Trainer Gerald Ryan has decided to roll the dice with Golden Slipper plunge horse Assassinate at Rosehill on Saturday.
Photo by Racing and Sports
After planning to bypass a clash with the top flight youngsters in Saturday's $200,000 Silver Slipper Stakes (1100m) Ryan included the impressive debut winner in the final field.
The Group 2 Silver Slipper will be a crucial Golden Slipper pointer with the highly rated Pierro having his first start since he won the Breeders Plate at Randwick in October.
Gimcrack Stakes winner Hussousa and the classy winners Meidung and Faustus are also final acceptors.
However weather may play a role in Ryan's plans for Assassinate as a the heavy rain forecast for Sydney over the next three days may influence the Rosehill trainer to hold back the More Than Ready colt his second race start.
Ryan will can wait a week with the options of keeping Assassinate in Sydney for the $100,000 Lonhro Plate (1100m) at Warwick Farm on Saturday week or sending him to Canberra for the $250,000 Black Opal (1200m) the next day.
Assassinate, bred to win a Golden Slipper as he is out of the brilliant Group One winner Lady Jakeo, was heavily supported to win the $3.5 million race before he bolted to an easy win over 1000m at Wyong on February 19.
'He has been backed to win $400,000 in the Golden Slipper,' said TAB Sportsbet's Glenn Munsie.
'He was a $101 chance before he raced, came into $26 and he is now into $17. He was the second most popular horse dollar-wise to win the Slipper behind Raceway up to last weekend.
"It has been a nice little go.'
The Gai Waterhouse-trained Pierro is expected to add to trainer Gai Waterhouse's powerful arsenal of Golden Slipper chances when he resumes on Saturday if betting moves in the last 24 hours are taken as a guide.
One punter placed two bets of $5000 on Pierro to win the Golden Slipper within 10 minutes, snapping up the $13 that was on offer with TAB Sportsbet.
"The punter placed $5000 at $13 and returned for the same bet 10 minutes later when the price was left unchanged," Munsie reported.
Pierro, who won the Breeders Plate over 1000m at Randwick on October 1 on the same day that the John Thompson-trained filly Hussousa won the Gimcrack Stakes over the same distance in faster time, has been in work since December and won a recent Rosehill barrier trial.
Hussousa will have the edge in race fitness in the Silver Slipper as she resumed with an excellent third in Widden Stakes (1100m) at Warwick Farm on February 18 when she was ridden by Singapore star Joao Moreira.
Moreira is staying in Singapore this weekend with Hugh Bowman taking the mount on the robust grey filly. Bowman was impressed by Hussousa when he rode her in a track gallop at Randwick on Tuesday.
