3 minute read

After an eye-catching fifth in the Golden Slipper, dual stakes-winning filly Manaal is pressing on to the Group 1 ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes at Randwick.

Michael Freedman admitted it was a case of what might have been for Manaal in the Golden Slipper but the trainer is hopeful the filly can still secure a Group 1 win as a juvenile in the ATC Sires' Produce Stakes.

Manaal produced one of the eye-catching runs in the $5 million Golden Slipper on March 23, weaving her way through the field near the inside for fifth after settling back in the capacity field from the widest barrier draw.

Freedman lamented the filly's Slipper draw, especially after seeing how well Manaal performed.

"If you watch the run in the race, I went home thinking what might have been if she had drawn a barrier," Freedman said.

Freedman has turned his attention to Saturday's Sires' for two-year-olds at Randwick with Manaal, who will be tried over 1400m for the first time.

"She bounced out of the Slipper really well," Freedman said.

"She probably only got going the last two or three hundred metres.

"I'm really happy with her, so I just thought that with her racing style hopefully she's well-suited to the 1400.

"She hasn't given me any indication to suggest she won't (run 1400m). Obviously you never know until you try but she's definitely a nice, relaxed sort of filly and I think up over that longer distance if she was able to draw a half-decent gate she could certainly sit a little bit handier to the speed."

Freedman confirmed Jason Collett, who rode Manaal in the Golden Slipper, retains the ride in the Sires'.

Manaal made an immediate impression when she won Sydney's first juvenile race of the season, the Group 3 Gimcrack Stakes for two-year-old fillies at Randwick in late September, and she has gone on with the job this campaign.

After finishing runner-up to subsequent Golden Slipper winner Lady Of Camelot first-up this preparation in the Widden Stakes, Manaal then won the Group 2 Sweet Embrace Stakes leading into the Golden Slipper.

"You never really know whether they are going to measure up from spring two-year-old to autumn two-year-old but when she ran such a good race in the Widden at the end of January that gave me a good indication that she had come back well as an autumn two-year-old," Freedman said.

"And her form, really, has been exemplary right from the very beginning."