.6L	1	55kg	$10
11	4	BETCHER	Barry & Glen James	Craig Williams	12.1L	4	57kg	$14
12	10	LASSIES VENTURE	Danny O’Brien	James Winks	20.1L	11	55kg	$81