Two-year-old Godolphin filly Ottoman was always well-tipped to win the TAB Place Multi Plate (1100m) at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse on Saturday, the filly’s debut run, after a successful barrier trial at Warwick Farm on December 9 that she won by over one length.
James McDonald (pictured here on Pornichet) rode Ottoman to her debut win at Rosehill on Saturday, which led her to favourite in the Golden Slipper betting. Photo by Sarah Ebbett.
Ottoman was the consistent odds-on favourite leading into the race and despite getting checked in the early stages, which forced her to the back of the field, she managed to come back in the concluding stages and win a head away from Miss Idyllic with Pride Of Dubai in third place.
“She has always shown good ability at home and her trial was impressive but she really had to dig deep today,” assistant trainer Darren Beadman told TVN.
“You don’t often see horses overcome difficulty and win like that, let alone at their first start.”
The win also caused Ottoman to shoot to the top of the early 2015 Golden Slipper odds at Ladbrokes.com.au where she is paying $7 to win the richest race for two-year-olds ahead of fellow Godolphin horse Furnaces at $9.
Ottoman’s connections must now decide the best course to take towards the Group 1 Golden Slipper (1200m) after sending the filly to the paddock on Sunday.
The filly could have two more possible starts leading into the $3.5 million feature race on March 21, including the Group 2 Reisling Stakes (1200m) a fortnight before the Slipper at Randwick Racecourse.
Whether she has an additional run before then will be decided when trainer John O’Shea returns from a break in Canada, according to Godolphin racing manager Jason Walsh.
“We’ll discuss if we give her one more before the Reisling as she still has a fair bit to learn,” he said.
“She’s quite a smart filly. We had a big opinion of her going into it and it was good to see her get away with it like that.
“You don’t see too many two-year-olds pull that sort of ground off them that late. I think she may have even peaked on her run 100 metres out, but was still tough enough to get by.
“She’s a really exciting filly for next year.”
