Rain changes Golden Slipper game

TRUST Sydney to bowl up a wet track curve ball for Golden Slipper day.

TRUST Sydney to bowl up a wet track curve ball for Golden Slipper day.

Best laid plans and best race programs are thrown into disarray when the heavens open up.

Best ground, the search for lanes, becomes paramount.

They've regarded the inside part of the track as quicksand for the last two Saturdays - a bit less so last week - and you can bet they'll be herding out wide tomorrow on a track expected to play close to a Slow 7.

There is so little wet track Golden Slipper form that the race is now up for grabs.

Even on an unbiased, dry track barrier one was going to be either good or bad for hot favourite Overreach.

In 2001 Bel Esprit's connections cheered on the Tuesday before the Slipper when the gun Victorian colt drew barrier one. He was then pressured and cluttered and got beaten.

Overreach, like Bel Esprit, has great gate speed but there is always a wave of pressure in the Slipper and Overreach will have to fend it off, even of she eventually takes a sit.

If they are tracking wide, young Tommy Berry might face a mighty task edging into better ground.

Do you really want to take even money that he can pull it off?

Pierro defied the out-wide pattern last year and Sebring, also Waterhouse-trained, dashed up the inside to win. That said, Pierro and Sebring were champions.

Overreach may well be in the same class, but again, we're taking even money to find out.

For the record, only four of the 16 Slipper runners have encountered a track worse than dead and only one, the lurking Waterhouse second stringer Sweet Idea, has won on a wet track.

I'm All The Talk (one heavy run, unplaced), Charlie Boy (a third on heavy) and Romantic Moon (unplaced on heavy) are the others to have at least got their hooves wet.

The BMW has always been a strange race.

It's Australia's richest 2400m race and run at WFA but more often than not it attracts a field best described as slogging.

It's no different tomorrow.

The favourite is classy three-year-old Fiveandahalfstar but the query on him is similar to the Overreach niggle - no wet track form.

In fact Fiveandahalfstar has had three cracks at wet tracks and never been placed.

A typical BMW upset is again on the cards.

Second rate imports Foreteller, Kellini, Hathras and Le Roi are hardly crowd pullers but they are at least strong stayers with some wet track form.

Maluckyday would pick up and carry stablemate Niwot but Niwot is a swimmer and Maluckyday a better horse on top of the ground.