The Magic Millions Classic for the two-year-olds from last year's sale was decided at the Gold Coast track in Australia on Saturday and there was a haunting familiarity about the winner, Mirror Mirror.
The Dehere filly was named for her amazing similarity to the wonderful sprinter Belle Du Jour, winner of the world's richest juvenile race, the Golden Slipper Stakes, in 2000.
Like Belle Du Jour and Ha Ha, another Golden Slipper winner, Mirror Mirror was selected by Gerry Rose, a veterinary surgeon who is a friend and confidant of wealthy owner-breeder John Singleton. Rose's post-race interview made fascinating reading.
'When the Danehill horses first started coming through in Australia, I rejected most of them on the basis they had knee problems,' Rose began. 'So did almost every other vet.
'Then they started winning everything and I knew I was missing something. So I went to the races and every time there was a Group race on, I'd look carefully at every runner. I noted some of the things that were common. But I also realised I would have rejected 80 per cent of them if I had been asked to assess them.'
So Rose changed his selection system. He began buying the most athletic horses, first and foremost, and stopped looking for perfect horses. In the case of Mirror Mirror, he bought her even though he knew she had a knee chip at sale time.
