The Lindsay Park team is facing the possibility of missing out on a place in Saturday’s Golden Slipper Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill after a dramatic final round of qualification races over the weekend.
The stable entered Saturday with two fillies—Medicinal and Gin Twist—firmly in contention for the $5 million juvenile feature, but by the end of the day both had slipped outside the top 16 ahead of Tuesday’s final acceptances.
Medicinal dropped from 17th in the order of entry to 21st after the ballot-exempt victories of Warwoven in the Pago Pago Stakes and Pembrey in the Magic Night Stakes at Rosehill. Meanwhile, Gin Twist fell even further down the list to 25th.
Gin Twist has since moved back up to 18th following the expected non-acceptances of Tornado Valley (12th), Big Sky (14th) and Eternal Warrior (17th).
Her chances were further complicated by the Magic Night Stakes placings of By Choice and Outspan, with the latter climbing to 23rd in the standings after finishing in the placings in the Pago Pago Stakes.
Assistant trainer Ben Hayes was doing the qualification calculations at Caulfield on Saturday and admitted the stable may need luck to secure a start for last-start Ottawa Stakes (1000m) winner Medicinal.
“It’s quite surprising as both our fillies are stakes winners and they are struggling to get into the field, which is insane,” Hayes said.
“We’ll see where Medicinal ends up but I think we’ll need a new plan for Gin Twist (winner of the listed Festival Stakes). She might run a week later in the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes down the straight.
“We have a very high opinion of her (Medicinal). The win the other day was very good, and I believe she ran the fastest last 200 of the meeting on Newmarket day.
“I know it was a 1000-metre race, but it is still a very good effort for a two-year-old.
“She has already shown she can win over further than 1000 – she won by four-and-a-half lengths at Ballarat (over 1100m) – and I think there is more improvement to come.
“We’ve always liked her. We’ve always thought she is pretty good. She got a bit wrong on debut, but she’s improved out of sight since and into the Slipper fourth-up is a pretty good recipe if we can get there.
“She rated just behind Hard Kick, so fingers crossed.”
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