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By Ray Hickson

Brenton Avdulla calls it a ‘sliding doors moment’.

Brenton Avdulla and Fireburn (Pic: Steve Hart)

Jockeys make choices on rides all the time. In Avdulla’s case it was another jockey’s choice that has him staring at a rare piece of history on board star filly Fireburn at Royal Randwick on Saturday.

It was well documented that Jason Collett had partnered both of Gary Portelli’s top two-year-olds, Fireburn and Sejardan, in the lead up to the Golden Slipper but elected to go with the colt leaving Avdulla to ride the filly in the $5 million race.

As fate had it she won the Slipper brilliantly under Avdulla and Collett was injured a few days later, leaving him on the sidelines for the rest of the carnival.

Now, after a runaway win in the Inglis’ Sires two weeks ago, Fireburn stands to be the first filly since Burst in 1992 and the first horse since Pierro in 2012 to claim the two-year-old triple crown in the Group 1 $500,000 Moet & Chandon Champagne Stakes (1600m) and Avdulla can’t believe his luck.

“It hasn’t been done for 30 years for a filly and she’s just been so dominant at her last two,’’ he said.

“These are horses you dream of riding and being a part of. If we can get the job done again it’d be pretty special.

“She’d be a good filly any year and this year she’s stamped her authority. She’s just got to turn up in good form and it’s going to take a special effort to beat her.

“I had no luck in the spring, Jason was having a good carnival and made a decision. I’ve been able to reap the rewards from it. That’s racing, it’s about opportunities and being in the right place at the right time and making the most of it.”

Fireburn is widely expected to have little trouble making it six wins on end and becoming just the seventh horse to complete the triple crown.

She was $1.50 with TAB on Wednesday. When Pierro snared the triple crown he started $1.22, Dance Hero (2004) was $1.40. Burst and Tierce (1991) were also short priced favourites.

Avdulla said he saw what he needed to see from Fireburn in trackwork during the week to give him confidence she’s held her form though she’s certainly no 5am champion.

“I don’t like them to work any worse or better. Every time I go and gallop her she can be a little bit busy,’’ he said.

“She doesn’t work like a superstar, like what you see at the races. On race day she’s calm and collected, nothing worries her.

“It’s like driving a car in cruise control for the first half of a race, she just relaxes, then once you light her up she’s off and going.

“Like most good horses she has a great turn of speed and she handles the ground, which has been a massive thing at this carnival.

“She’s a competition horse and it’s exciting to be a part of it.”

Aside from her dominance in both the Slipper and Sires’, a large part of the reason Fireburn is such a short priced favourite is that she’s running out of rivals.

Just five two-year-olds will oppose her in the Champagne and that will turn the race into a very different tactical battle than either of the previous Group 1s were.

But as she showed in the Sires', running a 35.68 last 600m (Punter's Intelligence) which was four lengths faster than any other horse, she has a blistering sprint.

“The worst thing I wanted was a full field of 16 and too many maidens in there,’’ Avdulla said.

Fireburn wins the Inglis Sires' on April 2

“She’s going to be no further back than three or four off them, I’m not really worried about how the race will be run or the conditions because I think she has everything parcelled up in that regard.”

Among his other rides at Randwick, Avdulla is expecting a handy first-up performance from Kirwan’s Lane in the Silverdale Farm Handicap (1400m).

Trained by John O’Shea, the gelding was unlucky when he resumed in the Goulburn Cup in the spring and Avdulla was pleased with how he felt in a closing second in a trial at Randwick earlier this month.

“I haven’t been on him for a little bit, he’s been a nice horse for me,’’ he said.

“He trialled well and galloped well on Tuesday morning. He finds a suitable race 1400m at Randwick and I think he’s there to run well.”

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