Recent history has stamped the Silver Slipper as a key Golden Slipper form guide and with a select field stepping out this year, it is again shaping to be a critical pointer.
Of the past 10 winners, three have gone on to capture the Golden Slipper (Farnan, She Will Reign and Mossfun), another three have gone on to place (Cylinder, Best Of Bordeaux and Sunlight) and two others (Time To Reign and Headwater) have finished in the top five.
Saturday’s Silver Slipper (1100m) has attracted an intriguing line up, headed by the return of two colts who struck pre-Christmas blows for the all-conquering Tulloch Lodge stable.
Breeders’ Plate winner Espionage and runner-up Straight Charge, who went on to break his maiden with a stylish Randwick victory in December, will be looking to stake their respective Golden Slipper 2024 claims when they clash again at Rosehill.
With the juvenile showpiece run at the venue four weeks from Saturday, co-trainer Adrian Bott says both youngsters are primed to hit the ground running.
“They are both ready to roll,” Bott said.
“They are quite forward, their goals are every post is a winner from here.”
After getting the stable’s incredible juvenile run started with his win on the opening race day of Sydney’s two-year-old season, Espionage has had the luxury of a lengthy break.
He heads into the autumn on fresh legs and while most of the attention has been on stablemate and Magic Millions winner Storm Boy, a clear-cut Golden Slipper favourite, it has largely been a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’ for Espionage.
“Espionage is the forgotten horse,” Bott said.
“He was put away after the Breeders’ Plate purely to forget about everything else and concentrate on setting him for the Golden Slipper.”
Straight Charge was being set for a Magic Millions tilt but didn’t get to the race after spiking a temperature.
However, the stable is confident it has him back on track and based on his narrow second to Espionage on debut, and the few times the two youngsters have worked together on the training track, Bott says the pair is difficult to split.
“Not so much lately, but in the lead-up to the Breeders’ Plate they did a lot of work together and there was nothing between them,” he said.
Espionage is a narrow $2.30 favourite with betting sites for the Silver Slipper (1100m) with Straight Charge at $2.60, however, the gap is bigger in Golden Slipper markets with Espionage at $13 and his barn mate a $21 chance.