Australia: Rescheduled Golden Slipper Stakes has familiar look

Postponed a week because of extensive rain, the Group 1 Golden Slipper Stakes for 2-year-olds will be run Saturday at Rosehill Gardens in Sydney, Australia, with the same principal runners from the original lineup.

Profiteer, second by a head to Anamoe in the Group 2 Todman Stakes at six furlongs at Royal Randwick Racecourse on March 6, remains the 5-2 favorite, with Stay Inside (7-2) and the filly Four Moves Ahead (5-1) gaining support. Anamoe is a 16-1 outsider in the field of 15.

Profiteer, trained by the partnership of Mick Price and Michael Kent, Jr., has won 2 of 3 starts and is already a millionaire, with earnings of $1,011,004. The bulk of that – $915,866 – was earned with a win in the $1.53 million Inglis Millennium Stakes, a sales progeny race at 5 1/2 furlongs at Randwick on Feb. 6.

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The Golden Slipper Stakes is worth $2.65 million, and is one of five Group 1 races on the Rosehill Gardens program which begins at 9:30 p.m., Eastern, or 6:30 p.m., Pacific, on Friday. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.

Profiteer, who will be ridden by Hugh Bowman, is capable of setting the pace, while Stay Inside races from off the pace. Stay Inside has won 2 of 3 starts and was beaten for the first time when fourth in the Todman by 1 3/4 lengths.

Four Moves Ahead, unbeaten in two starts, has already beaten males, in a handicap at 5 3/4 furlongs on the infield Kensington course at Randwick on Jan. 2 in her career debut. She later won the Group 2 Embrace Stakes against fillies on the main turf course at Randwick on Feb. 27.

Trained by John Sargent, Four Moves Ahead is by Snitzel out of the unraced American-bred mare Doulmera, a half-sister to Dalkana, the champion older female in France in 2013.

The Golden Slipper is the seventh of nine races on an all-stakes Rosehill Gardens program that includes five Group 1 races.

The first two Group 1 races – the $530,250 Ranvet Stakes for older horses and $454,450 Rosehill Guineas for 3-year-olds – are run at 1 1/4 miles.

The Ranvet Stakes drew a field of five for the original running on March 20, but now has a field of nine.

Addeybb, the winner of the 2020 Ranvet, was 4-5 in early betting last week, but 6-5 on Thursday, a slight choice over 8-5 Verry Elleegant. A 5-year-old mare, Verry Elleegant is a multiple Group 1 winner in Australia in the last year and was second in the 2020 Ranvet.

Addeybb, trained by William Haggas in England, has not raced since a win in the Group 1 Champion Stakes at Ascot in England last October.

Lion’s Roar, the 25-1 upset winner of the Group 1 Randwick Guineas at a mile on March 6, rates among the top contenders for the Rosehill Guineas, a field that includes Mo’unga, who was second a troubled in the Randwick Guineas.

Avilius and Funstar, third and fourth to Verry Elleegant in the Group 1 Chipping Norton Stakes at a mile at Randwick on Feb. 27, top the betting market for the Group 1 George Ryder Stakes, a $777,500 race at 7 1/2 furlongs. Funstar, the winner of three group-level stakes in her 15-race career, is one of two fillies in a field of 13 and a threat as a stalker.

Winx, one of the most popular horses in Australian racing history, won the George Ryder in four consecutive seasons from 2016-19.

The final Group 1 race on the program is the $530,250 Galaxy Stakes at 5 1-2 furlongs, which drew a field of 14, one more than last week’s original group.

Haut Brion Her and Tailleur were 4-1 co-favorites on Thursday, a slight choice over Wild Ruler and Eduardo at 6-1.

The race is run under handicap conditions.

This is the first start in a Group 1 for Wild Ruler since a third in a tough running of the Coolmore Stakes at six furlongs at Flemington Racecourse on Halloween. Wild Ruler won the minor Fireball Stakes at 5 1-2 furlongs as the odds-on favorite at Randwick on March 6 in his first start this year.