Thompson Hopes Slipper Fits Santos
8 March, 2018
Owners
Prominent Western Australian thoroughbred owner Craig Thompson is confident he has the right horse to win him a Golden Slipper, following Santos’ win in the Skyline Stakes over the weekend.
Trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, Santos has won both of his starts this campaign, the highlight was the win in the Group 2 feature at Randwick on Saturday.
“It was magnificent,” he told TABradio’s The Sports Daily.
“I thought it was a really gutsy win because he was four wide the entire trip.
“The breeze was blowing 30-40 knots, so there wasn’t much hope for the guys in front.”
The I Am Invincible colt is an $11 chance for the Golden Slipper on March 24 behind Gold Coast Magic Millions winner Sunlight at $4.60.
Waterhouse has won the Golden Slipper on six occasions, the most recent of them was Vancouver in 2015, while Bott is yet to win Sydney’s famous two-year-old race.
Last Saturday proved to be a difficult balancing act for Thompson, as he kept a close eye on one of his newest acquisitions Poetic Dream at Flemington.
Although the German Group 2 winner was beaten, Thompson said he was still confident we would see the best of the David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig-trained galloper.
“David Hayes said he’s probably been a bit soft on him,” he said.
“He won his trial really easily so we thought he was screwed down.”
Poetic Dream will run over 1400m at Flemington next weekend, before he heads to Sydney for the Doncaster Mile, before a possible tilt at the Queen Elizabeth Stakes next year.
Thompson will once again have a keen eye on Flemington this weekend, where he has Japanese import Brave Smash engaged in the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap (1200m).
Brave Smash produced, arguably, his career best run at Randwick during the spring when he was third in the Everest.
The son of Tosen Phantom has since gone on to run third in the Group 1 Orr Stakes, and won the Group 1 Futurity Stakes, both over 1400m at Caulfield last month.
Thompson also declared Brutus Maximus the best horse he has in WA, and would be targeted towards the Belmont Guineas over the winter.
Tim Walker