Latest News

By Ray Hickson

Trainer Gary Portelli has two Golden Slippers on his CV, and he’s come within a small margin of winning a Golden Rose, but he says it’s next level to think about winning Saturday’s $10 million James Squire Golden Eagle (1500m).

Trainer Gary Portelli (Pic: Steve Hart)

There’s no doubt Encap, last year’s Golden Rose runner-up, is the stable’s best chance while he says having his latest Golden Slipper winner’s half-brother Kintyre in the race is fitting as well.

“I’m just thrilled for my owners,’’ Portelli said.

“I bought Encap for $200,000 and put a syndicate together and here we are running in a $10 million race. You don’t even want to dream about that stuff, you just hope you can win a race somewhere.

“We’ve got a half to Fireburn, who means so much to us as well, in the race. It’s not a dream, you can’t dream that big.”

It’s worth $100,000 to run ninth in the Golden Eagle and Portelli said for connections of a horse like Kintyre, who has been a little disappointing this spring, that’s achievable while he feels Encap is the forgotten horse.

Encap showed he’s on target for the Eagle with his second-up win in the Group 2 Theo Marks Stakes (1300m) then went a month between runs into his eye-catching fourth, running the second fastest last 200m of 11.23 (Punter's Intelligence), in the Alan Brown over 1400m.

Portelli was rapt with drawing barrier one and he says with luck on his side it makes Jason Collett’s job a lot simpler.

“I’m hoping for good pressure down the back straight and he just follows the rail around,’’ he said.

“When the pressure starts to come on he can navigate his way through. Jason is the best man in these big races to ride that sort of race from an inside gate.

“We don’t have to worry about horses either side of us we just have to make sure we keep off heels and hope no one comes back and puts you through the rail.

“He just has to ride his own race and from the 600m onwards hopefully there’s a horse that can take him into the race, Collett’s great at capturing people late.

“From that gate he doesn’t have to think too much, he just has to steer. We don’t have to worry about what anyone else does, we just worry about what we do.”

Encap is a $23 chance and that puzzles Portelli a little when you consider he has a 3-2 record over the Godolphin four-year-old Tom Kitten who is more than half his price.

“If Tom Kitten is 8/1 how many times have we beaten Tom Kitten?’’ Portelli said.

“If you take the Europeans and Japanese horses out he’s top three for sure.”

Kintyre is a $101 chance and Portelli said that is a reflection of his past couple of runs being a little below par.

He said the gelding will be ridden differently on Saturday compared to his recent efforts, including his fourth last weekend in a 1600m open handicap, where he’s been close to the speed and predicts a top half finish if he gets the breaks in the big field.

“I think we’ve been riding to suit the race and not the horse,’’ he said.

Encap runs fourth in the Alan Brown Stakes

“The good thing about Kintyre is he’s tough and he’s resilient. While they weren’t good runs they weren’t gutbusters.

“If you need a fit horse backing up he could be in the top three or four and I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Encap's charity partner is the Police Citizens Youth Club NSW while Kintyre races for the Sony Foundation.

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday’s Golden Eagle meeting at Rosehill