Espaaniyah's Slipper path begins

Espaaniyah (I am Invincible) will be looking to build a bank toward the G1 Golden Slipper S. when she resumes in the Australian Turf Club Hcp at Randwick on Saturday.

The talented filly won the Inglis Banner on debut at Moonee Valley in October and is headed towards the $2m Inglis Millennium next month at Warwick Farm.

But those two races don’t count towards her Golden Slipper eligibility, so she needs prize-money from races like Saturday if she is to get herself in the Group 1 feature on March 23.

“It’s the start of a long campaign for her, we feel she is a filly we want to work towards the Golden Slipper,’’ co-trainer Adrian Bott told RacingNSW.com.au.

“She needs the prize-money from Saturday plus another lead-up run after the Millennium to put her in contention to get in the field. It is an important race by a number of factors for sure.’’

“It’s important she get to the races and has a good foundation run before getting out to the 1200m,’’ he said.

Bott, who trains in partnership with Gai Waterhouse, said the conditions of Saturday's race would make it hard for his filly, but there was still plenty more to come this campaign.

“She has to give away a bit of weight but she’s naturally a very sharp filly with good speed and we saw that in the trial," he said.

“The main thing to take out of it is there’s further improvement to come."

Hartnell on the express

Veteran Hartnell (GB) (Authorized) will resume in next weekend's G2 Expressway S. at Rosehill as he builds toward the $5 million All-Star Mile at Flemington.

The 8-year-old, a winner of the G1 Epsom Hcp last campaign, has never run in a 1200m race in his career, but trainer James Cummings has been suitably impressed by how well he has come back, highlighted by his trial on Thursday at Randwick where he ran fourth.

"Hartnell was beautiful through the line for Blake Shinn," Cummings told RSN. "I want to run the horse in the Expressway next weekend and he'll be running a really good race fresh."

Hartnell needs a boost in All-Star Mile voting if he is going to get one of the fan-voted 10 spots in the inaugural edition of the race.

As of Friday 4pm, he sat in 25th with 570 votes, around 900 votes short of automatic entry.

Stablemate Alizee (Sepoy) is currently 14th, while Best of Days (GB) (Azamour {ire}) is well back in voting in 54th place.

Cummings confirmed Best of Days, the winner of the G1 Cantala S. in the spring, would resume in the G1 CF Orr S. at Caulfield next month.

The real Derby deel

Cutadeel (NZ) (Dundeel {NZ} confirmed his credentials for the G1 Vodafone New Zealand Derby with an impressive win against the older horses in the Rogers Racing Stables 1600 at Counties on Friday.

Having just his sixth start, Cutadeel, who was a Listed winner over 2100m last time out, secured his fourth win by three-quarters of a length over Gino Severini {Ire}) (Fastnet Rock)

Andrew Forsman, who trains Cutadeel with Murray Baker, was rapt to see the promising stayer prevail after a good ride from Opie Bosson.

“Opie rode him a treat, that was a ten-out-of-ten ride and while the margin wasn’t that big I think he had a little bit of horse left there too,” Forsman said.

He added that it hasn't been decided which path Cutadeel will take to the Derby on March 2, but it would be a run in either the G2 Waikato Guineas or G2 Avondale Guineas before he tackles his major assignment.

"Murray will talk with the owners and they will figure out a path, but it will be one or the other, he wouldn’t need to run in both. Two-thousand metres, he has already performed over the trip, it won’t hold any fears, and then just one run into the Derby," he said.

One of Baker and Forsman's other Derby prospects, The Chosen One (Savabeel), was beaten in the Splice Construction 1400 earlier in the day.

The filly Tiger Silk (All American) charged home from last to upset the odds-on favourite.

Dream alive for Hillis and Imelda

Wayne Hillis is hoping to turn his $3,500 investment into a big return in the Karaka Million 3YO Classic at Ellerslie on Saturday.

Hillis bought Imelda Mary (NZ) (Ferlax {NZ}) for that bargain price as a yearling and she has already repaid him many times over with $90,000 in prize-money from her 13 starts.

But the return could turn into a real bonus should she cause an upset in Saturday's $1 million 3-year-old feature.

“It would be unbelievable to win it, it would be like a dream, it would be fairytale stuff,” he said.

“But if she never wins another race, it has been brilliant what she has done, we are rapt with that, but she should go on with it I would say."

“Every one of them has form, she has had plenty of practice and some of them have had only two or three runs, so there might be a bit more pressure for them.”

Hillis also saddles up Bit Lippy (NZ) (Showcasing {GB}) in the G3 Mongolian Khan Trophy and Livin’ On A Prayer (NZ) in the G2 Westbury Classic (Redwood {GB}).

Shark's short-term pain to lead to long-term gain

Trainer Jamie Richards is hoping another six months' rest will be to the benefit of Te Akau Shark (NZ) (Rip Van Winkle {Ire}), who has been ruled out of an autumn campaign in Australia.

Richards has not been happy with Te Akau Shark's fitness this time but believes with some more time to grow and develop, the 4-year-old still has a strong racing future.

“We just think he needs a bit of time and we are going to give him a bit of a break and get him ready for the spring,” Richards said.

“He’s just a bit sore behind and up high, they are not things that are easily diagnosed, but it’s nothing of a major consequence and he’s just a horse that needs a bit of time, as most of those Rip Van Winkles do."

Richards said the early spring Group 1s in New Zealand look an ideal early target before he considers any campaign in Australia later in the year.

“We’ll be looking at spring in New Zealand to start off with and then over to Australia, be that Sydney or Melbourne we are not quite sure, but we certainly think he is up to it,” Richards said.

“It’s a bitter pill to swallow at the moment, but we are at the sales now trying to find another one and we have just got to give him the time that he needs. I am sure he will look after us if we look after him.”

Lindsay Park learns from 2-year-olds

Tom Dabernig admits that Lindsay Park is still learning about the strength of its 2-year-old crop and that Saturday's Blue Diamond Previews will be an education as to which of them is ready to step up.

Dabernig and David and Ben Hayes have Exeter (Fastnet Rock) in the colts' division and Biscara (Rubick) and Andrassy Avenue (Rubick) in the fillies' race.

Describing Exeter as a 'smart horse', Dabernig told RSN that his debut on Saturday would determine whether they press on towards the G1 Blue Diamond S. with the colt.

Biscara was twice placed at Listed company in the spring and her co-trainer feels she is ready to perform well from a favourable barrier.

"Biscara has had a couple of runs and did well on both those occasions, She's drawn one and got the rail, and that's an advantage," he said.

The same can’t be said for Andrassy Avenue, who must make his debut from the widest possible barrier.

"Andrassy Avenue has shown plenty of potential. From gate 18, it's not always a drama at Caulfield with the straight run and the one bend, but you do need a bit of luck," he said.

Both fillies are by Coolmore stallion Rubick, who Dabernig admits he is a fan of having prepared a few of his first crop.

"We didn’t get a lot, but certainly the ones we got, you could see very early on in the piece that they were very forward types," he said. "I wouldn’t be complaining if someone rang up and gave us another one."