Gear changes are always important, more so when you are dealing with precocious two-year-olds and there is $2 million prizemoney at stake.

It’s akin to puling a rabbit out of a hat when trainers apply gear changes to their runners on the eve of big races.

Sometimes they work, more often they don’t – but they should always be respected as an important factor as they are never decisions taken lightly by trainers looking for that vital edge over their opposition.

Some trainers are masters at getting the desired result from gear changes – usually the addition or removal of blinkers, winkers, a different bit or something as innocuous as a cross-over nose band.

Whatever the gear change, it’s all very much in the timing and that’s why it is important to note the gear that is being applied to two of the key runners in the $2 million Magic Millions Classic at the Gold Coast on Saturday.

Brilliant Victorian filly Madeenaty will wear winkers for the first time while head strong Sydney colt Falconic – a last start winner at Rosehill - will race in blinkers and will also have a stallion chain applied to assist his manners prior to the race.

The latter gear change shows just how much thought Falconic’s trainer Gary Portelli has put into preparing the colt for Saturday’s race.

Portelli is hoping the use of a stallion chain will help keep Falconic calm and collected from the time he parades before the huge crowd in the yard until he is loaded in the gates.

A stallion chain is an extension of the handler’s lead and clips from the off side of the head collar over the horse’s nose - a very sensitive area- to the near side. It helps control horses with arrogant attitudes and will be removed once the horse is loaded in the gates.

It is likely Portelli will also seek to have Falconic led to the gates by a clerk of the course, another ploy to keep the colt in the right frame of mind before the start.

That is when Portelli is hoping the blinkers play their part, helping Falconic to jump on terms with the field and settle kindly in the mad rush that is certain to be a feature of the first 800m.

Falconic worked in blinkers for the first time last Saturday at Warwick Farm before he left for the Gold Coast. He worked with a stablemate and the gallop convinced Portelli the blinkers are the ‘x factor’ he has been looking for in the lead-up to Saturday.

“We’ve tapered his work and the blinkers will certainly help him concentrate,” Portelli said.

“He’s going to be midfield. There will be good pressure early and we are happy to be in the race.

“I think we have a good chance.”

The addition of winkers to Madeenaty’s gear took on greater importance after she drew the coveted rails gate.

She is a natural speedster and winkers – thick padding applied to the cheeks of a horse to block out their rear vision - should help her use her pace to hold the advantage of the rail, a big factor in a high pressure race like the Magic Millions.

Madeenaty reportedly worked in winkers under race jockey Mark Zahra at her Lindsay Park base in Victoria last week,

She arrived at the Gold Coast on Tuesday, having returned home to the Hayes/Dabernig training base at Euroa for the three weeks that followed her last start win in the Magic Milions 2YO at Wyong on December 22.

“I’m really happy with her, she has come on from Wyong,” said David Hayes. “She will sit second or third and she will get the run of the race.”

Other Magic Millions Classic gear changes will see Colosimo wear blinkers and Cellargirl race with a visor.

There are also gear changes of note for the $2 million Magic Millions Guineas for three-year-olds.

Dam Ready has winkers replacing blinkers; Faraway Town is wearing blinkers for the first time; and Pipeline has blinkers reapplied.