The impending sale of Golden Slipper favourite Storm Boy has the potential to create one of the more intriguing scenarios in the countdown to the world’s richest race for two-year-olds.
One face value, the Golden Slipper picture seems reasonably clear-cut with Storm Boy just about everyone’s top pick after marching to three consecutive wins to open his racing career.
With a physical presence to match his obvious talent, Storm Boy stands out in a stable of star juveniles that have swept all before them under the Tulloch Lodge banner in 2023/24.
But Storm Boy is more than just the No.1 Golden Slipper seed for Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.
The colt is Australia’s benchmark two-year-old and as a son of American triple crown winner Justify, Storm Boy has been on Coolmore’s future stallion radar since making a winning debut at Rosehill in December.
He has since claimed a Group 3 win in Brisbane before trouncing his opposition to win the Magic Millions 2YO Classic, triggering a $50 million offer from the international breeding conglomerate.
When the deal goes through, it will leave Coolmore holding two Golden Slipper trump cards in Storm Boy and impressive Sydney debut winner Switzerland.
Storm Boy is one of the warmest Slipper favourites we have seen for a while this far out and Switzerland occupies the second line of betting now that the $1.5 million yearling has been pointed at the race by trainer Chris Waller.
But this is where it might get interesting when it comes to booking Golden Slipper jockeys.
Ryan Moore answered a Coolmore SOS last year to ride Shinzo to a stunning victory and there’s every indication that the world’s best jockey is prepared to do the same in 2024.
If Coolmore feels the need to import their contracted rider for the meeting, it would seem logical based on what we have seen so far for Moore to take the ride on Storm Boy.
That would be a move at the expense of Adam Hyeronimus who rode Storm Boy to victory at the Gold Coast.
Bren O’Brien
And it is a script that might be hard to write given Waterhouse has been an ardent supporter of Hyeronimus since the jockey made a comeback after a long suspension.
Then again, Switzerland seems untapped and the fact that Coolmore and Waller have passed on the $2 million Inglis Millennium to focus on the Slipper speaks volumes.
The Waller-Coolmore-Moore alliance could easily come to the fore again, depending on how the serious Slipper lead-ups unfold.
As for Hyeronimus, he has been riding at a 25.6 per cent winning strike-rate for Tulloch Lodge this season with 21 victories from 82 rides.
With this backing, Hyeronimus finds himself in career-best form and safely entrenched in the Sydney jockey premiership’s top 10.
It might be one part of a juggling act that Waterhouse and Bott face as they sort out their Slipper riders.
We had our cameras on Gai throughout the running of the Magic Millions 2YO Classic. 👁️
— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) January 17, 2024
Enjoy the last 300 metre as Storm Boy comes clear to stamp himself as the Golden Slipper favourite. 😮💨@GaiWaterhouse1 @mmsnippets pic.twitter.com/ojOrZSHGLD
Tulloch Lodge has stolen a march on its rivals with 11 individual two-year-old winners from 38 starts this season, including five at Stakes level.
And it has been Hyeronimus, Tim Clark and Regan Bayliss who have been the jockeys at the forefront of that haul.
Blake Shinn and Rachel King have also been contributors but there is certain to be no shortage of decent Slipper rides available with the stable expected to have big numbers on its side as Waterhouse chases an eighth victory and her second in partnership with Bott.
Nash Rawiller looms as a beneficiary of Tulloch Lodge’s embarrassment of riches.
Rawiller, who is leading the Sydney jockey’s title race, has taken the ride on Espionage when the expensive colt resumes in the Group 2 Silver Slipper Stakes at Rosehill later this month.
He rode the Breeders’ Plate winner to a Rosehill barrier trial win on Monday.
Espionage is slated for a clash with unbeaten stablemate Shangri La Express in the Silver Slipper with Regan Bayliss continuing his association with the colt.
It’s a sign that at least a few pieces of Tulloch Lodge’s Golden Slipper jockey puzzle could be falling into place.
