Classy local Houtzen has continued her perfect career start on the Gold Coast this afternoon; justifying her clear race favouritism to comfortably win the featured 2017 Magic Millions 2YO Classic (1200m).

Houtzen’s chances of winning the Magic Millions 2YO Classic were dealt a blow midweek when she was allocated a wide and awkward alley, but the filly jumped well and was able to cross the field with complete ease; taking up the early running from Madeenaty.

Experiencing a carefree run on pace over the back straight and at the bend, jockey Jeff Lloyd was a passenger as the filly opened the gap in the final straight; maintaining a good gap on her rivals and comfortably finding the line ahead of Chauffeur and Madeenaty, for her most impressive victory to date.

Trainer Toby Edmonds was thrilled with Houtzen’s performance to be crowned the Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner.

“It was a great effort and she was the best filly today,” Edmonds said.

“Jeff was really aggressive and she probably ran through the bridle a bit and got a little tired but she was entitled to, it was such a great effort.

“I left it up to him (Lloyd). We’d been through the race so many times and the way the track was playing today, we hadn’t talked about riding her different.

“I thought bugger it – if we take her out of her pattern it might not work, so let’s just let her roll and see what happens.

“A Magic Millions for us is everything. It’s been a dream come true.”

Veteran hoop Jeff Lloyd suffered a major stroke only two years ago, but has found some of his best form through recent seasons and was elated to win the Magic Millions 2YO Classic aboard Houtzen.

“She did it all, she did it tough,” Lloyd said.

“She didn’t realty come back to be. In front I had concerns in the race that she might have come across too quick and was doing too much.

“She’d had enough at the end but she was entitled to.

“We said it would all depend on how she came out, but I only had one thing in mind and that was to get across.”

Houtzen debuted to win the Sky Thoroughbred Central Handicap (1050m) by four lengths on December 24^th; repeating the dose in the First National Real Estate Handicap (1100m) in what was her only other start prior to the Magic Millions last weekend.

2017 Magic Millions 2YO Classic Results

Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Bar.	Weight	Starting Price
1	11	HOUTZEN	Toby Edmonds	Jeff Lloyd	–	16	55kg	$4EF
2	4	CHAUFFEUR	Gerald Ryan	Joshua Parr	0.5L	9	57kg	$19
3	8	MADEENATY	David & B Hayes & T Dabernig	Mark Zahra	2.8L	1	55kg	$9
4	2	GOODFELLA	Bjorn Baker	Brenton Avdulla	2.9L	11	57kg	$17
5	18e	INVADER	Peter & Paul Snowden	Dwayne Dunn	3L	6	57kg	$26
6	10	INVINCIBLE STAR	Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott	Tim Clark	3.8L	13	55kg	$9
7	9	CHAMP ELECT	Chris Munce	Kerrin McEvoy	5.1L	14	55kg	$31
8	14	REAL PRINCESS	Liam Birchley	Tye Angland	5.3L	7	55kg	$101
9	1	OURS TO KEEP	Chris Munce	Damian Browne	6.6L	2	57kg	$8
10	3	BRING IT HOME POP	Darryl Hansen	Luke Tarrant	6.7L	15	57kg	$61
11	12	MADAME MOUSTACHE	Chris Waller	Blake Shinn	6.9L	10	55kg	$41
12	7	ARRESTAR	Matthew Dunn	Damian Lane	8.2L	8	57kg	$151
13	13	FROM WITHIN	Chris Waller	Hugh Bowman	8.4L	4	55kg	$4EF
14	5	FALCONIC	Gary Portelli	Koby Jennings	8.6L	5	57kg	$19
15	6	SAXTON ROCK	Matthew Dunn	Robbie Fradd	9.6L	12	57kg	$151
16	16	CELLARGIRL	Kelly Schweida	James Orman	12.1L	3	55kg	$21