Words by Ray Thomas, Daily Telegraph
TRAINER IGNITES BATTLE OF THE SEXES WITH SLIPPER BID
FOUR Moves Ahead, one of the few fillies in the race, continues to be the big firmer in the countdown to the $3.5 million Longines Golden Slipper at Rosehill Gardens tomorrow.
Profiteer is the $3.60 favourite to win the big race but Four Moves Ahead has come in from $9 at the start of the week to be on the third line of Slipper betting at $5.50.
Fillies are outnumbered in the Golden Slipper tomorrow with only five making it into the final 15-horse field but Four Moves Ahead is the only unbeaten two-year-old in the race.
Her trainer John Sargent has waited more than 40 years to get a two-year-old good enough to make the Slipper field and is confident she can match the “boys” in the world’s richest two-yearold race.
“I know if Four Moves Ahead gets in a dogfight, her ears will go back and she will try her best,’’ Sargent said.
“Hopefully she can show the fillies are as good as, or better, than the colts.’’
Racing scion Tom Waterhouse, one of Sydney’s most astute punters, is adamant Profiteer is clearly the horse to beat in the Golden Slipper.
“Profiteer and Stay Inside have held their positions at the top of the Slipper market for some weeks now,’’ Waterhouse said.
“But of the two, I would be most keen to be on Profiteer. I thought he over-raced quite badly in the Todman Stakes but still hung on well to finish second behind Anamoe.
“If Hugh Bowman is able to conserve some of that energy early in the Golden Slipper, then he appeals to me as the hardest to beat.
“If the track gets to a soft 7, I would be even more confident,” he said.
Waterhouse, a former bookmaker who now operates a successful punting business, suggested Artorius and Ingratiating, who ran the quinella in the Blue Diamond Stakes, were “over the odds” in the Golden Slipper.
The Golden Slipper meeting is the only race day in the southern hemisphere that boasts five Group 1 races and Australian Turf Club officials are expecting a bumper crowd of more than 15,000 to Rosehill Gardens.
Remarkably, despite almost 400mm of rain over the past 10 days, the Rosehill track was moving towards being rated in the soft range for Slipper Day.
ATC’s track manager Nevesh Ramdhani said the Rosehill track would present a “safe surface that will be conducive to some spectacular racing” tomorrow.
“The grass cover is immaculate and I think this track will surprise a lot of people how well it will race on Slipper Day,’’ Ramdhani told The Daily Telegraph. “I would expect we will go up as a heavy 8 on the morning of the Golden Slipper but there is every chance we will get back into the soft range during the race meeting.’’
Original Source: Daily Telegraph, Published Friday 26th March, Page 15
