G'DAY, MATES!
SECOND LEG OF THE TRIPLE CROWN THIS WEEK
HAPPY SECOND LEG OF THE TRIPLE CROWN EVERYONE!
The first leg, the Golden Slipper, went to Marhoona who is being freshened and the third-place finisher of that race -- the filly Tempted -- is being pointed to the $1 million Percy Syke Stakes next week (April 12) running against horses of her own sex where she is expected to win as an odd-on favorite.
Music to my ears!
That leaves the second and fourth-place finishers Wodeton and Rivellino, respectively, to fight out for the second leg grand prize.
Here is what the jockeys said about their mount for each of the first four finishers.
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.
As for the second leg, it's a two-horse race between Wodeton and Rivellino.
A field of 10 was declared for the second leg of the Sydney two-year-old Triple Crown, Australia's third juvenile Group 1 of the season.
Here is the field and barrier draw for the $1 million Group 1 ATC Sires' Produce Stakes.
Date: Saturday April 5, 2025 (Friday night for us here in the US)
Track: Randwick
No. – Horse – Trainer – Jockey – Barrier – Weight
1 – RIVELLINO – Kris Lees – Hugh Bowman – 6 – 56.5kg
2 – WODETON – Chris Waller – Ryan Moore – 9 – 56.5kg
3 – VINROCK – Matt Laurie – Mark Zahra – 1 56.5kg
4 – PRESTIGE FOREVER – David Brideoake & Matt Jenkins – Jamie Mott – 10 – 56.5kg
5 – STATE VISIT – Ciaron Maher – Jason Collett – 5 – 56.5kg
6 – BUFFALO – David Atkins – Zac Purton – 4 – 56.5kg
7 – NORDIC VIKING – John Sargent – Craig Williams – 3 – 56.5kg
8 – NAVY PILOT – Ciaron Maher – Zac Lloyd – 2 – 56.5kg
9 – FEDERALIST – Michael, John & Wayne Hawkes – Nash Rawiller – 8 – 56.5kg
10 – BELLAZAINE – Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott – Tim Clark – 7 – 54.5kg
I watched the replay of the Golden Slipper lots and lots of times and I am still having a hard time seperating the two for this race, so I'm going to leave the final decision to you all as to which one to use to play this weekend.
IT'S A TWO-HORSE RACE !!!
Wodeton broke evenly third-last of 16 horses and continued evenly thereafter on the inside while racing close to the rail -- still near the back of the field for the first three furlongs.
He seemed to struggle a little bit on the somewhat soft going in the early part of the race but found his best footing once in the straight away where he really was weaving through traffic and almost won the race.
He missed by a head for the win.
Wodeton is a highly regarded 2yo colt and he has been on the radar of most bettors' mind for the past six months due to the fact that Wodeton got a bidding frenzy during the bidding process in the yearling sales six months ago that resulted him being bought by his current owner for $1.6 million as a yearling in 2024.
So clearly he is the cream of the crop and everyone was and is expected him to win the Golden Slipper and as well as this race this weekend.
Now standing in his way is Rivellino who I think has a very good chance of upsetting Wodeton this weekend.
I watched the replay several times and I am supper impressed the way he ran in the Golden Slipper.
He broke a little slow and was last right out of the gate and the jockey let him settle at the back of the field for the first two furlongs.
After that, he had one horse beaten when the field approached the top of the stretch and he was like 15 lengths behind the leaders at that point.
Approaching the 8th pole (300 meters mark) he still has one horse beaten and about 10 lengths behind the leaders.
At that point, the jockey had him toward the outside half of the field but there was a wall of horses in front of him, so the jockey decided to go inside half of the field where there were some sporadic running rooms.
The horse lost a lot of momentum when the jockey steered him to the inside half of the field and he lost some grounds some more.
Once the jockey straightened him up he just exploded like a rocket splitting wall of horses after wall of horses to finish fourth beaten by a shrinking two lengths -- yes, a 'SHRINKING' two lengths -- since he was gaining on the leaders very fast at the wire.
VERY IMPRESSIVE!
With that, I'm going with Rivellino to win this weekend.
Here is what Rivellino trainer said about his horse's chances in this race:
Trainer Kris Lees is looking forward to giving Rivellino his chance over 1400m in the Group 1 Sires' Produce Stakes.
After an eye-catching run in the Golden Slipper, the Kris Lees-trained Rivellino is set to get another chance at a Group 1 win during his juvenile season in the ATC Sires' Produce Stakes at Randwick.
Rivellino finished powerfully late in the Slipper to grab fourth, just under 2-1/2-lengths from the winner Marhoona, and Lees is looking forward to seeing how the talented colt fares when he steps up to 1400m on Saturday.
"I'm mindful he's had a long preparation but with that said, his runs up until now have been spaced by three weeks or more," Lees said.
"He's always given an indication he'd be comfortable at 1400 metres, which he finds (on Saturday) and from what I've seen of him at home, I don't think a wet track will have any negative effect either. So I'm looking forward to Saturday."
Lees said Rivellino had come through his Slipper run in good order and he had also been buoyed by Hong Kong-based Australian jockey Hugh Bowman's keenness to fly back to ride the colt again in the Sires'.
"He was adamant he wanted to come back and ride him again, so that will do me," Lees said.
The Golden Slipper was the first time in four career starts that Rivellino had tasted defeat.
The colt by Too Darn Hot made a winning debut at Randwick over 1000m on January 4 before taking out the $2 million Inglis Millennium (1100m) at the same track the following month.
He booked his spot in the Slipper with victory in the Group 2 Skyline Stakes (1200m) and Lees felt the colt's run in the juvenile showpiece at Rosehill also indicated the 1400m of the Sires' should suit him.
"He ran really well," Lees said of Rivellino's Golden Slipper performance.
"I wouldn't say he was a good thing beaten, but things probably just didn't go his way.
"I think you could make a case that he could have been right in the finish."
Lees said Rivellino missed the start slightly then couldn't muster speed to get into the position they had hoped, which had him back in the field and behind all the eventual placegetters in the run.
"They were all in a line at one stage so we were the last one to get the run, which was always going to be the case," he said.
"He's going to get a small field in the Sires'. He hasn't got brilliant gate speed, if he's got an Achillies' heel, so a small field probably negates that."
ENJOY THE SECOND LEG OF THE TRIPLE CROWN EVERYONE!
