G'DAY, MATES!
HOPE YOU ENJOY THE GOLDEN SLIPPER!
Here is a recap of the race per Australian Press:
What the jockeys said: 2025 Golden Slipper Stakes
Marhoona gave trainer Michael Freedman and Victorian jockey Damian Lane their second wins in the $5 million Group 1 Golden Slipper Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill on Saturday.
Freedman won his other Golden Slipper when combining with his brother Richard and Stay Inside in 2021 while Lane won his aboard Kiamichi in 2019.
Marhoona burst from the ruck in the straight, surging to the front and holding off the fast-finishing Wodeton with Tempted in third.
The victory was Marhoona's second from three starts and took her earnings to more than $3 million.
The two-year-old filly is by Snitzel and Marhoona was his third Golden Slipper winner after Estijaab (2018) and Shinzo (2023).
1st – MARHOONA (Damian Lane) She was great. She's obviously been prepped perfectly for this, just peaking on the day. Not often you come up with a plan and execute it perfectly, well in Group 1s anyway. It really played out how we thought it might and she was great. She just was there to be beaten at the 100m and Wodeton got to us, she really stuck at it, so very brave.
2nd – WODETON (James McDonald) Super. He is such a good horse.
3rd – TEMPTED (Blake Shinn) She ran incredibly. I think she should have arguably won the race. Momentarily got our run impeded when North England and Bellazaine came together. I think that cost us the race. A tough one to swallow. She ran a great race
4th – RIVELLINO (Hugh Bowman) Great run. He needs to jump better than that. After that he gave me the most superb ride. With a bit more luck I think he could have been right in the finish.
5th – DEVIL NIGHT (Michael Dee) Great run. Ended up wide down the straight. Not many horses have made up good ground today.
6th – NORTH ENGLAND (Tim Clark) Got into a good spot. Travelled well throughout. Just when I presented, just maybe missing that run in a high pressure, we were on the back foot a little bit. He tried hard.
7th – SKYHOOK (Kerrin McEvoy) I thought he ran well. Got out into a nice spot. Was able to get into the clear. Even pace coming home. Best is still ahead of him next preparation.
8th – BELLAZAINE (Regan Bayliss) Very proud of her effort. The top three home were those drawn down low not doing much work. Had to offset that wide barrier. Pleased with the way she stuck on.
9th – MILITARY TYCOON (Thomas Stockdale) Couldn't have asked for a better run. Landed in the 1×1 with ease. Travelled nice and strong. Gave a good initial kick but struggled the last 200m. Will continue to mature into a nice three-year-old.
10th – TYCOON STAR (Mark Zahra) Had the right run. When the gap came he couldn't produce it.
11th – BEIWACHT (Adam Hyeronimus) First furlong was nice but it was a disaster after that. No fault to him though. A nice horse raw and learning. Nice next prep.
12th – KING OF POP (Zac Lloyd) He is a lovely colt. He has the most beautiful attitude for a colt. We aimed for the spot we thought we might get. Just didn't get cover. Gone really well. A better horse in the future.
13th – WEST OF SWINDON (Tyler Schiller) I thought he did it quite tough. Got chopped out at the start. Was a lot further back than I hoped. Just had to make a wide run. Probably ran out of fitness lacking that run last week. Really happy with him going forward topping him off for the Sires'.
14th – QUIETLY ARROGANT (Tommy Berry) Not sure what to make of him today. Disappointing.
15th – FARCITED (Joshua Parr) Unfortunately it was all a bit much for him today.
16th – WITHIN THE LAW (Jason Collett) N/A – rider dislodged shortly after the start.
Filly creates Slipper history to erase Freedman's anguish
By Ray Thomas
March 22, 2025
Marhoona raced into Golden Slipper history and gave the Freedman family another win in the world's richest two-year-old at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday.
Trainer Michael Freedman won his second $5m TAB Golden Slipper (1200m) as Marhoona held off Wodeton and Tempted in another Group 1 thriller.
Freedman said Marhoona erased the disappointment of 12 months ago when Manaal finished a luckless fifth in the big race.
"Manaal drew wide and had a horror run before finishing fifth,'' Freedman said.
"I went home that night feeling it was the Golden Slipper that maybe got away.
"So, to come back here and win it for the same owners, Emirates, with a home-bred filly is a great thrill. These races aren't easy to win.''
Marhoona ($8) enjoyed the run of the race under jockey Damian Lane before surging to the front inside the final 200m and holding of the fast-finishing Wodeton ($7) to win by a head with the unlucky Tempted ($4.80 favourite) a half-length away third.
The Golden Slipper, Sydney's signature race, never fails to disappointing and the 69th running of the famous two-year-old race was one to remember.
The highlights – and lowlights – included:
• Freedman won his second Golden Slipper after preparing Stay Inside to win in 2021 when in a training partnership with his brother Richard.
• Older brother, Lee Freedman, won four Golden Slippers with Bint Marscay (1993), Danzero (1994) Flying Spur (1995) and Merlene (1996).
• Marhoona was having only her third start and equal the record set 50 years ago by Toy Show as the most inexperienced Slipper winner.
• Lane won his second Slipper after his success on Kiamichi in 2019.
• Chris Waller trained three successive Group 1 second placegetters by the barest of margins – short half head (Aeliana, Rosehill Guineas), nose (Fangirl, George Ryder Stakes), head (Wodeton, Golden Slipper).
• Within The Law crashed through the running rail near the 800m but the filly and jockey Jason Collett escaped injury.
Freedman admitted he was concerned Marhoona's lack of race experience could prove her undoing in a high pressure Golden Slipper.
"If I'm being honest, I said to a few people, earlier today, I thought maybe it would have been nice to have had one more run under our belt,'' Freedman said.
"When she won at Canterbury at first start (February 7), she ripped half a foot off winning that race, and I thought you're tough.
"She bounced back from it, went to the Reisling a month later, and it's a bit of an unusual preparation, I guess, going into a Slipper at your third start. But, yeah, she's a special filly."
Freedman doesn't have the huge numbers in work of some of Sydney's bigger stables so to win two Golden Slippers in five years is an outstanding achievement.
"We are a small stable and taking on these big numbers in such a competitive environment as Sydney racing, you just have to do the best you can,'' he said.
"You know, we've been through the ups and downs with the family over a lot of years with these sort of good results, bad results, but this is a huge thrill for my team.
"For Sophie (Johnson, and Ben Duckworth, who's sort of been in the team for about a year now, I'm as happy for them as I am anything else because they just put so much work in.
"I just try and stay out of their way a little bit, I think. I think my personal view is good two-year-olds almost train themselves a little bit. You've just got to stay out of the way."
Freedman also singled out Lane for particular praise after his brilliant winning ride.
"Damian gave the filly an amazing ride,'' he said. "
"We had a chat this morning about where we thought she might end up in the run.
"When I saw him peel off heels at the top of the straight I though we are a chance here.
"He's a champion rider, we were lucky to get a jockey of his caliber at such a late stage.''
Lane said Marhoona jumped well, settled into a forward position and enjoyed a good through the race.
"She was great,'' Lane said. "She's obviously been prepped perfectly for this, just peaking on the day. Not often you come up with a plan and execute it perfectly in Group 1 races.
"It really played out how we thought it might and she was great. She just was there to be beaten at the 100m and Wodeton got to us, she really stuck at it, so very brave."
USERS COMMENTS
Van
12 hours ago
Can’t knock the winner, but both Tempted and Wodeton had no favours in the running. Jumping from barrier 3 might not have been as favourable as many had thought for Wodeton. Had to make up a lot of ground and only missed by a small margin.
The filly had a dream run and held on bravely.
As for the article titled: 'Filly creates Slipper history' it refers to this:
Marhoona was having only her third start and equal the record set 50 years ago by Toy Show as the most inexperienced Slipper winner.
Here is a pre-race story about the history:
A Show like no other: Are 50-year Slipper records about to fall?
The two oldest records in Golden Slipper history are under siege at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday -- 50 years since they were established by Toy Show in Sydney's signature two-year-old race.
It was 1975 when the Tommy Smith-trained Toy Show made her race debut only 31 days before the Golden Slipper, winning easily at the Canterbury midweeks.
Toy Show's second start was in the Magic Night Stakes which she won to qualify for the Golden Slipper.
The brilliant Toy Show, who Smith once said was as good as any two-year-old he trained, backed up a week later to win the Golden Slipper from her stablemate Denise's Joy.
On the 50th anniversary of Toy Show's famous win, she remains the most inexperienced Golden Slipper winner of all time with just two lead-up starts.
No other Golden Slipper winner has made their debut so close to the big race than Toy Show, either.
But both of Toy Show's records could be broken in the Group 1 $5 million TAB Golden Slipper (1200m) at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday. There are seven two-year-olds who are challenging the filly's longstanding achievements including:
• Devil Night, West Of Swindon, King Of Pop, Farcited, Military Tycoon and Marhoona have only had two previous starts.
• Second emergency Nepotism has had only one race prior to the Golden Slipper.
• King Of Pop made his race debut 31 days ago when he won at Warwick Farm.
• Farcited won on debut at Canberra just 29 days before the Golden Slipper.
• Nepotism went to the races for just the first time 14 days ago.
Toy Show's jockey, Kevin Langby, recalls the filly had another problem – she had to overcome barrier 15.
"An inside gate is always beneficial, particularly around Rosehill, but Toy Show had brilliant gate speed,'' Langby said.
"She ended up outside the leader to the turn then kicked away to win easily. She was just too good for them.
"I also won the Golden Slipper on John's Hope in 1972 from a wide barrier. He was like Toy Show, he was fast out of the barriers and got across to be outside the leader.''
Langby said Toy Show was an outstanding two-year-old and her sheer natural ability enabled her to become the most inexperienced Golden Slipper winner in history.
Toy Show trained on to win the Thousand Guineas, Newmarket Handicap and William Reid Stakes as an older horse despite having persistent back problems throughout her career.
Langby also won the Golden Slipper on Hartshill (1974) when the filly drew barrier one and never left the fence before winning easily.
"Hartshill got a lovely run behind the leader, Forina, who had won the Blue Diamond,'' Langby recalled. "But Forina hung out and Hartshill got the rails run.''
Langby should have won four Golden Slippers – in succession – but champion colt and odds-on favourite Imagele was involved in a sensational three-horse fall in the 1973 Golden Slipper.
"Imagele would have won the Slipper easily,'' Langby said.
"It was the eventual winner, Tontonan, who pushed up inside me and his shoulder hit Imagele's rump, turned me on an angled and my horse clipped heels and came down.''
Imagele suffered broken ribs and other injuries in the fall but he returned in the spring and reeled off successive wins in the Hobartville Stakes, Canterbury Guineas, Rosehill Guineas and AJC Derby.
But fast forward to the present and Langby is standing by his theory that inside barriers are an advantage in the Golden Slipper by selecting Tempted to beat Wodeton and Rivellino. The trio have drawn barriers one, two and three respectively.
"I'm leaning to Tempted,'' Langby said.
"I think barrier one will suit her and I'd prefer one than 16. Blake Shinn is riding so well, I'm not concerned about her being caught on the inside.''
GODOLPHIN maestro James Cummings is chasing a second Golden Slipper with either Tempted or Beiwacht.
Tempted, a last start Reisling Stakes winner, is at $5 equal favourite on TAB Fixed Odds with Wodeton, while stablemate and Silver Slipper winner Beiwacht is out to $51,
Cummings, who trained the 2019 Golden Slipper quinella with Kiamichi and Microphone, said Tempted had come through her Reisling Stakes win in "good style" and was at her peak for the Golden Slipper.
"She is better for that run at Randwick, she's improved again a fraction from the Reisling,'' Cummings said.
"I think the barrier draw is an advantage for Tempted. It gives Blake Shinn the opportunity to not be too worried about the first half of the race.
"He just needs to assertively hold his position and let the race unfold around him."
Beiwacht is something of a forgotten horse in the Golden Slipper as he is coming off a disappointing unplaced Todman Stakes run and he's drawn out wide.
