Barrier draw a mixed bag for Golden Slipper contenders

Cover image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan

The barrier draw for the 66th running of the G1 Golden Slipper occurred at Rosehill on Tuesday morning, and reactions were mixed as the hot-favourite Coolangatta drew marble 14. With three of the four emergencies drawn inside the boom filly, she could still emerge from barrier 11 in Saturday’s rich, $5 million race.

Coolangatta, trained by the Ciaron Maher-David Eustace stable, is undefeated in three starts since her fetching debut at Randwick last October.

She won the G3 BJ McLachlan S. at Doomben on Boxing Day, and she backed up all her credentials with a warrior-like win in the $2 million R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic in January. She hasn’t raced since, owing to Sydney’s month-long deluge that has since moved on, but she remains a market favourite.

Trainer Ciaron Maher was trackside for the draw, and he was stoic about the filly’s wide barrier.

“I was hoping for a little bit closer in, but JMac can deal with 14, it’s not too bad,” the trainer said. “I’m sure some of the owners were probably hoping for a little bit more, but she came out of a similar gate (10) in the Magic Millions and there’s a lot more room here than what there is around the Gold Coast.”

Jockey James McDonald has been aboard Coolangatta in all of her races, and he was aboard the filly at a recent winning jump-out at Newcastle.

“He was very happy with that,” Maher said. “She stretched out lovely and her recovery was quite good. She was on about a six or a seven (track rating), so hopefully with this sunshine around we can get back to something like that here.”

Maher isn’t concerned that Coolangatta has had a long time between drinks. The adverse weather down the eastern seaboard prevented her from a lead-up race into Saturday’s Slipper, but the trainer had no concerns that she’s not raced since January 15.

“She’s had a couple of weeks off here and there since she started racing, so I’m not concerned,” he said. “She’ll do a little bit of pacework tomorrow (Wednesday), but she’s pretty ripe from a fitness point of view. It’s just mainly to keep her in the swing of things and to keep a lid on her.”

Even bunch of horses

History isn’t stacked against Coolangatta with barrier 14.

If she jumps from that gate and wins, she will join four other horses that have won from barrier 14 in the history of the Golden Slipper. The latest of them was Kiamichi (Sidestep), who won in 2019, but also Estijaab (Snitzel) in 2018 and Polar Success (Success Express {USA}) in 2003.

Barrier one has provided the most number of Slipper winners, and the Peter Moody-trained Millane (Zoustar) drew that straw as the second emergency.

Barrier 13, which has never produced a Golden Slipper winner, was drawn by the OTI Racing filly Lady Laguna (Overshare).

Among the better-fancied horses, the Gary Portelli-trained colt Sejardan (Sebring) drew ideally in barrier seven with two emergencies on his inside, and the trainer was on-course on Tuesday morning to share his thoughts about it.

“It’s a perfect gate for us,” Portelli said. “Looking at the dynamic of the race, some of those favoured horses with a bit of speed are going to have to use plenty of petrol to get across.

“Jason (Collett) has been very keen to see this horse jump from an inside gate because with every run he’s come out the gates better, and he believes if the horse ever draws a decent gate, he’ll have the tactical speed to be where he needs to be.”

Portelli said that Sejardan, who won the G2 Todman S. at his last appearance, has been ridden back constantly owing to wider draws, so the trainer is looking forward to seeing what he can get from the colt.

“Finally he’s ended up in barrier five and he might be able to just hold his position in midfield and not have to get back so far, which I think is important in this year’s Slipper because there’s a fairly even bunch of horses,” Portelli said. “I wouldn’t want to be back last coming into the home turn.”

From the same yard, the Rebel Dane filly Fireburn has drawn barrier two with jockey Brenton Avdulla. She is around $11 in the market and, should Millane not run, she will be on the rails.

Gallery: Gary Portelli-trained runners in the G1 Golden Slipper S., images courtesy of Ashlea Brennan

“It’s a perfect gate,” Portelli said. “She’s got the ability to be wherever she wants to be as well. Brenton gets licence to be where she’s comfortable, and hopefully there’s gaps when she needs it.”

Fireburn was a last-start winner of the G2 Sweet Embrace S. at Randwick three weeks ago. She has won three of her four starts and her favourable draw capped a good morning for the Portelli yard with both its horses getting single-figure gates.

Of the others

As Coolangatta and Sejardan remained the hottest of the Slipper contenders, trainer Anthony Cummings got a perfect draw in barrier six for his filly She’s Extreme (Extreme Choice).

A last-start first in the G3 Magic Night S. last weekend, and second to Fireburn in the Sweet Embrace, She’s Extreme will have Brett Prebble for the Golden Slipper.

“She’s been in great shape since (the Magic Night),” said Cummings. “She probably recovered the best she has from any of her runs so far. I can’t complain with barrier six, really. I was hoping for five and I’ll finish up with that after a scratching, so I got what I wanted and I can’t really complain.”

She’s Extreme sits around $9 in the market for Saturday’s race. Next to her in the betting are Revolutionary Miss (Russian Revolution) and Best Of Bordeaux (Snitzel), the latter an undefeated winner of the G2 Canonbury S. and G2 Silver Slipper S. for trainer Kacy Fogden.

Ben Cornell was trackside for the stable as Best Of Bordeaux, a colt owned in partnership by Fogden, the Fung family and Gerry Harvey, drew barrier 10.

“We’re very happy,” Cornell said. “After emergencies, if they don’t get a run, we come into seven which is the ideal barrier.”

Cornell said everything had gone smoothly for Best Of Bordeaux, who won an easy trial at Warwick Farm last week with his Slipper pilot, Sam Clipperton.

“He’s only a little fella,” Cornell said of the colt. “There’s a lot of filling out and maturing to do, so I’d say as a late 3-year-old, that’s when you’ll see the best of him. He’s a bit deceiving because you don’t think much of him when you’re just trotting around, but when you gallop him he’s a machine. He’s up there with some of the best 2-year-olds.”

At $15, Queen Of The Ball (I Am Invincible) is her sire’s only representative in the Golden Slipper and, with her drawing barrier three, co-trainer Michael Freedman said she could handle the seven-day backup that will come after winning the G3 Black Opal S. last Sunday.

“It’s not ideal but we had to go to Canberra to try and make sure we’re in the field,” Freedman said. “As it happened, had we not, it looks like we would have been sitting in first emergency, so it was a job done. We probably would have preferred an extra week out, but that said she’s come home and bounced out of it really well.”

Sires’ produce

Tuesday’s draw drew the complete field of 16 plus four emergencies, the latter being Sweet Ride (Deep Field), Millane, Semillion (Shalaa {Ire}) and Man In The Mirror (Not A Single Doubt).

The field represents 16 individual sires, with Newgate Farm’s first-season sire Russian Revolution heavily set with three progeny (Rise Of The Masses, Revolutionary Miss and Russian Conquest), while Arrowfield’s Shalaa (Ire) equally has three (Shalatin, Seven Veils and Semillion).

Young sires Capitalist and Extreme Choice are represented with respective runners (Sebonack and She’s Extreme), while Fireburn is an interesting runner for the recently relocated Rebel Dane, who will stand in an as yet unannounced New South Wales farm this upcoming season.

Veterans Exceed And Excel (Ojai), Written Tycoon (Coolangatta) and Not A Single Doubt (Man In The Mirror) are among them, as is the former Darley stallion, now standing in Turkey, Epaulette (Daumier).