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By Ray Hickson

When the barrier gods are against you, having James McDonald in your corner is a big plus and trainer Michael Freedman is banking on a JMac special with Blanc De Blanc in Saturday’s $2 million Inglis Millennium (1100m) at Royal Randwick.

Trainer Michael Freedman

The filly, an unlucky third in the Inglis Nursery (1000m) in December, drew 16 while stablemate Mexico came up with 13 – those numbers come in by three if emergencies aren’t required – but Freedman said the draw isn’t as important as the run each horse is afforded.

“Looking at the draw there’s probably going to be some hard luck stories come out of it,’’ he said.

“All you can do is have them in as good nick as possible and keep your fingers crossed.

“With James on board we're hoping we can find a spot somewhere with some cover. Even if it is three deep, while that’s not ideal, it’s not insurmountable.

“We’ll just leave it up to James, far be it from me to tell him how to ride her.”

Blanc De Blanc started $1.12 when scored on debut at Newcastle, with McDonald riding, in a 900m scamper and while she won that narrowly the form was confirmed in the Inglis Nursery.

On that occasion she found herself four and five wide from the outside barrier but kept finding the line in finishing third behind Saltaire, who she defeated on debut.

The pair meet again in the Millennium, where they’ll jump alongside each other, and Freedman said his filly has impressed in the build up to the first major two-year-old race of the autumn carnival.

“Her trial two weeks ago I thought was a really nice trial and she seems to have trained on nicely from it,’’ he said.

“She put in a nice piece of work on Tuesday morning. Luck in running I guess will determine how we go but in terms of going into the race she couldn’t be going into it in much better nick.

“Barriers are going to play a big part, I just hope she is able to get a run where she is able to run to her best then we can properly assess where she's at.”

She was $8 with TAB on Wednesday while stablemate Mexico sat on the $13 line as the Randwick trainer chases his second win in the Millennium, he did win an Inglis Classic with Frolic, having shared it with brother Richard when in partnership in 2020 with Prime Star.

It hasn’t been the smoothest of build ups for Mexico and it’s already been a busy week for him after he was scratched at the barriers from last Saturday’s Lonhro Plate, won by stablemate Madeira Sunrise, and two days later competed in a barrier trial.

“He got a bit of a fright from the horse next door when it took a dive at the gates and he got his leg over in the next stall and when they do that it’s an automatic scratching. It wasn’t ideal but it could have been worse,” Freedman said.

“He did a bit of work on Sunday and went back to the trials on Monday and I thought he trialled great."

Mexico was runner-up on debut in the Inglis 2yo race at Moonee Valley on a heavy track back in October before finishing a creditable sixth in the $1m Golden Gift.

“I think as his trials would suggest he has come back an improved colt from last time in,’’ he said.

“Like most of the Capitalists he really enjoys being on top of the ground. If he can get the right run in the race it will go a long way to telling us where we are at and where we head.”

Blanc De Blanc runs third in the Inglis Nursery

Freedman is expecting High King to step up from a promising debut effort when he tackles the Coolmore Pierro Plate (1100m) on Saturday.

The colt ran fifth behind Don Corleone at his first outing three weeks ago, running on from last in 33.96 (Punter’s Intelligence) which was the third fastest last 600m of the race.

“He’s a nice colt, he probably didn’t get a great deal of luck the other day when he ran,’’ he said.

“I think it was quite a strong rating two-year-old race and had my bloke got more galloping room when he needed to he might have made it more interesting.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's Randwick meeting