First thoughts on one of Saturday’s big races
It is Golden Slipper Day at Rosehill and the Sydney meeting will take place in a sombre atmosphere after the tragic death of Nathan Berry on Thursday at the age of 23.Condolences to Nathan’s family, particularly his brother Tommy and wife Whitney, the daughter of Glyn Schofield and the sister of Chad Schofield. It will be emotional day at Rosehill and a Golden Slipper victory for Valentia (Tommy), Scratch Me Lucky (Glyn), Bring Me The Maid (Chad) or Unencumbered (the Magic Millions winner whom Nathan would have partnered in different circumstances) would reduce everyone to tears.
At the risk of being boring, we cannot look past the top two runners in the Golden Slipper market, the unbeaten Earthquake and the mud-loving filly that followed her home in the Reisling Stakes, Mossfun.
It is impossible to knock Earthquake. She made an excellent debut immediately after which Christian Reith jumped off and sing her praises. Then she came back from three months away to win back-to-back races in Melbourne, including the Blue Diamond Stakes from a difficult barrier, before last month winning the Reisling Stakes quite comfortably from Mossfun.
A reproduction of any of Earthquake’s last three runs would probably be sufficient to win the Golden Slipper and, while she is yet to race on rain-affected ground, two of her four siblings have won on wet tracks and one of them, Palomares, took out a Listed event over 1,400m on a slow-six surface.
If the top 16 thoroughbreds in the Golden Slipper order of entry stand their ground then Earthquake will have gate 12 in the world’s richest two-year-old race. That may end up being a blessing rather than a curse because the likely leaders, Eloping and Oakleigh Girl, are drawn nearby. Earthquake could get a nice trail behind that pair.
Probably the greatest concern for Earthquake backers is that her trainer, Peter Snowden, said that she had an elevated temperature early in the week. Her jockey, Kerrin McEvoy, reported subsequently that it was nothing about which to worry and that, in terms of work, she had missed zero. The difference was between galloping on Tuesday, which had been the original plan, and galloping on Wednesday instead.
One day before the Golden Slipper and we have Earthquake on top of Mossfun, with Alpha Miss, Cornrow, Bring Me The Maid and Ghibellines next in line. We could give a chance to Jabali but his first clockwise performance was dreadful.
Earthquake is our early top pick for the Golden Slipper
Written by Brystar
