Classy barrier trial winner Smart Consort is missing from Sydney’s most anticipated two-year-old race of the season to date at Rosehill on Saturday.

The $150,000 Golden Gift (1100m) has attracted a group of unraced youngsters from leading stables that have shown outstanding natural ability in their trials.

They include the Gerald Ryan-trained Cardiff, a big winner of two recent trials, Godolphin’s highly rated blueblood Tassort – a half-brother to G1 winners Astern and Alizee – and the brilliant trial winner Spaceboy from the Gary Portelli stable.

Adding to the depth in the field is the unraced Victorian trial winner Torched, another newcomer Samphire Hoe with winning trial form, and Jonah, a colt from the Snowden stable with race experience after finishing an excellent second over the Golden Gift course on debut on November 3.

Jonah is a stablemate of Smart Consort, who turned heads with his recent trial win at Randwick but is missing from the race that can give the winner sufficient prizemoney to claim a place in the field for the $2 million Magic Millions Classic (1200m) at the Gold Coast in January.

Peter Snowden said Magic Millions eligible Smart Consort, an impressive trial winner at Randwick on October 30 in fast time, had suffered a minor setback.

"It's only minor but I'm just not comfortable sending him to the races on Saturday,” Snowden said. "He's a very exciting horse. His trials have been very good and he has been working as well as any horse in the yard."

The Magic Millions focus on Saturday will be on Spaceboy, surprisingly the only youngster in Saturday’s field of seven eligible for the rich Gold Coast race.

Portelli went to $200,000 to buy Spaceboy, by Deep Field, at this year’s Magic Millions sale and it appears to be money well spent judging by the speed he displayed to win an 800m Warwick Farm trial on November 9 by six lengths.

Spaceboy is closely related to Portelli’s prolific winner Testashadow and is the trainer’s top Magic Millions contender after the trainer confirmed he would not be going down that path with his unbeaten youngster Time To Reign.

While Time To Reign is assured of a Magic Millions berth after winning his first two starts at Randwick Portelli has decided he will be given a longer summer break before he is set for the Golden Slipper in March.

Portelli said he is excited about Spaceboy’s potential.

"Ever since we first jumped him out he hit the ground running. He's pretty exciting," he said.

"I'm looking forward to the weekend as we’ll know what we've got. It will be a genuine form race going forward."

One to Watch - 's Spaceboy looked very impressive, winning by 6L in his trial on Nov 9. Catch his racing debut this Saturday! pic.twitter.com/840d5RmbVu

— TAB November 21, 2018

Tassort, by Brazen Beau, and Snitzel colt Cardiff met in a recent trial at Canterbury after both had won earlier trials at Rosehill and Warwick Farm.

At Canterbury Cardiff showed more natural speed to lead and win the heat comfortably but Tassort was given an easy time and had plenty in hand in the run to the line.

Here are our TRIAL WATCH Reports on the recent trials by Spaceboy, Cardiff and Tassort:-

CARDIFF/TASSORT (Canterbury November 13): Exciting prospects CARDIFF and TASSORT added to their reputations when they clashed in the fastest of the three juvenile heats (53.66; 34.20). CARDIFF had the superior speed to lead and kept running to score by 3.3 lengths while the Godolphin blueblood TASSORT, having won his first trial at Rosehill on November 2, was under restraint with no urgency from Tye Angland to chase down the leader over the last 400m. Take it that this reliable form.

SPACEBOY (Warwick Farm November 9)): Looks a typical fast running youngster after he opened up a big lead in first 300m, increasing his advantage the further they went to score by a soft six lengths, noting that his chasers were put under pressure and made little headway. He ran the time (47.37; 34.10) but bear in mind this was only 800m and to win races he has to sustain this speed over longer under more pressure. He’s a $200,000 Magic Millions yearling by Deep Field so we know where he’s heading.

TASSORT (Rosehill November 2): No doubt Godolphin will have aspirations for this stylish half-brother to Astern and Alizee by Brazen Beau. Bold galloping action was evident as he travelled well within himself in the lead and was eager to go quicker over the last 300m when well clear of his rivals, running the quickest of the the 2YO heats (54.20/35.00).

CARDIFF (Warwick Farm October 19): Smart trial by this Snitzel colt. He did it well from the front in the quickest of all the 740m heats and was sharp running the quickest last 600m (43.06/32.80). Solid trial form.

And here’s what we said about SMART CONSORT trial win for future reference:-

SMART CONSORT (Randwick October 30): This Smart Missile colt was clearly the pick of the 2YOs, winning in the fastest of all eight heats over 745m and doing it with style. Showed excellent improvement from his first trial when third on the Pro Ride at Warwick Farm on October 19 to travel easily outside the leader and take control without pressure turning for home. From there he was under a big hold when eager to go quicker and could have won by a lot more than half a length.