Latest News

By Ray Hickson

Joe Pride has never trained a two-year-old winner before Christmas but he has an inkling that Shalatin could break new ground for him, prove a point and book a Golden Slipper berth at Rosehill on Saturday.

Trainer Joe Pride (Pic: Bradley Photos)

Any time the Warwick Farm trainer has a two-year-old starter, particularly in the first half of the season, it turns heads as he’s not known for being a player in the juvenile ranks.

But he hopes Shalatin, who races in the same colours as his former star sprinter Terravista, can change that perception in the $1m Inglis Rural Property Golden Gift (1100m).

“You get pigeonholed in this game and everyone says I can’t train two-year-olds and that’s incorrect,’’ he said.

“It’s not a matter of not being able to it’s more choosing not to. It’s nice if I can get one to show people it can be done.

“Like everybody else I bring them through the system and I probably turn them out easier than most people. But he kept standing up and copping the preparation so we continued on.”

Pride said each year he has 25-30 two-year-olds but the majority of them don’t make it to the track until late in the season or until they turn three.

To date his earliest juvenile winner was Kentucky Miss who won at her first start on January 7 in 2016 and you have to go way back to 2008 to find Pride's best performed two-year-old.

That was a filly called Anatomica who was narrowly beaten in the Group 2 Reisling Stakes then ran fourth in the Golden Slipper behind Sebring.

He said Shalatin showed in his eye-catching debut fifth in the Kirkham Plate (1000m) two weeks ago he’s above average especially considering a less than textbook build up.

“They did give him to me and said could we see if we can get him to the races early on because he was identified by the breaker as an early type and it all worked out for him,’’ Pride said.

“I’ve got a really good opinion of him but he hadn’t had the right prep in the end because the only trial he had was on the polytrack. It ended up being not the ideal preparation into it.”

With that in mind it’s notable that the colt was able to produce easily the race’s fastest last 600m of 33.23 (not far outside the meeting’s best) as he charged through the field from near last.

His last 200m of 11.31 (Punter's Intelligence) was two lengths faster than anything else in the race but Pride is hoping Shalatin doesn't need to concede such a margin having drawn kindly.

“I expected him to run a bold race but what he did was stamp himself as potentially a good horse,’’ he said.

“You can have expectations for young horses but I never try to get too carried away.

Shalatin runs third at Randwick on October 23

“I wouldn’t see him getting that far back at his second start because he’s actually got a bit of toe. If he can jump well and do the little things right he should be able to race in the first half of the field.”

The Golden Gift guarantees the winner and likely the runner-up a start in the 2022 $5 million Golden Slipper (1200m).

Shalatin is a $51 chance in TAB’s Golden Slipper market and $4.20 favourite on Thursday in the Golden Gift.

“It’s an extremely important race on the calendar for two-year-olds, precocious ones anyway, and it’s nice to have a runner in it,’’ Pride said.

“He’s pulled up extremely well and gives every indication he will improve out of sight.”

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