Jay Mac steered towards Ipswich Auction Series

By Alex Nolan

Tarquin Neal kept his promise that if jockey James McDonald won the 2021 Melbourne Cup aboard champion mare Verry Elleegant, he would name a dog after the newly crowned world’s best hoop.

The result is Jay Mac, a debut winner for Neal and partner Jemma Daley in 30.74 over 520m at Ipswich last week, who returns on Saturday looking to extend the perfect start to his career in a Novice event.  

From a litter by Out Of Range and Hazy Jane – which also includes recent winners Morse Code, Out Of Scope and the Daley-trained Haytown’s Girl – Jay Mac jumped cleanly from box six last week and stormed to the front, running away a 7L winner in an ultra-professional debut.  

Daley, who enjoyed a successful career in thoroughbred racing with leading stables before turning her hand to greyhounds, joked that Neal was a McDonald ‘fan boy’.

Neal stopped short of denying it.

“I said that if J-Mac was able to win on Verry Elleegant in the Melbourne Cup, then I would name a dog after him,” Neal said.

“I put in the name and didn’t think I’d get it to be honest, but when I got it back I was stoked.

“We did the pre-training with him and he wasn’t showing very much early on.

“He had about three weeks off six weeks ago, and it has done him the world of good.”

McDonald is internationally renowned for his professionalism in racing.

The dog named in his honour displayed similar qualities on debut, with Daley noting the dog hadn't even trialled in a rug beforehand. 

“The way he went around it was like he’d done it 100 times before,” Neal said.

“Fingers crossed he can live up to his namesake.”

Neal and Daley are now plotting a path to next year’s G3 Ipswich Auction Series with Jay Mac.

Haytown's Girl may join him on a similar path after she broke her maiden at start three, going a shade quicker than Jay Mac in 30.71.

The couple also have a handful of unraced pups from the same litter that may be geared towards next month's Group 3 Vince Curry Maiden series. 

Neal will be in search of back-to-back Auction Series wins after a breakthrough victory in 2022 with Sushi Mango.

For Jay Mac, that will entail racing at Ipswich for the foreseeable future, looking to go through the grades until the rich series in April.

“He did 90% of his work out at Ipswich so he’ll stay out there now and look forward to the auction,” Neal said.

“It’s still three or four months away but hopefully we can keep him ticking over and go back-to-back!”

The Ipswich Auction Series receives a significant prizemoney boost from 2024 onwards, with the winner set to walk away with $100,000 for the first time.

Jay Mac will again exit box six in Race 5 (4:48pm) on Saturday evening, where he is likely to start a warm favourite with TAB.