FIRST LEG OF THE TRIPLE CROWN WEEK THIS WEEK
HAPPY GOLDEN SLIPPER WEEK EVERYONE!
It's about that time of the year when I get a chill of fever -- Triple Crown Fever -- Australian Triple Crown Fever, that is!
FIRST LEG: Golden Slipper (March 22, 2025 $5 million)
SECOND LEG: ATC Sires' Produce Stakes (April 5, 2025 $1 million)
THIRD LEG: Percy Sykes Stakes (April 12, 2025 $1 million)
HAPPY TRIPLE CROWN WEEK EVERYONE!
The Golden Slipper will be held this Saturday March 22, 2025, at Rosehill Racecourse -- FOR US HERE IN THE US IT'S Friday night (1st post 9:00 PM Central Time) March 21, 2025.
The Golden Slipper is scheduled to go off at between 1:00 to 1:30 A.M. Central Time on Friday night March 21, 2025.
Enjoy the night owl horse racing everyone!
The favorite -- actually co-favorites -- are Wodeton and Tempted both of whom are expected to continue to fight out for favoritism for the $5m Golden Slipper until race time after both drew ideally for Saturday's Group 1 showpiece at Rosehill Gardens (originally known as Rosehill Racecourse).
Futures bettors are expected to have a massive payday if favorite Wodeton can deliver on the hype in the Group 1 test this weekend in what would be a horror result for bookmakers.
Here is an excerpt from an Australian horse racing writer:
Tuesday's Golden Slipper [March 18] draw is widely considered one of the most important in all of racing but did little to shake up the top of the market when Wodeton and Tempted drew barriers two and one respectively.
The past four Slipper winners have jumped from inside barrier five while six of the past 18 have been in barrier one.
Long-time favourite Wodeton, trained by Chris Waller, was a $4.50 (or 3-1) favourite with TAB following the barrier draw while Tempted is on the second line of betting at $5 (or 4-1).
"All the favourites did draw particularly well in this year's Golden Slipper and it's the most important barrier draw in all of racing from a betting perspective," TAB senior trader Tim Ryan said at the barrier draw.
"Wodeton, personally I was probably hoping he would have drawn a little bit wider because he has been so popular through futures betting.
"He is over 40 per cent of our total hold in futures betting and is the biggest liability I can ever remember coming into a Slipper for a favoured runner."
Tempted burst into contention with a brilliant effort from the back to win the Group 2 Sweet Embrace Stakes and will connect with two-time Slipper winning rider Blake Shinn.
"I think she can settle handy and have firmed her up $6 (or 5-1) into $5 (or 4-1) (post draw) and I wouldn't be surprised if she challenged for favouritism or even started favourite on Saturday in the Golden Slipper," Ryan added.
Blue Diamond winner Devil Night (barrier 11) was $9 (or 8-1) out to $11 (or 10-1) while Farcited is the $81 outsider of the field.
Okay, you can sense the nervousness of one bookmaker in Australia and you can basically assume the exact same sentiment for all other bookmakers in Australia as Wodeton has been on the radar of most bettors' mind for the past six months.
He has been spectacular in most of his races and you can see why bookmakers are so nervous about this Saturday's race.
But for me, I am going in a different direction and follow the same familiar path as in the past when I picked DEVIL NIGHT to win in the Blue Diamond Stakes on February 22, 2025.
Here is an excerpt of what I said back then:
The BLUE DIAMOND STAKES scheduled to take place Saturday February 22, 2025.
Actually, Saturday in Australia is Friday for us in the US -- Friday night to be exact -- with first post at 9 p.m. Central Time.
The favorite is the undefeated 2yo colt named FIELD OF PLAY (post 5), who is 2 for 2 so far.
As always in Australia, the field size is large -- 16 (would have been 24 if the starting field not been limited to just 16).
Because of the maximum field size, FIELD OF PLAY's post time odd will likely be around 5/2 as the favorite.
Right now, bookmakers are offering bettors $5 for a $1 bet -- meaning, you bet $1 you get $5 back if FIELD OF PLAY wins.
But I like DEVIL NIGHT (post 2) in a mild upset, perhaps at 8-1.
Here is the result:
Devil Night ($16 for a $1 bet or 15-1) held-on to win by a half-head over Tentyris ($21 or 20-1) with Tycoon Star ($17 or 16-1) a further 1-¼ lengths away in third.
Devil Night is a son of 2016 Blue Diamond winner Extreme Choice and was a $1.4 million purchase at the Magic Millions Yearling Sale in 2024.
For the Golden Slipper I will stick to Devil Night (in a very wide post 11) which means he'll be even longer odd than his Blue Diamond odd.
As of right now after the draw Devil Night is being futures bet at 10-1 and by post time this 10-1 will be somewhat like 18 or 19-1 when on-track crowd dive head-first on Wodeton to drive his odd lower.
Music to my ears!
A capacity field of 16 plus two emergencies have accepted for Saturday's Group 1 Golden Slipper (1200m) at Rosehill.
The Kris Lees-trained Rivellino will carry the number one saddlecloth and is one of 11 colts in the field.
Five fillies will take on the 2025 edition of the $5 million dash.
Those fillies are:
12 – WITHIN THE LAW – Bjorn Baker – Jason Collett – 13 – 54.5kg
13 – TEMPTED – James Cummings – Blake Shinn – 1 – 54.5kg
14 – BELLAZAINE – Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott – Regan Bayliss – 15 – 54.5kg
15 – MILITARY TYCOON – Ciaron Maher – Thomas Stockdale – 12 – 54.5kg
16 – MARHOONA – Michael Freedman – Damian Lane – 6 – 54.5kg
Race favourite Wodeton was handed barrier two while Godolphin filly Tempted will step from the inside barrier.
Below is the final field and barrier draw for Saturday's Golden Slipper.
GOLDEN SLIPPER FINAL FIELD
No – Horse – Trainer – Jockey – Barrier – Weight
1 – RIVELLINO – Kris Lees – Hugh Bowman – 3 – 56.5kg
2 – DEVIL NIGHT – Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes – Michael Dee – 11 – 56.5kg
3 – NORTH ENGLAND – Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott – Tim Clark – 9 – 56.5kg
4 – TYCOON STAR – Ben, Will & JD Hayes – Mark Zahra – 5 – 56.5kg
5 – WEST OF SWINDON – Michael, Wayne and John Hawkes – Tyler Schiller – 4 – 56.5kg
6 – BEIWACHT – James Cummings – Adam Hyeronimus – 16 – 56.5kg
7 – SKYHOOK – Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou – Kerrin McEvoy – 8 – 56.5kg
8 – WODETON – Chris Waller – James McDonald – 2 – 56.5kg
9 – KING OF POP – Gerald Ryan & Sterling Alexiou – Zac Lloyd – 18 – 56.5kg
10 – QUIETLY ARROGANT – Peter Snowden – Tommy Berry – 7 – 56.5kg
11 – FARCITED – Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott – Josh Parr – 17 – 56.5kg
12 – WITHIN THE LAW – Bjorn Baker – Jason Collett – 13 – 54.5kg
13 – TEMPTED – James Cummings – Blake Shinn – 1 – 54.5kg
14 – BELLAZAINE – Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott – Regan Bayliss – 15 – 54.5kg
15 – MILITARY TYCOON – Ciaron Maher – Thomas Stockdale – 12 – 54.5kg
16 – MARHOONA – Michael Freedman – Damian Lane – 6 – 54.5kg
17e – ALABAMA MAGIC – Brett Cavanough – Braith Nock – 14 – 54.5kg
18e – NEPOTISM – Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes – TBD – 10 – 56.5kg
HAPPY GOLDEN SLIPPER EVERYONE!
