Flying filly Bold Bastille will not chase Saturday’s Golden Slipper Stakes, with connections preferring to play the long game with the impressive speedster.
Part-owner Ozzie Kheir said on Monday morning that Bold Bastille will not travel interstate in her juvenile season, with connections eyeing a spring campaign that would mirror that of former star sprinting filly Coolangatta.
“We won’t be going to the Slipper,” Kheir said. “I spoke to the stable yesterday and our preference at the moment is to keep her in Victoria.
“There’s a 1000-metre race in Bendigo worth $250,000 in a couple of weeks then there’s the Showdown (1200m) at Caulfield about three weeks later worth $1 million.
“Then, we’ll put her out and hopefully she’s good enough to go to a Moir and, if so, we’ll do a Coolangatta 2.0.”
Coolangatta did contest the Slipper in her juvenile year, finishing third in 2022, before a spring campaign that resulted in a Group 1 Moir Stakes (1000m) victory at The Valley.
She then returned in the autumn to snare the G1 Black Caviar Lightning (1000m) at Flemington, which earned her a trip to Royal Ascot.
An untimely setback saw Bold Bastille miss the Blue Diamond Stakes and will also mean she won’t be ready for Saturday’s Slipper after her dominant performance at Caulfield last Saturday over 1100m.
“Bold Bastille was unfortunate she had that setback for a couple of weeks but with the campaign she’s had and what we think of her, we’ll keep to this plan and build her up for a Moir,” Kheir said.
Kheir and his fellow owners will still chase two G1s at Rosehill on Saturday with import Buckaroo to run in the George Ryder Stakes (1500m) and unbeaten Immediacy to contest the Rosehill Guineas (2000m).
Kheir said Immediacy will challenge the likes of G1 winners Militarize, Tom Kitten and Riff Rocket.
“It’s a very good field but he’s still on the up and he will run a very good race,” Kheir said of Immediacy.
“The Derby was always the plan to go fifth-up and I do think the Derby is the race that he’s going to excel in. But he’s certainly not out of the Rosehill Guineas.”
– racing.com
