Slipper fancies draw favourably

Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) favourite Storm Boy (Justify) has landed barrier two for Saturday’s two-year-old feature.

The son of Justify’s (Scat Daddy) co-trainer Gai Waterhouse will be bidding to grab her eighth win in the race, and her second with fellow co-trainer Adrian Bott, when they field a six-strong team. 

The stable, who are enjoying a record season with their juveniles, will have runners jump from barriers one, two, three and five in the shape of Fully Lit (Hellbent), Storm Boy, Shangri La Express (Alabama Express) and Lady Of Camelot (Written Tycoon), while Straight Charge (Written By) and Prost (Snitzel) drew barriers nine and 11 respectively. 

Coolmore Stud, who purchased the managing share in Storm Boy after his win in the Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) in a deal said to be worth more than $50 million, will also have second-favourite Switzerland (Snitzel) running for them. James McDonald will ride the unbeaten colt from barrier seven, while Ryan Moore is due yo land in Sydney on Wednesday ahead of his ride on Storm Boy.

“Probably would’ve liked to have been a little bit wider with Storm Boy but when you’ve got Gai Waterhouse and Ryan [Moore] in that camp, it’s up to them,” Tom Magnier, principal of Coolmore Australia, said.

“He [Switzerland] is a horse that Chris [Waller] just has improving time and time again, so I think that come Slipper day, he should just be right there… it’s a very tough field, it’s one of the most exciting races we’ve seen in a long time, we’ve two exciting colts, we wouldn’t change them.”