The ATC has received 196 Second Acceptances for the 2013 Tooheys New Golden Slipper to be run at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday, 6 April. Nineteen are yet to be named which adds to the intrigue as to whether we have seen this year’s winner debut yet.
Among them are Shaun Dwyer’s unbeaten Victorian filly Villa Verde (Not A Single Doubt) and Gai Waterhouse’s ATC Breeder’s Plate winning colt Whittington Tale Of The Cat (USA).
Dwyer has labelled Villa Verde, who heads the order of entry, the best two-year-old he’s had since Regimental Gal, while Waterhouse will be looking to repeat the Breeders Plate – Golden Slipper double for the second consecutive year, having famously declared Pierro the future Golden Slipper winner after his Breeders Plate debut win some six months prior to the Golden Slipper last season.
Trainers of the last two Golden Slipper winners Gai Waterhouse (Pierro) and Peter Snowden (Sepoy) head the second acceptors.
The Tooheys New Golden Slipper is renowned globally in breeding circles as one of the most – if not the most – influential race to its breeding industry.
Of the 196 second acceptors, almost half (90) are sons or daughters of stallions who have been Golden Slipper final acceptors in the field of 16.
Vinery Stud’s dual Golden Slipper sire More Than Ready (USA) shares top billing with Coolmore’s reigning Champion sire Fastnet Rock with 16 acceptors each. Darley’s Exceed And Excel has 15 while Arrowfield’s champion sire Redoute’s Choice, also a sire of two Golden Slipper winners has 10.
Widden Stud’s Golden Slipper winner Sebring leads the list of first season sires with 13, slightly ahead of his barn mate Northern Meteor with 12. Sebring will be aiming to join elite company of Golden Slipper winners who have also sired a winner of that race, which was last achieved by Stratum in 2010 when Crystal Lily saluted in his debut crop.
The countdown to the final field of 16 will commence in the coming weeks through the Blue Diamond Stakes form in Melbourne and the two-year-old stakes features in Sydney which commence with the Widden (L) and Canonbury Stakes (L) on 16 February.
Seven spots are up for grabs with the following ballot exemption races during The BMW Sydney Carnival:
· Patinack Farm Silver Slipper Stakes – 2 March
· Les Johnson Memorial Sweet Embrace Stakes – 16 March
· Hylands Race Colours Skyline Stakes – 16 March
· Moet & Chandon Stakes (Reisling Stakes) – 23 March
· Spotless Todman Stakes – 23 March
· Parramatta Leagues Club Magic Night Stakes – 30 March
· Bowermans Office Furniture Pago Pago Stakes – 30 March
“The Tooheys New Golden Slipper is always an eagerly anticipated event which has a huge reach across all of the industry’s stakeholders,” said ATC EGM Racing, Matt Rudolph.
“It’s a grand-slam event for trainers and jockeys, a potential life-changer for owners and breeders and a puzzle of fast moving parts for racegoers and punters right up until the last qualifying races the week before.”
“The question we all love to ask at this time of the year is have we seen the Slipper winner yet?”
Source : Australian Turf Club
