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Sunlight

Sunlight to Shine if Wet Golden Slipper 2018

Lucy Henderson March 19, 2018

Sunlight to Shine if Wet Golden Slipper 2018

Jockey Luke Currie is keeping an eye on the Sydney weather forecast predicting his filly Sunlight as a hard-to-beat favourite if we get a wet Rosehill track for the iconic 2018 Golden Slipper Stakes on Saturday.

Sunlight

2018 Golden Slipper favourite Sunlight could handle a wet Rosehill track this weekend in the $3.5 million classic according to jockey Luke Currie. Photo: Steve Hart.

Tony McEvoy’s star daughter of Zoustar put the writing on the wall ahead of the Group 1 $3.5 million Golden Slipper (1200m) with a final lead-up win in the Group 3 $175,000 Magic Night Stakes (1200m) over the weekend.

Her impressive all-the-way effort saw her salute as the odds-on favourite making it five straight wins and back-to-back Rosehill victories before her shot at the world’s richest race for two-year-olds.

Currie was back aboard the $1.8 million earning filly, her Magic Millions 2YO Classic winning hoop having missed her other Rosehill win when Tim Clark partnered her to victory in the Group 2 Silver Slipper Stakes (1100m).

“She showed a lot of speed from the barriers and just got softened up a little bit mid-race but we held them late and she’s going to improve a lot off that fitness-wise,” Currie told Racing Victoria on Sunday speaking of Sunlight’s Magic Night Stakes win.

“I thought she needed it [the run] a bit more than she did on the Gold Coast.

“She had a run a week leading up to the Magic Millions on the Gold Coast – but she probably needed it a bit more this time.”

Rock hard fit and ready to fire, Sunlight is the dominant $3.60 favourite in pre-field Golden Slipper odds at Ladbrokes.com.au heading into the Group 1 on the quick back-up.

Further boosting her chances according to Currie would be a rain-affected track, which could be a reality with rain forecast in Sydney from Tuesday – Friday.

“That would probably be a plus given she’s had a run this week to get her rock hard fit for next week,” he said.

“She’s only trialled on a wet track – it was a wet track [Heavy 9] at Cranbourne when she trialled [last September] and she seemed to love it, albeit a fresh wet track – there hadn’t been any racing over it.”

The fillies have an outstanding recent record over the boys in the Golden Slipper results with three wins in the past five years including the success of She Will Reign in 2017.

While confident, Currie was also wary of the major danger Written By who won the Group 3 $175,000 Pago Pago Stakes (1200m) 40 minutes after the Magic Night Stakes in a half-second quicker time.

“Written By won well and won in quicker time than her,” he said.

“It is going to be a very good race next week. She hasn’t won it yet. They are never in the bag until after the race.”

The Grahame Begg-trained Written Tycoon colt Written By had his first start since taking out Melbourne’s Group 1 Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) and proved he could handle the Sydney way of racing no worries.

Jockey Jordan Childs has partnered Written By to all four of his career wins to date and also expressed his respect for rival Sunlight heading into the big one this weekend.

“Obviously Sunlight won well again yesterday so Sunlight and my horse are the two main chances,” he said.

“During the race, he got around it [the Rosehill track] OK but having that run, it’s going to put him in good stead for next week.

“He keeps improving and its sort of scary knowing he’s only a two-year-old seeing how far he’s come.”

Written By occupies the second line of all-in Golden Slipper betting at $5, the youngster looking to do the Pago Pago – Golden Slipper double for the first time since Stratum (2005).

Check out the latest Golden Slipper 2018 odds online now at Ladbrokes.com.au before prices firm with final acceptances on Tuesday morning.

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