Haya from Victoria: Diamond runners play their part in the Slipper

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

Since the late Ross McDonald-trained Courtza (NZ) (Pompeii Court {USA}) to complete the Blue Diamond-Golden Slipper Group 1 2-year-old glamour double in 1989, just one horse has managed to achieve the same feat in 35 years since.

Having watched his Dad work his miracle with Courtza, Clinton McDonald is well aware of what type of horse it takes to complete the prestigious double.

And he’s not shying away from the challenge with his recent Blue Diamond series clean-sweep heroine Hayasugi (Royal Meeting {Ire}).

“It takes a Hayasugi type,” McDonald said when asked to describe what is required of a 2-year-old to win both races.

“Tough, resilient, copes with everything. Courtza was the same, Courtza never missed a beat. She went from the Blue Diamond to the Slipper and the Slipper was her fifth run.

“That’s why I was so confident going into the Blue Diamond. Dad always said, ‘If they don’t cop it, they’re not going to win it’. And she copped it. So, I thought you’ve copped everything I’ve thrown at you, I can’t do anymore.

“It’s going to be the same going into the Slipper. I think she’ll run top three, just on the way that she’s going, because she just keeps improving. I haven’t seen a horse improve like her.”

McDonald has resisted the temptation to have another start, preferring to trial instead leading into the March 23 contest.

“I don’t want to give her that in between run, because her ratings are going like this (up) and who’s to say she’s not going to leap again in the Slipper? Why risk a run and a run that you don’t really need,” he said.

Hayasugi was unsuccessful in two spring starts, but McDonald said those runs have been an important part of her success this campaign.

“When she’s come back in this time, having those two runs under her belt, she hasn’t missed a beat. Everything she’s done has been on an upward spiral. To get a 2-year-old like that is very unusual,” he said.

“She’s had a saddle on her back every morning and even had a saddle on her back the Monday after the Diamond and you wouldn’t have known she’d had a run.

“There’s no ceiling on her at the moment.”

Peaks and troughs

The task to win the Blue Diamond and Golden Slipper is both an oft sought-after one, but rarely achieved one.

The 2011 hero Sepoy is the lone flagbearer among 27 to have attempted the feat since Courtza.

There have been six minor placings, but 20 of them have missed the place.

Overall, there have been five Blue Diamond winners - Bounding Away (Biscay), Manikato (Manihi) and John’s Hope the others - to have won the Golden Slipper, from 40 to attempt the feat.

Gallery: The top-class horses that have won the Blue Diamond-Golden Slipper double, images courtesy of Sportpix

And hence, Victorian-trained winners of the Golden Slipper are few and far between as well.

Ratings analysts would surmise there’s a simple reason why so few Victorian horses have managed to win the Golden Slipper.

Racing is parochial. So it stands to reason that Victorian-based trainers would target their 2-year-old Grand Final first before turning their attention to the bigger prize in Sydney.

Having to peak a horse – in this case an inexperienced 2-year-old – twice in a few weeks, is no easy feat.

Last month we documented the Blue Diamond and Silver Slipper and their influence on future big races and on the breeding industry.

The records of the two races is second to none and in terms of future success, both have contributed equally.

But ratings analyst Daniel O’Sullivan noted the Blue Diamond winners more often than not rated higher than the Silver Slipper winner in that particular race.

In seven of the eight years up to 2023, the Blue Diamond winner rated higher than the Silver Slipper winner on O’Sullivan’s Weight-For-Age Performance ratings. The story rang true again this year with Hayasugi (99.5) bettering the Written By colt Straight Charge (97.6).

Why? Because the Diamond is a target race and the Silver Slipper a leadup.

So to take that a step further, while the Silver Slipper runners and those through other Sydney Slipper lead-ups are coming to their best, the Diamond winner has to hold that peak rating and possibly extend further, a few weeks later.

Hence you have Crystal Lily (Stratum) for Matt Ellerton and Simon Zahra as the last Victorian-trained horse to win the Golden Slipper, now some 14 years ago.

Before her it was David Hayes and Miss Finland (Redoute’s Choice) in 2006.

Then you go back to the dominant 1993-96 era of Lee Freedman, with four wins in a row.

Freedman’s first winner Bint Marscay (Marscay) debuted in Sydney and stayed there.

His third winner Flying Spur was able to freshen up off a Blue Diamond second to win the Slipper at big odds.

But Freedman’s second and fourth Slippers, with the Danehill (USA) pair Danzero and Merlene, were more deliberate.

Gallery: Lee Freedman-trained G1 Golden Slipper winners, images courtesy of Sportpix

Both won Blue Diamond lead-ups, but both skipped the Blue Diamond to have their final prep runs in Sydney.

Would they have been able to do the double? Who knows, but the Hall of Fame trainer decided to aim up at just the one Grand Final and connections were rewarded for it.

Hidden Success

While the conversion rate of Melbourne trained horses and Blue Diamond winners into the Golden Slipper doesn’t look good at face value, the raw numbers are a little unfair to the Diamond and undersell the race’s contribution to the Slipper in a big way.

Since Courtza, there has been six Golden Slipper winners that had run in the Blue Diamond.

Sepoy the standout of course, but Miss Finland, Flying Spur and Canny Lad all ran second at Caulfield before their Rosehill heroics, while Crystal Lily and Prowl (Marauding {NZ}) were unplaced in the Diamond before winning the Golden Slipper.

Gallery: Some of the horses that came second in the Blue Diamond and went on to win the G1 Golden Slipper

Further, the performance of Blue Diamond runners that contest the Golden Slipper is far superior than their representation, at least in the past 12 years.

Sure, there hasn’t been a winner from 46 Diamond runners that have contested it, but their habit of finishing top four is impressive.

From 24 per cent of runners, Blue Diamond runners have filled 35 per cent of the top four placings in the Golden Slipper since 2012.

That’s a fair effort for a race that’s often derided in Slipper discussions and one that ratings analyst Adam Blencowe from Racing & Sports says should be more widely appreciated.

“It is true that Diamond winners have not hit the mark as often as they could or should in the Slipper, but it looks a case of luck and or noise,” Blencowe said.

“In the 12 years since Sepoy, the Diamond has been responsible for less than a quarter of all Slipper runners, but a full third of those to finish in the first four in that time.

“They are hitting the bar and hitting it often. Their luck will level out over time.”