Favorite Draws Wide For Slipper

Unbeaten race favorite and ‘TDN Rising Star’ Vancouver (Aus) (Medaglia d’Oro) drew the second-widest in gate 18 at Tuesday’s barrier draw for Saturday’s A$3.5 million G1 Golden Slipper, but trainer Gai Waterhouse was unfazed by the blow handed her leading fancy. 

“I never worry about barriers because you can’t do anything about them,” Waterhouse said. “We have an outside barrier and there will be a scrimmage going on inside. He can go forward and he can go back. [Jockey] Tommy [Berry] has won a Golden Slipper and he was bang up on the fence and he will be using his brains from the outside there.” 

Should the three also-eligibles fail to gain an entry, Vancouver will exit from barrier 15. 

Waterhouse will be looking to equal the record of six Golden Slipper winners set by her late father, the Hall of Fame trainer T J Smith, and she has three chances to do so. Vancouver’s stablemates English (Aus) (Encosta de Lago {Aus}) andSpeak Fondly (Aus) (Northern Meteor {Aus})–both fillies–fared more favorably in the draw, landing in six and 12, respectively. 

“I love this race and I think it is the most exciting race in the world,” Waterhouse said. “It symbolizes everything that we stand for, which is all about vitality, all about youth and every stallion that is worth its stamp has come out of this race. This is the stallion- making race of Australia and the world.” 

The success of Godolphin’s juveniles has been a major talking point all season Down Under, and Sheikh Mohammed’s operation has four chances to cap a glittering campaign in the world’s richest juvenile race. The John O’Shea quartet fared better in the draw overall than the Waterhouse clan; second choice Exosphere (Aus) (Lonhro {Aus}) will exit from barrier 10 under newly contracted rider James McDonald, while Furnaces (Aus) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) jumps from the rail; Haptic (Aus) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) from the three; and ‘TDN Rising Star’ Ottoman (Aus) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) from the eight.