Golden Slipper A Good Fit For Astern

Godolphin's prospects in Australia's premier juvenile race, the G1 Golden Slipper Stakes, took a leap forward when Astern maintained his unbeaten record in the G2 Silver Slipper at Rosehill on Saturday, February 20.

In a race in which he needed to assert himself Astern (John O'Shea/Hugh Bowman), proved himself the master of a strong field, at the same time convincing his trainer he would be a force in the world's richest juvenile race.

Astern's victory was one of three for Godolphin in Australia on the day with the former UK performer Arab Dawn (John O'Shea/Christian Reith) signalling he is up for better races with a strong win in the Listed Parramatta Cup at Rosehill.

In Melbourne Estaminet (Lee and Anthony Freedman/James McDonald) won the ungraded Auckland Racing Club Trophy at Flemington.

O'Shea compared Astern to last year's Golden Slipper winner Vancouver, suggesting his physical superiority over his age group had translated into superior performance.

"He is a quality colt," O'Shea said.

"He's a lot like Vancouver last year. He was bigger and stronger than anyone else, and this colt is similar."

Astern made his racecourse debut two months ago, leading virtually throughout and scoring a convincing win.

In the Silver Slipper he found the lead after 100m and then controlled the race comfortably until challenged by Defcon 200m from the finish.

After conceding the lead to his rival, Astern rallied strongly when jockey Hugh Bowman called for a second effort, pulling away to win by a half-length.

"My horse will improve, he's still learning," Bowman said.

"I held him up waiting for something to come, knowing he'd respond, and I'm very pleased with the way he did."

O'Shea agreed, declaring Astern could be even better when coming from off the pace.

"I think he had plenty up his sleeve and it will be nice if he can get something to follow one day," he said.

"He's getting through his gears, he's a quality colt and he's leaning his trade as he goes along."

Astern will run next in the G2 Todman Stakes over the 1200m distance of the Golden Slipper in two weeks where he's likely to clash with Australia's top-ranked two-year-old Capitalist.

The A$3.5 million G1 Golden Slipper is run at Rosehill on March 19.

Arab Dawn had finished down the track at his first Australian start but made anticipated improvement on a more suitable track and distance this time.

"His best form has been on top of the ground so I wasn't too bothered by his first run here on a soft track," O'Shea said.

Arab Dawn, a stakes-winning son of Dalakhani, beat his stablemate Allergic in a style that confirmed the class he had shown in Europe.