Juvenile heavyweights face off in tasty Todman clash
Coolmore’s Switzerland heads the challengers attempting to derail the Tulloch Lodge two-year-old juggernaut
Gai Waterhouse has warned rivals to expect a far improved Shangri La Express (Alabama Express) when he takes his next step towards the Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) amid several two-year-old heavyweights in a cracking edition of the Todman Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) at Randwick today.
But the master two-year-old conditioner, shuffling a phenomenally stacked hand at the juvenile card table, knows Shangri La Express will also have to take a step up to overcome two stablemates in Straight Charge (Written By) and Espionage (Zoustar).
It’s almost a case of not knowing where to look in regard to the Tulloch Lodge triumvirate.
Bookmakers last night had Yulong Stud’s Straight Charge a $2.70 favourite after his slashing first-up win in Rosehill’s Silver Slipper Stakes (Gr 2, 1100m) on February 24. James Harron’s Espionage, who resumed for second that day when leading early and handing up, was at $4.60. Shangri La Express, who returned with a second in Randwick’s Pierro Plate (1100m) a week earlier, was a $10 chance.
But there’s plenty of intrigue outside the trio Waterhouse trains in partnership with Adrian Bott.
Coolmore and Chris Waller’s Switzerland (Snitzel), who imperiously won that Pierro Plate, is a $3.90 second–favourite as he seeks to maintain his perfect record at his third start, all this campaign.
And the also two-from-two Bodyguard (I Am Invincible), for Harron and Team Snowden, is a $9 chance as he restarts a preparation controversially derailed by his enforced scratching as one of the favourites for last month’s Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m).
If this isn’t a Golden Slipper, it’ll do till we get one.
“It’s an incredible race,” said Harron. “It looks like one of the best colts’ races seen for a long time. A really nice group of horses, a lot of them very well bred, and trained by leading trainers. It’s going to be super-competitive.
“They all come from different angles and formlines, and they’re with trainers who are training the main chances all slightly differently. The grand final is in two weeks’ time. We’ve seen some superstar two-year-olds get beaten in the Todman who go on to win the Slipper. It’s really a matter of where they’re up to tomorrow.”
Shangri La Express was an early favourite for the Golden Slipper after helping his sire Alabama Express (Redoute’s Choice) blast out of the first-season blocks with powerhouse wins in Randwick’s Kirkham Plate (1000m) and Rosehill’s Golden Gift (1100m).
But resuming in the Pierro Plate on February 17, the colt looked a little short of condition and ran into another smart one, with Switzerland sitting behind him and exploding late to beat him by three-quarters of a length.
“If he met Switzerland again, he’d beat him,” Waterhouse told ANZ Bloodstock News. “Switzerland had a run under his belt and we were resuming, and that was the difference in my opinion.
“Shangri La Express has come on hugely since then. He’s a lovely, big, strong individual, and [jockey] Regan Bayliss feels terribly pleased with him.”
Espionage, the Baramul Stud-bred colt Harron’s colt partnership bought for $1 million at the Gold Coast, was the early clubhouse leader in the Slipper reckoning after taking the season-opening Breeders’ Plate (Gr 3, 1000m) at Randwick.
He beat Straight Charge by a long head that day, but after Waterhouse and Bott spelled both, those placings were reversed in the Silver Slipper. Espionage bounded out of the gates to lead but was restrained by Nash Rawiller, while Tim Clark went forward from out wide on Straight Charge and was never challenged, holding Espionage by a length-and-a-quarter on the line.
“Straight Charge is a very straightforward horse. He jumps well, puts himself into the race, rolls his sleeves up and gets on with it,” Waterhouse said. “He beat Espionage last start, but Espionage was leading and got into a position where he was chasing.
“I don’t think that’ll happen in the same way in this race. Espionage is a lot tighter, and has come ahead since then.”
Hindsight begged the question of what might have happened had Rawiller kept his colt more forward and engaged in the fight. But hindsight also revealed his tactic as probably a blessing for Espionage, in terms of the $5 million target in two weeks’ time.
“He’s naturally a very fit horse, but he had a pretty big blow after that run. The guys at the stable thought he had the blow-out he needed,” Harron said.
“Nash just wanted to get him settled, Straight Charge just slipped away on us, and it became too difficult to reel him in, mathematically. Nash felt that on a track that was a little rain-affected, Espionage just spun his wheels a little bit. The colt was very keen, it was his first run back from quite a long break, and he was a bit ring rusty.
“It was still a good, positive run, the times were excellent, Espionage’s last furlong was superb. It might have been better in that race to sit with Straight Charge for a bit longer, but do you win the lead-up and cost yourself for the grand final? In hindsight, he did have a good blow afterwards. I think Nash did a lot of things right on the day.”
And so, lining up the form and second-up improvement, who would Waterhouse put her $10 on?
“I’m in the fortunate position where I can have $10 on all three of them,” she said, in a rare go at sitting on the fence.
Harron’s pair must also contend with the barrier gods. Espionage has the outside of ten, and Bodyguard nine. Waterhouse, we can reveal, has a cunning plan to deal with that fate with Espionage.
“I’ve always thought,” she said suspensefully, “that if you’ve got a wide gate, you’ve got to go forward.” We’re not wondering, incidentally, how she’d feel about handling an inside gate, a middle one, or the car park. She did, however, indicate Straight Charge would be the most leaderish of her stable’s three.
At least Bodyguard this time doesn’t have to deal with the vets as a barrier to starting at all. The Emirates Park bred colt, Harron’s largest purchase last year at $1.6 million at the Gold Coast, was ultra-impressive in winning Flemington’s Maribyrnong Plate (Listed, 1000m) in October and the Blue Diamond Prelude (C&G) (Gr 3, 1100m) on resumption on February 10.
But Racing Victoria vets, after three days of checking, deemed him lame on the eve of the Blue Diamond, much to co-trainer Peter Snowden’s dismay. He has an ally in Waterhouse, who names Bodyguard as the hardest for her colts to beat today.
“Bodyguard is a very good horse,” she said. “I think it was a travesty he was denied a chance to run in the Blue Diamond. He was certainly the horse to beat there.”
Snowden is now more or less content to let bygones (and possible fines for speaking out) be bygones. He’s not happy about Bodyguard missing such a key run – a Group 1, to be sure, but also a vital step in a Slipper campaign – but is hopeful that having passed Sydney vet checks, Bodyguard will get back on the tracks, either in today’s race or after it.
“It’s not an ideal preparation, not at all,” Snowden told ANZ Bloodstock News. “He had to go through lots of trotting up and vet checks on the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday before the Blue Diamond, then missed the Diamond, came up to Sydney on the Sunday, and had more vet checks.
“It’s not ideal. You’re trotting them up and down, up and down. It gets in your head, that sort of thing, and can affect what work you do with them.
“But he worked brilliantly on Tuesday morning. I’ve got a lot of confidence in the horse, he’s got very good ability, but he’s had to deal with quite a lot over the last two weeks.
“He’s not going to be in the same order as before the Blue Diamond. He’s missed that run so he can’t be in the same order. But I’ve got him as good as I can. The good thing is he’s got enough prize-money to get into the Slipper.
“All I want to see is a top three finish and we’ll be ready to go in the Slipper in two weeks’ time.”
It could be a mega-day for Harron, who also has Aardvark (Capitalist) in Flemington’s Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m) after his powerful first-up victory in the Talindert Stakes (Listed, 1100m) at the same track on February 17. Aardvark was last night a $6.50 third-favourite behind Stay Focused (Cosmic Force) at $2.25 and $5 chance Rue De Royale (Per Incanto), who were fifth and tenth in the Blue Diamond.
All this Todman talk has so far overlooked what’s happening in Camp Switzerland, Tom Magnier’s $1.5 million yearling purchase who, jumping from gate four for James McDonald, won’t at all be any neutral presence.
“He’s trained on really well and is continuing to make the right progress,” said Waller, striving to repeat his one-prep Slipper kill achieved for the same Coolmore navy blue last year by another son of Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) in Shinzo.
“It’s semi-final time, we’re two weeks out from the Golden Slipper, and I couldn’t be happier,” Waller said on social media.
And as juicy as today’s race appears – with the other variable being it is most of the runners first go at 1200 metres – it could also be termed a challenger bout for those seeking to topple yet another Tulloch Lodge runner on grand final day.
Waterhouse reminded that while waiting for the big day, the Slipper’s raging $2.30 favourite Storm Boy (Justify) was still in his usual state: permanently pugilistic.
“He’s good, he’s going well,” she said. “He’s a big, strong colt who enjoys himself. He thumps his chest every time he comes out of his box. He thinks he’s Muhammad Ali.”