Kerrin Mcevoy has made a clean sweep of the two-year-old races at Rosehill aboard Skyhook and Memo, but it is the former who shapes as his Golden Slipper ride with Memo unlikely to back up.
McEvoy, who won the juvenile feature on Sepoy in 2011, took the bull by the horns aboard Skyhook in the Pago Pago Stakes (1200m), making the running and extending the colt’s advantage on straightening to score by 3-1/4 lengths over Good Hotspur.
His ride on Memo was an almost polar opposite after she was slow to begin, settling back in the field and sweeping down the outside to nail Skyhook’s stablemate Dream Side in the Magic Night Stakes (1200m).
Trainers Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou confirmed Skyhook would back-up in next weekend’s Golden Slipper provided he did well in the coming days, joining barn mate and Black Opal Stakes winner King Of Pop in the race.
“He is really bombproof,” Alexiou said.
“Kerrin made his intentions very clear early. He thought he was riding the best horse and rode him accordingly.
“It was good to see him put a space on the field.”
McEvoy said Skyhook got the job done comfortably and his only concern ahead of next week was how he coped with the aftermath of Saturday’s extreme heat.
“He cruised in front and had a picnic,” McEvoy said.
“He is a stylish colt. It’s obviously a really warm day and he got a bit sweaty, which is the concern if he comes back in a week’s time, but the stable will know if he can do it or not.”
Peter Snowden said Memo was “unlikely” to return to Rosehill for the 2025 Golden Slipper, the trainer leaning towards giving her an extra three weeks into the Percy Sykes Stakes (1200m).
“It’s too early to make a call yet, I have to talk to all the owners about it. But in my mind, the Percy Sykes Stakes, she is a chance of getting there,” Snowden said.
“She has had a long season. She has been to every dance and to back-up again after a very hot day today might be one bridge too far for her. But she has done a great job.”
Memo had placed in four of her five starts before Saturday and was galloped on when midfield in the Sweet Embrace Stakes at her previous start.
Snowden was quietly confident she could bounce back but admitted to some anxious moments early.
“It wasn’t the plan to get that far back. I was saying a few superlatives around the back to Kerrin but he knew best,” Snowden said.
“He knew where to get to on the track today and he was quite adamant that was the best place to be.
“It was her day today.”
The juvenile features were run in similar times, although Skyhook clocked 33.80 seconds for his final 600m sectional with Memo coming home in a slightly slower 34.59 seconds.
West Of Swindon was scratched from the Pago Pago Stakes after the official withdrawal time, found to be mildly lame after pulling a plate on race morning.
