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By Ray Hickson

Gary Portelli has been feeling some déjà vu all week.

Trainer Gary Portelli (Pic: Steve Hart)

It’s the final hitout before the $5m Longines Golden Slipper Stakes for his exciting colt Sejardan at Randwick on Saturday and all he can think about is what happened at the corresponding meeting in 2017.

The Warwick Farm trainer had She Will Reign heading into the Reisling Stakes and prior to the start of the meeting he walked the track with Tommy Berry, who rode Frolic, and She Will Reign’s jockey Ben Melham.

They all knew where the best going would be and ultimately it brought about the undoing of She Will Reign who was an odds-on favourite. Of course she gained revenge two weeks later in the Slipper.

“Tommy got to the outside, hit the fast lane and Frolic was too good for us,’’ Portelli said.

“It feels similar. We’ve got to go around for fitness, to give him a feel of heavy ground and whatever happens we’ll be spot on for the Slipper.”

Sejardan was $3 favourite with TAB for the Group 2 $300,000 UNSW Todman Stakes (1200m) and at $15 in the Golden Slipper.

Stablemate Fireburn, impressive winner of the Sweet Embrace Stakes last weekend, is on the $17 line.

As Portelli alluded, it’s a run the colt must have but he has the great unknown of how the youngster will handle the heavy ground under race conditions. An exhibition gallop on a heavy track last Friday night with stablemate Sky Command gave him some heart.

“It’ll knock them around if they don’t handle it and it will bring them on if they do,’’ he said.

“It’s how they handle it if they hit bad patches and how they recover if they dip and lose their footing. Canterbury the other night was a fresh patch and was nice underfoot.

“This is the test. This is going to be a good experience for him.”

The colt had his first run since winning the Golden Gift when a gutsy third in the Inglis Millennium (1100m) at Randwick a month ago.

After the race Portelli sent him out for a quick freshen up and suspects a hard run caused the two-year-old to be a bit jaded and it took a few days for him to pick back up. Since then it’s been smooth sailing.

“By the end of the week he’d recovered and he’s continued to get stronger and happier,’’ he said.

“They were shunted sideways down the back, it hit him hard, then he has this wide long run.

“I didn’t have him screwed right down, the fact he was just short of his peak and having a long wide run, and getting pushed sideways, knocked him around.”

It wouldn’t shock Portelli if Sejardan settles closer to the speed than what we’re used to seeing but that will largely be in Jason Collett’s hands once they leave the gates.

“Jason has been pretty keen to ride him on the pace to see how he reacts to it,’’ he said.

“We’ve had to ride him back every start. There doesn’t look a lot of speed in the race but we’ll be wherever and hold him together, come over the rise and hopefully there’ll be plenty of horse.”

Nobody is expecting Portelli to win the Group 1 $1m Mostyn Copper Randwick Guineas (1600m) with Royalzel but if he does the trainer reckons it’ll be the training performance of his career.

He’s not the rank outsider, at $41, but he’s been a shadow of the horse he’s been in previous preparations as he’s been beaten seven and 13 lengths in his two runs back.

“He’s come back with a different attitude,’’ he said.

“Last campaign he was like a gelding, he snuck up on us and he started winning.

Sejardan runs third in the Inglis Millennium

“This time he’s come back bulked up, he likes the girls now. He hasn’t put it together, it’s like he’s lost the zest. He didn’t try at all last start.”

Royalzel is a noted heavy track performer and Portelli has added the blinkers and on Monday gave him a solid hitout against Profondo in a barrier trial on the Warwick Farm polytrack.

“Shaun (Guymer) rode him beautifully, he put pressure on Profondo and had a good hit out,’’ Portelli said.

“He said the blinkers switched him on. He is a wet tracker, he’s had that gallop so he’ll be rock hard fit.

“If he’s swimming and they’re not he just might run a race.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday’s Randwick meeting