Global Weekly Review - 21.03.16

Godolphin drew great encouragement from the result of Saturday's G1 Golden Slipper Stakes at Rosehill in Sydney despite not having a runner among the first three home.

In the traditional heater-skelter, barrier positions played an important part in deciding the outcome, so the performance of Telperion (drawn 12) to finish a close fourth was exceptional, particularly as the son of Street Cry was forced to make up many lengths in the home straight.

"He's run a great race," declared trainer John O'Shea. "He had a good prep but a bad gate. Looking at him the day after, you wouldn't know he'd had a race.

"The plan now is for him to go to the G1 ATC Sires Produce Stakes at The Championships at Randwick, and later on, the G1 Champagne Stakes. I have always felt he would be better at distances beyond 1,200m, and now he gets the chance to test that theory," O'Shea added.

The prolonged aerial TV camera shot of the early stages of the Golden Slipper gave viewers an appreciation of the task facing Godolphin's Astern, who jumped from the extreme outside (17) and then crossed over to join leader Sweet Sherry in the lead.

The effort took its toll and Astern weakened to finish 11th, while stablemate Calliope (15) came home 12th.

"Astern's interrupted prep did not help. He'll go to the paddock now for a couple of weeks. We'll bring him back, then turn him out again," the trainer pointed out.

"As for Calliope, we'll keep her going for the G3 Percy Sykes Stakes at The Championships, taking the same route as Ottoman did last year," he added.

The winner of the Golden Slipper, Capitalist (a son of Written Tycoon), is set to clash with Telperion in the Sires Produce, as, too, is the third, Flying Artie. The result will form the basis of a pecking order in a year in which there appears to be significant depth in the juvenile ranks.

Hauraki, who has stepped up boldly to inherit retired Contributer's place at racing's top table, ran another promising race when second to The United States in the G1 Ranvet Stakes at Rosehill.

O'Shea has the Godolphin four-year-old working nicely towards his main target of the Autumn, the G1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick on April 9, the highlight of the Sydney racing calendar.

"It was a great run from Hauraki in the Ranvet, though I was surprised he got beaten. His goal is the Queen Elizabeth," the trainer confirmed.

On an informative weekend of racing globally, the Flat season officially opened at the Curragh in Ireland, where Godolphin's Devonshire finished a gutsy second to Queen Blossom in the G3 Park Express Stakes on Sunday.

In Hong Kong, the well-regarded New Zealand import Werther landed the G1 Hong Kong Derby, defeating Victory Magic and Giovanni Canaletto by a neck and three lengths, to give local trainer John Moore his 5th win in the Classic still regarded as the most prestigious in the territory.