Golden Slipper favourite She Will Reign has drawn barrier five in the seven horse field for the Group 2 $250,000 Silver Slipper Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill on Saturday.
She Will Reign, above, has drawn barrier five in the Silver Slipper Stakes at Rosehill. Photo by Steve Hart.
Melbourne based jockey Ben Melham takes the ride again on She Will Reign after steering the filly to a four lengths win in the Restricted Listed $500,000 Inglis Nursery (1000m) at Randwick on December 17.
The Manhattan Rain filly also impressed track watchers with a sizzling display in her nine lengths Warwick Farm barrier trial win on February 6.
“She felt to have definitely improved and everybody saw her trial and she was ultra impressive,” Melham told The Daily Telegraph.
“The feel she gave me, she felt stronger to me this time than what she did the first time I trialled her (before her first start).
“She is a really sensible filly and she is very brilliant.”
She Will Reign collected $291,100 for winning the Inglis Nursery but that winning cheque is not counted towards her eligibility for the Group 1 $3.5m Longines Golden Slipper (1200m) at Rosehill on March 18 as it was restricted to Inglis Sales graduates.
But a win in the Silver Slipper Stakes will see the Gary Portelli trained filly become ballot free for the Golden Slipper.
She Will Reign will be up against some tough opposition in the Sliver Slipper Stakes with last start winners Veranillo and Khan also highly rated for the Golden Slipper.
The John O’Shea trained Veranillo made it two wins from two starts with an impressive victory in the Listed $125,000 Hinchinbrook Plate (1100m) at Randwick on February 4 and will jump from barrier four in the Silver Slipper Stakes with Brenton Avdulla taking over from the injured James Doyle.
Khan was spelled after winning on debut in the Listed $150,000 Newgate Breeders’ Plate (1000m) at Randwick on October 1 and trainers Peter and Paul Snowden have given the Exceed And Excel colt two barrier trials in preparation for his return to the race track.
The flashy chestnut looked ready for action with a two and a quarter lengths win in an 800m trial at Gosford on February 6 but was out of luck in the barrier draw for the Silver Slipper Stakes, drawing the outside in the seven horse field.
The Team Hawkes trained Showtime with Tommy Berry in the saddle has drawn the rails while the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott trained Mystic Empire will jump from gate two with Adam Hyeronimus to ride.
