Sledmere Stud sales graduate Dame Giselle confirmed her place in the 2020 $3.5 million Longines Golden Slipper (1200m) when winning an enthralling renewal of the Group 2 Reisling Stakes at Royal Randwick in her final lead-up to ‘The Big Dance’.
Sent to post a $3.10 favourite in a nine-horse field, the supremely-bred daughter of I Am Invincible had to get the job done the hard way when caught wide for much of the contest, but got it done nonetheless to record her maiden success in Group company and re-affirm her claims on Australia’s breed-shaping event.
Speaking immediately after the filly’s victory, Dame Giselle’s co-trainer Peter Snowden explained: “It wasn’t how we planned it. It’s a good horse that keeps rising to the occasion.
“It [the plan] was be outside the lead or take a trail. It was going to pan out right in the first 200m, but they pulled up in our faces and planted Kerrin [McEvoy] three deep with no other option but to sit there and cuddle her up. She did plenty of work but was still good enough to put her head out and win.”
Winning rider Kerrin McEvoy confirmed Snowden’s views.
“She had to sit without cover, but lucky they steadied up,” stated McEvoy. “She travelled well around the corner and then when we asked her, she fought hard. The runner-up dived at me late, but we were good enough to hold on.”
Following her Reisling Stakes victory, Dame Giselle firmed from $11 in to $9 for the Golden Slipper.
Sold by Sledmere Stud for $500,000 at the 2019 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, Dame Giselle is raced by Go Bloodstock Australia in tandem with her breeder, China Horse Club Racing Pty Ltd. After just four starts, she is the winner of $789,950 in prizemoney and now a tremendously valuable breeding prospect longer-term as the latest winner of a time-honoured event.
Significantly, the honour roll of the Reisling Stakes features a plethora of outstanding fillies, including a very healthy contingent of Golden Slipper winners including Estijaab (2018), Overreach (2013), Polar Success (2003), Belle du Jour (2000), Merlene (1996) and Burst (1992).
Speaking on behalf of Sledmere, Royston Murphy remarked: “It’s great to have her in the Slipper and coming right at the right time. This is the time of year you want your graduates performing on the track — a few weeks out from the Easter Sale.
“We had a stakes winner in New Zealand last week, Dame Giselle this week, and our Easter draft for this year is phenomenal, so hopefully between the Slipper and the sales it’s a big month ahead.”