Slipper curse continues but all is not lost for star colt Stay Inside

The Slipper curse continued on Saturday but the future's still bright for Stay Inside who will race on this spring despite his Kembla Grange flop.

Tommy Berry on Stay Inside in his recent Randwick trial. Picture: Mark Evans–Getty Images

The Slipper curse continued on Saturday but the future's still bright for Stay Inside.

I talked to Newgate Farm’s Henry Field the day before the Golden Slipper winner resumed in the San Domenico Stakes at Kembla Grange on Saturday.

Unfortunately his horse continued a tradition on Slipper winners who couldn’t come back and win first-up as a three-year-old.

The worst thing wasn’t the loss, it was the way he went down.

He looked average in running fifth behind In The Congo, another of Field’s horses.

“He’s a colt so I don’t want to put him down too much but he was a bit disappointing,” jockey Tommy Berry said.

“This track is a bit shifty and he hasn’t been on this type of track before. On his work and his trials I thought he’d give this a real shake.”

Stay Inside will live to fight another day, but if he doesn’t show enough soon the son of Extreme Choice will no doubt be retired and sent to stud.

For those punters and racing fans out there who are interested in breeding, you may ask if a horse can only win races in the first six months of it’s career then can’t win again, is that a good blood line?

As opposed to a horse who matures and becomes the best animal at four, five and six.

That horse is obviously better so why isn’t it the one to breed with the best broodmares.

“That’s a very valid question,” Field said.

“The answer to it is that there’s been countless examples of those horses who couldn’t go on and win another race and still be excellent stallions.”

Field explained that the fact a horse is so good so early is actually a big factor in it’s stallion potential.

“Maturity in any animal, whether you’re growing cattle or chickens or horses, is a breeding trait which is like gold dust for any animal,” Field said.

“From the point of view of horses, you rarely see a stallion throw progeny more mature than themselves.

“Most of these late maturing horses are bad stallions because it takes forever for their stock to mature.”

Stay Inside’s Slipper win ensures his future at stud, but even if he hadn’t won the big race in the autumn, he still would’ve been an exciting breeding prospect.

That’s because he started a $4.60 second favourite behind Profiteer ($4) who ran seventh.

“I’d rather stand a Slipper winner that was favourite and didn’t win than a 30/1 Slipper winner,” Field said.

“I’d rather have the best horse going into the race than one that fluked it. The starting price of a Slipper winner is a big factor, for me, in buying a stallion.

“For a horse that’s only won one Group 1, the starting price is a big factor. I don’t want to buy a horse that won one Group 1 as a $40 chance.”

Stay Inside’s co-trainer Michael Freedman said Stay Inside pulled up well and will proceed to the Run to the Rose in a fortnight with Kerrin McEvoy on while Berry is suspended.

“He was nice and free in his action this morning (Sunday) and ate up well on Saturday night,” Freedman said.

“We’re trying to evaluate it a little bit. It was a strange day down there, not just for him, but a few others.

“They went steady early and it didn’t suit my bloke. He was first-up with 58.5kg and he ran the second quickest last 600m.

“He got a bit tired late because he ran 10.80 between the 400m and 200m.”

If the Freedman’s can turn their colt around and he can win the Run to the Rose, or go very close, he’s still a chance to enhance his value even further.

Field said the next six weeks were still very important for him.

“He’s a high profile horse and to win an Everest, which is his target race, would make him King Kong,” he said.

“We do know though that whatever he does, he’s got a far greater chance of being a top stallion than any other colt that retires in his generation.

“It doesn’t matter what any other colt does, he’ll retire as the number one draft pick of his generation in respect to stallion potential irrespective of whether he wins another race or not.

“That’s based on the strike rate of Slipper winners. It’s that simple and you can set your clock by it. A Golden Slipper winner is statistically going to make a better stallion than the champion three-year-old.”

*****

Matthew Smith won’t run Japanese import Keiai Nautique in this week’s Group 2 Chelmsford Stakes (1600m) at Randwick but he’s kicking off his Melbourne Cup hope in the race.

Keiai Nautique ran a massive race in the Group 1 Winx Stakes at his Australian debut last Saturday but Smith wants to see how he trains this week before possibly setting him for the Group 1 George Main Stakes on September 18.

Smith will trial his Pakenham Cup winner Attorney at Gosford on Monday morning before racing him first-up at Randwick on Saturday in the Chelmsford.

“We’re giving him a chance to get to the Melbourne Cup if he’s good enough,” Smith said.

“When he won the Pakenham Cup Nash said he’d run two miles so if he can run the trip he’d be a good horse to have in the Melbourne Cup.

“He’ll either run in The Metropolitan of The Bart Cummings and if he wins either of them he’ll get a run in the cup.”

Saturday may be Chelmsford Stakes Day but the Group 3 Concorde Stakes (1000m) and Group 2 Tramway Stakes (1400m) will be the highlights.

That’s because Nature Strip goes around in the sprint while the next potential superstar of Australian racing Zaaki may resume in the Tramway.

Originally published as Slipper curse continues but all is not lost for star colt Stay Inside