Early 2015 Golden Slipper Tips: Vancouver And Exosphere The Standouts

Form analyst Adam Blencowe has Vancouver and Exosphere on top of his 2015 Golden Slipper tips and he believes that the talented duo will fight out the finish of the Group 1 event at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday.

Vancouver is the horse to beat in the 2015 Golden Slipper. Photo by: Steve Hart

Vancouver is the horse to beat in the 2015 Golden Slipper. Photo by: Steve Hart

Six different horses have sat on top of Golden Slipper betting markets since betting opened for the race at the start of the year, but Vancouver stamped himself as a clear favourite with a dominant victory in the Group 2 Todman Stakes (1200m) at Royal Randwick on March 7, while Exosphere put himself in the mix with an excellent effort in the Group 2 Skyline Stakes (1200m) at Warwick Farm on February 28.

Blencowe told RSN that Vancouver and Exosphere have a clear edge over their rivals and believe that the duo should be even shorter than their current Golden Slipper odds.

“I think that it is a race that has a fairly long tail,” Blencowe said.

“The two big guns up the top there certainly deserve to be there.

“Vancouver in the Todman last start posted a genuine Group 1 figure for a two-year-old and stamped himself as the clear top pick in the Slipper.

“As soon as he crossed the line there was no knocking him off the top of Golden Slipper betting and even a bad barrier isn’t going to change that.

“Exosphere hasn’t won the overall figures that Vancouver has, but he has shown plenty of talent and he has a huge turn-of-foot.

“I think that he is within striking distance if things do go awry for Vancouver.

“I think that the rest of them are really going to struggle to go with that pair.”

The likes of Furnaces, Headwater and Ottoman were all Golden Slipper favourites at one point, but the two colts have been big drifters in betting since the Todman Stakes, while Ottoman is yet to record a race win this preparation.

Blencowe does not think that any of the other Sydney-based runners in the 2015 Golden Slipper field can step-up to the level required to beat Vancouver and Exosphere and he does not rate the form coming out of the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes.

“You have horses like Headwater and Furnaces who laid down good markers earlier in their season here and looked like they were going to go to that peak, but they just haven’t taken that step forward,” Blencowe said.

“English is a little bit the same and she needs to step-up to be matching it with Vancouver.

“The Blue Diamond was on the low side of it and horses like Lake Geneva and Reemah are 14 and 15 pounds away from a horse like Vancouver.

“They have lengths to find on that Blue Diamond run.”

Vancouver is currently available at 2015 Golden Slipper odds of $3 with Ladbrokes and is narrow favourite from Exosphere ($4).

About The Author

Thomas Hackett

Thomas is a passionate and opinionated racing journalist and punter who has been obsessed with horse racing since he backed Saintly to win the 1996 Melbourne Cup. An international racing enthusiast, he has his finger on the pulse of racing news not just from Australia but all around the world.