Lightly-raced filly Magic Arli will be aiming for back-to-back wins for veteran Taree trainer Bob Milligan at Wyong on Thursday.
The three-year-old is coming off an impressive two lengths victory at Port Macquarie earlier this month where she was forced to travel wide but kicked away for an easy win.
“She steps up a class and this race will be a lot harder for her, but I think she is capable of winning again this week.”
In-form rider Rachel Murray, 27, has ridden Magic Arli in both race starts and will again pilot the filly on Thursday.In the last month the Scone-based hoop has ridden doubles at Orange, Scone and Gunnedah and trebles at Armidale and Quirindi.
Magic Arli will benefit from a 1.5kg reduction in weight, but is up against a strong field including two other last start winners – Oakfield Costa (James Innes jnr) and Banuelo (Tim Clark).Oakfield Costa finished strongly to win his only start at Kembla Grange over 1000m while Banuelo – from the powerful John O’Shea stable – won with ease over 1100m at Gosford and is a filly on the rise.