The so-called Golden Slipper curse isn’t the only hoodoo Fireburn will need to shake off if she is to win her spring return in the Run To The Rose.
No filly has captured the three-year-old feature since it was first held almost 20 years ago, albeit only a small number have attempted the feat.
The Slipper heroine and recently crowned Champion 2YO of last season, Fireburn joins In Secret as one of only two fillies contesting Saturday’s Golden Rose lead-up in which her trainer Gary Portelli also saddles up talented colt Sejardan.
Portelli says it is difficult to judge how well Fireburn has come back as she is such a poor trackworker and saves her best for race days.
“She is where I need her, but there has just been nothing that would tell me that she should have won a Golden Slipper based on what we see at home,” Portelli said on Sky Sports Radio.
“If you had to base both these horses this weekend on what you’ve seen at trackwork, you’ve got no doubt you put your money on Sejardan.
“But then you’ve got to remember, she’s the champion two-year-old of the year. She has beaten everything we’ve put in front of her so far, dry, wet it doesn’t matter and she just does it race day.”
Fireburn hasn’t raced since narrowly failing in her juvenile triple crown bid when runner-up to She’s Extreme in the Champagne Stakes in April, while Sejardan was put away after a luckless, midfield finish in the Golden Slipper.
Portelli initially thought the colt would develop into a miler but has been impressed by how sharp he has been on the training track and expects Saturday’s 1200m race to provide a clearer insight.
“This preparation, he has come back so much stronger and faster and sharper,” Portelli said.
“I am going to be really interested to see how he goes this weekend. He might be just predominantly a fast horse.
“It’s nice to have two very nice horses resuming and hopefully they come back and do the right thing on race day and shake that Golden Slipper hoodoo and we go on with the job right through the three-year-old spring and the autumn next year.”
