The Group 1 Golden Slipper (1200m) final field will be released tomorrow morning at 9:00am (AEDT) and three late entries have made it into the running in the nick of time.
Fireworks is one of three horses that have paid late entry fees for the 2015 Golden Slipper. Photo by Steve Hart.
Connections of Fireworks, Single Gaze, and Odyssey Moon have all paid the $150,000 late entry fee to run their horses in the $3.5 million two-year-old race this Saturday at Rosehill.
Fireworks’ trainer Gerald Ryan revealed yesterday that the filly would be paid up for the race following trackwork this morning (Monday).
“As long as she works well on Monday morning, John will pay up,” Ryan told Sky Racing.
“I know she can match it with the fillies and her last run has brought her on a lot.”
The 2015 Golden Slipper was the last race on Ryan’s mind when Fireworks came to his stables at the end of last year however he couldn’t overlook a run in the world’s richest juvenile race when she won the Group 3 Widden Stakes (1100m) on January 31. The filly was in the second half of the field and three wide with cover and was still three lengths away when turning. She eased out five wide at the 300 metres and made a late surge to just grab the leaders on the line.
Fireworks proved she could handle rain-affected tracks during the win which could be an advantage this Saturday considering Sydney’s fickle autumnal weather. The filly followed up her Widden Stakes win with a minor placing in the Group 2 Reisling Stakes (1200m) on March 7.
Ryan has opted to save Perignon, who ran second to Speak Fondly in the Magic Night Stakes (1200m) on Saturday, for the Group 1 Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) on April 4, following in stablemate Peggy Jean’s footsteps.
“Peggy Jean ran second in the Magic Night and then came out and won the Sires’ so I’m taking that as an omen,” he said.
Nick Olive’s Single Gaze has placed in all four of her career starts, including a minor placing in the $2 million Magic Millions 2YO Classic (1200m) at the Gold Coast on January 10. She was last seen running second to Takedown in the Group 3 Black Opal Stakes (1200m) in Canberra on March 8.
Rodney Northam’s Odyssey Moon has placed in his last two starts, running second in the Group 2 Skyline Stakes (1200m) on February 28 and third in Saturday’s Group 2 Pago Pago Stakes (1200m).
Gai Waterhouse will deliver a four-horse assault on the 2015 Golden Slipper in her search of a sixth win in the race. Vancouver is the $2.80 favourite in the betting at Ladbrokes.com.au after winning the Group 2 Todman Stakes (1200m) on March 7. The trainer’s other runners are English ($13), Speak Fondly ($17), and Flamboyant Lass ($67).
John O’Shea will also saddle four horses in the race from Godolphin’s impressive bevy of two-year-olds – Haptic ($17), Ottoman ($26), Furnaces ($13), and Exosphere ($4.60).
