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By Ray Hickson

Trainer Gary Portelli will have no hesitation in chasing the two-year-old triple crown with Golden Slipper winner Fireburn if she can add Saturday’s $1m Inglis Sires’ (1400m) to her impressive record.

Trainer Gary Portelli (Pic: Steve Hart)

There’s a real confidence in Portelli has he talks about his second Slipper winner, one that has grown with each of her four wins, and he’s been itching to stretch her out beyond 1200m for some time.

“She’ll relish the 1400m. She’s drawn a good gate, she’ll be just behind them over seven furlongs and she gets conditions to suit again,’’ Portelli said.

“I think she will do it too, she’s tough. She’s been dragging us around at the track in the morning. She’s telling us she’s right to go.”

Fireburn, $2.50 favourite with TAB on Thursday, is aiming to be the first Slipper winner since Pierro in 2012 to claim the Sires’ at Randwick and the first to win another race since She Will Reign, also trained by Portelli, in 2017.

It’s also been 26 years since a filly has achieved the double, that was Merlene in 1996. Pierro is the last two-year-old to also win the Group 1 Champagne Stakes (1600m), the final leg, run this year on April 16.

Portelli said the Sires’ ‘can’t come fast enough’ after the youngster worked strongly on Tuesday.

He’s realistic, though, that it’s unlikely she’ll be able to reproduce the stunning performance that saw her win the $5 million two-year-old classic at Rosehill but says she probably doesn’t need to.

“You don’t get checked at the 550m in a Slipper, pick yourself up and win running away,’’ he said.

“It’s a Golden Slipper, not a midweeker at Canterbury.

“Every time she has gone out she’s done something to a new level. If she could do what she did last start it should be good enough.

“I couldn’t understand how she could go to another level. What she did in the Slipper was, for most horses, impossible.

“She’s been flying and loves the wet. If she puts her best foot forward she will be too good for them.”

While stablemate Sejardan had to be spelled after his unlucky ninth in the Slipper, Portelli said the performances of both he and Fireburn, plus a few others in the wings, bode well for the future.

“This level of horse is hard to find when you’re only a small team,’’ he said.

“We’ve been blessed this year and that augurs well for the three-year-old season.”

Clyde will be one of the outsiders in the Group 1 $2m Bentley Australian Derby (2400m) but Portelli said it wouldn’t shock him if the gelding finished in the top half.

He ran ninth in the Victoria Derby in the spring and Portelli said he was satisfied with Clyde’s performance on Monday in the shortened Tulloch Stakes (1850m) at Newcastle, finishing sixth behind Character.

“It was a tough enough run the other day,’’ he said.

“He sweated up really badly before the race, I can’t believe he ran as well as he did. I gave him no hope of him getting into the top five or six the way he paraded.

“He just hates Newcastle, I’ve taken him there a few times now and he’s lost the plot before the race. He sweats and trembles in the tie-ups.

“When he went to Canberra he went to sleep in the tie-ups and the other day at Rosehill before they were called off he went to sleep as well.”

Fireburn wins the Golden Slipper at Rosehill on March 19

Charity Spirit is considered an each-way chance to earn a spot in Saturday week’s Australian Oaks if she runs well in the Group 3 $200,000 Adrian Knox Stakes (2000m).

She ran fifth, beaten two lengths, behind Pretty Amazing in the Group 3 Kembla Grange Classic over the mile at Goulburn three weeks ago.

“She went okay there. She’s a work in progress and I don’t have any doubt she will handle the wet,’’ he said.

“I’m pretty sure she can be competitive form a good gate.”

Portelli won the race with Rena’s Lady in 2007 and she backed up a week later to win the Oaks.

All the fields, form and replays for Day 1 of The Star Championships at Randwick