The John Thompson-trained Primitivo has claimed the $1 million Magic Millions Trophy (2400m) on the Gold Coast thanks to a brilliant ride from veteran jockey Glen Boss.

The five-year-old gelding by Sebring opened as a handy $8.50 pop third-up after running second in a Benchmark 88 race at Randwick in late December. Boss was in the saddle for the first time on Saturday and was able to come off the fence at the right time to snag a comfortable two-length win.

Primitivo kicked off his Queensland campaign in style on Saturday winning the Magic Millions Trophy on debut at the Gold Coast. Photo Credit: Steve Hart.

Boss went on to say that the journey up until this point wasn’t easy, but the lightweight certainly proved the difference.

“It’s taken a lot of work to get here. We had a beautiful run, we were probably six the fence most of the way getting a love run, got out the right time giving him some room” Boss said.

“I knew The Candy Man would be coming, but he’s got 60kg so I knew he wasn’t going to accelerate like these 54’s. So, I thought I’d get going real early on this bloke because I know once I get going he won’t stop and make them chase me to the line.”

The Candy Man was the odds-on favourite racing at $3.20 having won twice on the Gold Coast previously. The six-year-old got away from the gates well but found no such luck sitting midfield along the rail, only to burst clear a little too late to run out of the placings.

Thompson, on the other hand, had much more to celebrate after originally purchasing Primitivo for $105,000 at the Magic Millions sale. As the price suggests, the step-up beyond the mile was always a query, but the winning trainer says the horse racing fresh was the key.

“It was well done by the horse. He’s a clean-winded horse, it wasn’t conventional but he’s actually a horse that goes good on the fresh side” Thompson said after the race.

“I got to give a lot of credit to Bossy, it was 11/10 that ride if you watch the replay again and watch him, he was thinking the whole way, he made a big difference.”

Black On Gold ran on strongly to finish second, followed by A Man To Match who won a photo finish over Our Fun for third.