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What's your favourite Golden Slipper memory?

Golden Slipper day is one of the biggest and best race days in the year (AAP Image/Quentin Jones)
Roar Guru
19th March, 2015
17

First run in 1957 and won by the great horse Todman – by an astounding eight lengths – the Golden Slipper is the world’s richest two-year-old race, and undoubtedly the best.

It’s hard to pick out the best of so many highlights over the past 40 or so years.

Maybe it’s my first real memory of the race, the 1977 win by Luskin Star, who absolutely demolished his opposition, careering away to win by a widening seven-length margin. There hasn’t been a more dominant win since.

Or the great Manikato, who completed the Blue Diamond/Golden Slipper double a year later, and went on to be one of the greatest Australian sprinters of all time.

Then there was the great TJ Smith grey filly Bounding Away, who repeated the dose in 1986 to remain undefeated in her five starts to that point.

Perhaps it was during the 1990s, which saw the emergence of the great sire Danehill, fathering three consecutive winners from 1994-96, all under the tutelage of the great Victorian trainer Lee Freedman. Catbird made it four for Danehill’s offspring in 1999, and remains the only horse in history to win the Canberra Black Opal/Golden Slipper double.

The Gai Waterhouse-trained Ha Ha gave Danehill his fifth winner in 2001, and his legacy lives on to this day, with four of his sons (Danzero, Redoute’s Choice, Flying Spur and Exceed And Excel) siring five winners between them, and grandson Stratum (winner in 2005) siring Crystal Lily in 2010.

What about the ‘brash’ New Zealand jockey Shane Dye, who completed an amazing quartet of victories from 1989-92, the latter two for Warwick Farm-trainer Clarrie Connors.

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Clarrie has a trifecta of wins, including the Chris Munce-ridden Prowl in 1998 (Burst and Tierce the others.) Perhaps his crowning glory though was making it four victories in 2000, with the breathtaking win of the John Singleton-owned Belle Du Jour. She stumbled out of the barriers and looked a forlorn hope, but jockey Lenny Beasley refused to panic, plotting a path to victory from last to first down the Rosehill straight, amidst amazing scenes of disbelief and jubilation.

For Banana Benders it might be Calaway Gal, who became the first Queensland success, and first late-entry winner in 1992. Or Dance Hero, who made it two winners for Gai Waterhouse (and gave Chris Munce his second winner) in 2004, to complete the Gold Coast Magic Millions/Golden Slipper double.

He may well have been the fastest two-year-old we have ever seen, having won both of those races in under 69 seconds. And the opposition he beat into the placings (Charge Forward, Alinghi and Fastnet Rock), lays credence to his Slipper field being the strongest of all time. Even tenth placed Econsul went on to win the Caulfield Guineas during the Melbourne Spring of that year.

Maybe it was 2006, which saw a remarkable win by the beautifully bred Arrowfield stud mare Miss Finland? She responded positively to having blinkers added by trainer David Hayes, who had done the same with a couple of his previous Blue Diamond Stakes winners in Melbourne. In the home straight that day the rail was thought to be far inferior to the outside lanes on a slow track, but jockey Craig Williams, a judicious track walker, had other ideas, piloting her toward the rail on straightening, while every other horse tracked wide.

The rest is history, with the robust mare demoralising her opposition to record a resounding 2.5 length victory. She may have won the race whatever path Craig Williams had chosen, but it was surely one of the boldest rides ever seen on an Australian racetrack.

Breeding buffs might beg to differ too, because in 2008 and 2009 a somewhat obscure Vinery stud sire named More Than Ready produced consecutive winners in Sebring and Phelan Ready, both on very wet tracks. Both came from well back in the field to win, not a common factor for Golden Slipper winners.

It was a remarkable era for him as a sire, given his Daughter Augusta Proud had won the Adelaide and Gold Coast Magic Millions races in 2008 (she ran fifth to Sebring in Golden Slipper), and Phelan Ready also won the Gold Coast MM in 2009.

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2014 was also amazing, not so much for the winner Mossfun, but the fact that the fillies managed to fill the first seven placings from only eight representatives on a heavy track. While we will see many more great winners, riding feats, trainer triumphs, and breeding anomalies, it’s doubtful we will ever see as dominant a statistic as that.

Could this year provide another amazing page in the history book of the great race? That fate probably lies with the favoured pairing of colts Vancouver and Exosphere. Both have won by big margins in preparation for the race this year, and very few past winners have been as impressive in a lead-up race.

The Devil can often be in the detail though, so let’s sit back and enjoy the rollercoaster ride that is the Golden Slipper.

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