Tulip secured a place in the 2017 Golden Slipper field with a win in the Magic Night Stakes at Rosehill Gardens this afternoon, but she is no certainty to contest the world richest two-year-olds event.
It was Limbo Soul that went into the Magic Night Stakes as a clear favourite and Tulip was a drifter, but Limbo Soul was one of the first horses beaten and it was left to Alizee and Tulip to fight out the finish.
Alizee was in for the fight, but Tulip was too good in the final stages and she claimed a comfortable Magic Night Stakes victory.
Kerrin McEvoy could not have been more impressed with the performance of Tulip and he believes that her Magic Night Stakes form really enhances the form of the Ladbrokes Blue Diamond Stakes heading into the Golden Slipper.
“It is probably the strongest contest that we have had in the two-year-old races so far and it came to the fore there,” McEvoy said.
“She has done it quiet nicely.
“I was trapped a little bit on the edge of the group, but she handled herself perfectly this way of going.
“I always thought that I was the winner once I had Alizee in my sights and she was able to do it.”
The winner of the Magic Night Stakes earns ballot-exempt entry into the Golden Slipper field, but Tulip is no certainty to take her place in the race.
The Lindsay Park team already have three runners in the Golden Slipper field and trainer David Hayes said that the daughter of Pierro could be saved for the Group 1 Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) at Royal Randwick on April 1.