Michael Freedman & Damien Lane have combined with Marhoona ($8.50) to claim victory in the Group 1 Golden Slipper (1200m) at Rosehill on Saturday afternoon, with the daughter of Snitzel securing the prize in Australia’s richest two-year-old feature.
She put the writing on the wall in the Group 2 Reisling Stakes (1200m) finishing on the heels of Tempted ($4.80), with the pair heavily supported with horse racing bookmakers prior to the jump.
She looked to be the map horse on paper, and it couldn’t have unfolded any better for Lane, landing in behind a hot tempo throughout the journey as the Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott-trained trio of North England (), Bellazaine ($31) and Farcited ($81) all pressed forward to gain early ascendency.
Tempted slotted to her inside but had no luck when attempting to get clear running under Blake Shinn, while James McDonald and Wodeton ($6.50) were smoking the pipe as they turned for home.
Meanwhile, there was drama at the back of the field as Jason Collett was dislodged aboard Within The Law ($19). Thankfully the pair were accessed and found to be fine post-race.
Marhoona was the first to challenge at the furlong pole and put two lengths on her rivals, but she still had to fend off Tempted and Wodeton, with the pair surging to the line.
It was all too late, however, with Marhoona securing the 2025 Golden Slipper at only her third career start.
An emotional Michael Freedman was on course break down the win.
“Yeah, huge thrill,” said Freedman.
“You know, we’ve been through the ups and downs with the family over a lot of years with these sort of good results, bad results. But, yeah, it’s a huge thrill for my team. I mean,
“I’ve got a lot of young, up-and-coming stars in the industry, I think, and they’ve had such a big part to play in this, probably a lot more than me.
“If I’m being honest, I said to a few people, earlier today, I thought maybe it would have been nice to have had one more run under our belt, but she’s a special filly.
“When she won at Canterbury at first start, she ripped half a foot off winning that race, and I thought you’re tough. And she bounced back from it, went to the Reisling a month later, and it’s a bit of an unusual preparation, I guess, going into a Slipper at your third start.
“But, yeah, she’s a special filly.”
Damien Lane was elated with the performance of his mount as he spoke post-race.
“She was great,” said Lane.
“She’s obviously been prepped perfectly for this, just peaking on the day. Not often you come up with a plan and execute it perfectly, well in Group 1s anyway.
“It really played out how we thought it might and she was great. She just was there to be beaten at the 100m and Wodeton got to us, she really stuck at it, so very brave.”
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