BIRCHLEY WEAVES HIS KARAKA MILLIONS MAGIC AGAIN. DREAM ROCA GIVES HIM HIS THIRD SUCCESS IN THE RACE
By Graham Potter | Saturday, January 24, 2026
Liam Birchley has done it again!
The Queensland based trainer landed his third TAB Karaka Millions 2YO win at Ellerslie on Saturday when a primed to the minute Dream Roca chased down the game frontrunner, the $150 bolter MaGill, to get up in the final strides in an absolutely thrilling finish.
It was a long chase, in which Birchley’s magical touch with two-year-olds and his understanding of what is needed to get them to peak under pressure on a big race-day was clearly evident.as Dream Roca stretched out with meaning over the final 150m, pushing his head out in full stride in a concentrated effort to reel in Magill, who was not stopping.
Jockey Ben Thomson also played an important part in the victory.
Thompson made sure that Dream Rica used his number one barrier to full advantage so that, when the field turned for home, the filly was still saving ground on the rail and right on the heels of the leader … but she had a potential problem to her outside in the form of Torture, another Australian contender with Craig Williams up, who just shaded Dream Roca in second spot in the early part of the straight while threatening to keep the Birchley runner trapped along the rail.
MaGill gave a great kick. Torture was still the closest chaser at the 250m mark with Dream Roca still right there. Then, inside the 200m mark Thompson rallied Dream Roca and angled the filly into the daylight between McGill and Torture, a gap which Dream Roca attacked with relish … even taking the weakening Torture out wider on the track as he breezed past the Ben, Will and JD Hayes trained runner … and then it was a straight fight between MaGill and Dream Roca with the question being if Dream Roca had what it took to claim the result or whether the post would come too soon for the now flying Dream Roca if MaGill could stick on.
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