Trainer Gai Waterhouse will still set Golden Slipper winner Vancouver for a Spring Carnival Campaign while negotiations continue for a future stud career for the colt.
Negotiations are well under way for a stud career for Vancouver after winning the Golden Slipper Stakes at Rosehill. Photo by Steve Hart.
The Daily Telegraph has reported that a prominent Hunter Valley Thoroughbred Stud is well advanced is securing a deal which could see Vancouver’s value soar to staggering $40 million.
The Medaglia D’Oro colt has been hotly sort after by local and international breeders after he kept his unbeaten record intact with a stunning win in the Group 1 $3.5m Tooheys New Golden Slipper Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill on March 21.
Vancouver went into the Golden Slipper as the $2.50 favourite after winning all three race starts and overcame the outside barrier to win and give jockey Tommy Berry his second Golden Slipper win after taking out the richest two year old race in the world on Overreach in 2013.
The stylish colt had previously won the Listed $100,000 NSW Thoroughbred Breeders’ Plate (1000m) at Randwick in the 2014 Spring Carnival before opening his Autumn campaign with wins in the Group 3 $150,000 Canonbury Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill and Group 2 $300,000 UNSW Todman Stakes (1200m) at Randwick.
Waterhouse resisted the temptation of setting Vancouver for the two year old Triple Crown and decided to send the colt to the paddock before preparing for the Spring Carnival and will miss the Group 1 $1m ATC Sires Produce Stakes (1400m) at Randwick this Saturday and the Group 1 $400,000 Champagne Stakes (1600m) at Randwick a fortnight later.
“If Vancouver going for the triple crown races this autumn, the colt would not be going to the spelling paddock for another month or so,’’ Waterhouse told The Daily Telegraph.
“By turning him out now he can have a longer break and still enjoy the warm weather before winter comes. He will be a better horse for it in the spring.’’
Vancouver’s win was Waterhouse’s sixth Golden Slipper success, equalling her legendary father Tommy Smith’s record of the most Slipper winners.
The ‘First Lady Of The Turf’s’ previous Golden Slipper winners were Ha Ha (2001), Dance Hero (2004), Sebring (2008), Pierro (2012) and Overreach (2013).
Vancouver has been listed as a $13 chance in the 2015 Group 1 $3m Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley during the Melbourne Spring Carnival.
