Time To Reign back to best and back on track

4 min read
Time To Reign was disappointing last time out at Warwick Farm but returned to the races with a professional display against a crack field of colts in the G2 Silver Slipper Stakes.

Written by Michael Cox

Time To Reign (Time For War) showed what a difference one run can make with a 2-year-old when the colt bounced back to form and boosted his potential stud value by beating high-profile rivals in the G2 Silver Slipper.

Coming off a disappointing last-start failure as favourite – and facing the might of Godolphin and its nominal G1 Golden Slipper favourite Tassort (Brazen Beau) – Time To Reign's trainer Gary Portelli admitted he came to Rosehill "ready to be disappointed".

He left the track elated, with a $325,000 yearling buy for syndicators Darby Racing that is now "worth a lot of money", a sharp contrast to how he felt at his home track two weeks ago.

"I could have been much more deflated," Portelli said of the last start fourth at Warwick Farm. "When you are a $1.60 favourite you expect to win and you're expected by the punters to win, but he just did a lot wrong."

"He is a young horse and it is amazing how many times 2-year-olds can do the wrong thing on their home track." - Trainer, Gary Portelli

Time To Reign had won his first two starts impressively, by a combined three lengths and both by November 3, and the only excuse Portelli could offer for the third start flop was that it was his first time racing at home.

"He is a young horse and it is amazing how many times 2-year-olds can do the wrong thing on their home track," he said. "They get too brave because they know where they are and they try and get it over and done with too quickly."

That run, however bad, did give Time To Reign some added fitness that the trainer believed took the edge off his colt's quirks.

"Fitness was everything today, and away from home he is better," Portelli said. "He was off-tap the other day. He was still a little bit hot today, but he will improve. Today he was a fit horse and he was there to show his best but to be honest, I came here hopeful but resigned to the fact that it was going to be a sad day for us all. If he didn't aim up today, we were out of play for the Slipper, but we are still in the game."

Time To Reign

Slipper ride second time around

For many of the owners in Time To Reign it is the second time they have experienced the roller coaster ride of owning a Slipper contender, with many of them part-owners with Darby Racing in Portelli's 2017 Slipper winner and $20,000 yearling purchase She Will Reign (Manhattan Rain).

She Will Reign won the 2017 Silver Slipper on her way to the big one. Although she was beaten at her next run, she is one of four horses since 2012 to complete the Silver Slipper-Golden Slipper double.

Breeder Garry Bachel bred both She Will Reign and Time To Reign, who got a timely pedigree update with a full-sister to be sold at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale (Lot 412).

Tassort still Slipper pick for J-Mac

While it was Time To Reign's professionalism that won the day, with Jason Collett slotting his mount into a midfield stalking position behind a strong tempo, Tassort showed a chink in his armour when he stepped slow and lost crucial race position early.

"He wasn’t suited on that soft ground but put him back onto a firmer track and you’ll get a different result." - Jockey, James McDonald

It meant Tassort was wide and chasing the tempo to gain ground through the middle stages and the winner had too much energy in reserve when it came time to sprint.

Tassort was beaten 2-1/4 lengths but finished off well for second and retained pre-post Slipper favouritism.

Jockey James McDonald called it an “excellent run" given the ground and circumstances.

"He wasn’t suited on that soft ground but put him back onto a firmer track and you’ll get a different result,” he said.

Solid debut

Born A Warrior (I Am Invincible), a $1.3 million yearling purchase, also bombed the start but flashed home well for fourth in a good sign for the G1 Sires' Produce and G1 Champagne Stakes later in the autumn.

As much as the horses behind Time To Reign might take heart from their slip-ups at the start, both will be facing a colt with a sense of timing in two weeks in the G2 Todman Stakes.

"It's two weeks into the Todman and then two weeks into the Slipper," Portelli said. "These horses he was facing were meant to be superstars and he has just put them to the sword."

Born A Warrior