The First Lady Of The Australian Turf Gai Waterhouse admits that flying filly She Will Reign is the one to beat in the Group 2 $250,000 Silver Slipper Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill on Saturday.
She Will Reign, above, is the short priced favourite for the Silver Slipper Stakes at Rosehill. Photo by Steve Hart.
Waterhouse is always openly confident about the chances of all her runners but this time she can see her filly Mystic Empire not matching strides with the Gary Portelli trained She Will Reign.
“She Will Reign is the one to beat,’’ Waterhouse told The Daily Telegraph.
“Gary Portelli’s filly is very, very good, she looks a natural two-year-old and if she runs up to her recent barrier trial she should win this race easily.’’
“I think she will probably be too good.’’
Both fillies are raced by Darby Racing Syndications and will carry the same colours except for a different cap, but She Will Reign is the dominant favourite for the Silver Slipper Stakes at $1.60 with Ladbrokes.com.au while Mystic Empire is one of the outsiders in the seven horse field at $21.
She Will Reign is the winner of her only two race starts with an eight and a quarter lengths win in a 1000m Kembla Grange 2yo Maiden on December 10 followed by a four lengths win in the Restricted Listed $500,000 Inglis Nursery (1000m) at Randwick on December 17.
A blistering nine lengths victory in a recent 808m barrier trial at Warwick Farm with race day jockey Ben Melham in the saddle indicated that She Will Reign is still in sizzling form for her Golden Slipper countdown.
All Too Hard filly Mystic Empire is yet to salute the judge but showed a lot of improvement at her second race start when second to Teaspoon in the Group 3 $150,000 Widden Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill on January 28 after running sixth on debut in the Listed $150,000 Keeneland Gimcrack Stakes (1000m) at Randwick on October 1.
Waterhouse who trains in partnership with Adrian Bott was happy with Mystic Empire’s last start second and expects the filly to keep on improving.
“Mystic Empire produced a terrific run and her work has been outstanding since. She is a happy filly and a speedy filly,’’ Waterhouse said.
Adam Hyeronimus is the new rider for Mystic Empire, taking over from Tim Clark who been aboard the filly at her two race starts.
She Will Reign is currently the $5 favourite for the Group 1 $3.5m Longines Golden Slipper (1200m) at Rosehill on March 18 and win in the Silver Slipper Stakes will cement her spot at the top of the market order at Ladbrokes.com.au.
