Sydney Preview: Learning To Fly fancied for Golden Slipper

Sydney’s autumn carnival ramps up into full gear this weekend. There are five Group 1 events on the program, among them the world’s richest race for juveniles, the A$5 million Golden Slipper.

Most of these fields are smallish, however, but that can’t be said for the Golden Slipper, so we will focus on the big race.

Race 8, 1:45 a.m. Saturday ET: Golden Slipper (G1), 1,200 meters (about six furlongs), 2-year-olds

Golden Slipper Selections

• #10 Learning To Fly
• #5 Cylinder
• #1 Little Brose

Golden Slipper Wagers

• $10 win/$20 show: #10 Learning To Fly
• $2 exacta: box 1, 5, 10
• $1 trifecta: 5, 10 with 1, 5, 10 with 1, 5, 7, 10, 11, 12

As always, there’s a lot of form to try to go through here. Most notably, none of the juveniles have come out and shown dominance.

The favorite, and understandably so, is #5 Cylinder. From the Godolphin stable of James Cummings and with leading jockey James McDonald up, he’s won his two trials this autumn and looked a good horse in doing so.

Most importantly, he’s got a nice barrier of three, though he does face some danger of being hemmed in on the rail.

His main market rival is the filly #10 Learning To Fly. From the first Australian crop of Justify, she’s unbeaten in three starts, and has shown a fantastic will to win. She’s also nicely drawn at four.

Part of what has them short in the market is that their best rivals on form have drawn wide. #15 Steel City won extremely well last week, but she’s drawn barrier 15, while #6 Red Resistance, who pushed Cylinder last start, has drawn 17.

Perhaps the best chance outside the favorites is the Melbourne visitor #1 Little Brose. He put up a tough fight to win Victoria’s best juvenile race, the Blue Diamond (G1) last month, and with gate five he’s a solid chance.

Others worth watching for lower rungs of exotics include #7 Shinzo, #11 Platinum Jubilee, and #12 Blanc De Blanc.