Paul Perry-trained Modoc will receive the final spot in the 2014 Golden Slipper field after Team Hawkes elected not to include London Lolly in the acceptances for the Group 1 event that will be held at Rosehill Gardens this weekend.
Mossfun will be the sole representative of Team Hawkes in the 2014 Golden Slipper after they elected not to include London Lolly in the acceptances. Photo by: Steve Hart
London Lolly moved up the Golden Slipper order of entry after scoring back-to-back wins in the Listed Chandler Macleod St Albans Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley on March 14 and the Group 3 Breeders Stakes (1200m) at Morphettville last Saturday.
Co-trainer Wayne Hawkes said that he would consider running the daughter of Charge Forward in the Golden Slipper after her strong win last weekend, but John Hawkes told TVN this afternoon that they would look out for the long-term interests of the talented filly and not ask her to back up in the Group 1 event this weekend.
“She is a promising, but we are happy to take the little ones,” Hawkes said.
“We will just wait for another day with her.”
Newcastle-based Modoc was sitting in seventeenth on the 2014 Golden Slipper order of entry, but will now earn a start in the race; giving trainer Paul Perry the chance to score his second win in the Group 1 event after taking out the 2005 edition of the race with Stratum.
Modoc made his racing debut with a victory in the Variety Children’s Charity Maiden (1200m) at Newcastle on January 11 and stamped himself as a juvenile to watch with a dominant six and a half lengths win at Scone on January 24.
The Haradasun gelding finished second in the Inglis Premier (1200m) at Mornington on February 12 and had no luck when making his debut at Group level in the Silver Slipper Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill Gardens on March 1.
Modoc worked home strongly from the back of the field to finish third in the Group 2 Skyline Stakes (1200m) at Royal Randwick on March 15, but was unable to secure himself a place in the Golden Slipper field when he finished fourth behind Time For War in the Group 2 Pago Pago Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday.
Team Hawkes will be represented in the 2014 Golden Slipper by Mossfun, who is on the second line of betting behind Earthquake, and they are chasing their third win in the race after previously tasting success with Guineas in 1997 and Forensics in 2007.
