After winning her first race for the Brendan James stables at last week's Tamworth meeting, Zoemagic is about to face a step up in class for her racing assignment on Thursday afternoon at Tamworth Paceway.
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"She had been working up to the win last start," said James. "We hope she gets better in form but even if she remains the same, I will be happy."
Zoemagic had a 3.4 metre win over It Aint Royal (Aaron Garaty) in her impressive last-start triumph - in which she produced the handy mile rate of 1.58.8 for 1980 metres.
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"One of the reasons we bought her was she went 1.54 at Menangle but the other was mainly for Emily to get her licence," James said.
James was referring to his long-time partner Emily Wilkin, who owns and races Zoemagic.
"The mare has a good work ethic and she just wants to keep trying," added James, who has only had the Stonebridge Regal-My Mythology mare for four race starts.
"Emily does all the behind-the-scenes work and has her stablehand licence, which is a bonus for me."
Working as a tiler with Kudos Tiling in Tamworth, James has three horses in work and has taken the plunge with Zoemagic - nominating her out of class to gain a good barrier draw.
So far that mission has worked, with Zoemagic picking up the one barrier.
"I nominated her up in class to get a good draw and hopefully it pays off - a repeat of last week's win would be nice," he said.
Zoemagic has a national rating of 47 and will contest the Tamwortharnesracing.com.au Pace, which is programmed with a national rating of 58.
"I wouldn't put her in the race if I didn't think she could do it [win] but let's see how the gamble pays off," James said.
James has engaged in-form reinsman Tom Ison to once again take the reins behind Zoemagic, after last week's success steering the six-year-old mare.
