Trainer Michael Freedman and jockey Tommy Berry have combined for a feature race double at Rosehill with Marhoona defying the so-called Golden Slipper curse in the Heritage Stakes before Manaal made it two successive victories in the Golden Pendant.
The latter added Saturday’s 1400m feature to her victory in the Sheraco Stakes (1200m) a fortnight earlier and Freedman was thrilled to see her frank his opinion that she had only lost form during the autumn due to wide gates and bad luck.
“She was in the wilderness a little bit for eight or nine months and has come back from a disappointing run at Caulfield and then to win the Sheraco and back it up here today, it’s a big thrill,” Freedman said.
“I probably sound like a broken record but she has been going so well at home for quite a long time.
“It has been really frustrating going to the races previously where we’ve been hampered with bad barriers et cetera
“But I’ve always felt if she got the right run in a race she has still got plenty to give and you’re never really sure with these mares as they start to get a little bit older.”
Freedman will weigh up whether to freshen Manaal for the Silver Eagle (1300m) or head towards The Invitation (1400m) but says those two races shape as the “most logical options”.
Golden Slipper heroine Marhoona became just the second Slipper winner in the past eight years to add to her resume with a first-up victory in the Listed Heritage Stakes (1100m).
Berry admitted he wasn’t counting his chickens ahead of her return given his experiences with previous Slipper winners Vancouver, Overreach and Stay Inside, who all failed to go on as older horses.
“You know how well they’re going at home but I have been tricked into two-year-olds coming back from winning a Slipper three times,” Berry said.
“It’s always in the back of your mind that they’ve got to come here and do it again.”
Marhoona ($3 fav) managed to do just that, becoming the first Golden Slipper winner since Fireburn (2022) to win a race at three, knuckling down over the final 200m to deny Akaysha ($4.60) by three-quarters of a length with Beadman ($3.10) another half-neck away third.
The Roman Consul Stakes (1200m) is her likely next stop ahead of a tilt at the Group 1 Coolmore Classic (1200m) at Flemington.
“The plan was to come back here for the Roman Consul and then three weeks’ into the Coolmore with a trial up the straight beforehand,” Freedman said.
