Golden Slipper looms large for in-form Streisand

Since her last appearance in the Blue Diamond, Streisand has seen subsequent events further enhance her chances in Saturday's Golden Slipper, according to trainer Clinton McDonald.

McDonald, from Cranbourne, was delighted by Chayan's strong performance that upheld the Blue Diamond line through a powerful success in the Group 2 Reisling Stakes on March 7 at Randwick.

In the Group 2 Blue Diamond Prelude, Chayan was runner-up to Streisand, then trailed her and a few more in the Group 1 Blue Diamond on February 21 – developments that have McDonald upbeat for the $5 million Group 1 event at Rosehill.

The trainer regards his Magnus filly as worthy of being named the leading filly of her crop and is eager for her to show it over 1200 metres this weekend.

"We've met her twice and beaten her twice," McDonald said of Chayan.

"I feel my filly is the best filly in the land at the moment and she's probably the best two-year-old, because she's been the most consistent from the spring to the autumn.

"She's had five starts for two seconds, two wins and an unlucky fifth on the track where you couldn't make ground. She's been consistently good the whole way through."

After a fifth in the Group 3 Blue Diamond Preview, Streisand notched wins in the Blue Diamond and Blue Diamond Prelude, having been narrowly defeated previously in the Listed Maribyrnong Trial and $500,000 Inglis Banner last spring.

Just two horses in the Golden Slipper this year, Streisand and Shiki, boast five starts, an experience McDonald sees as key to managing the four-week interval.

Over the past four decades, merely three Slipper winners have triumphed after a four-week or longer gap, one being Courtza under the guidance of Ross McDonald, who secured the Diamond/Slipper double in 1989.

Only five juveniles have won both the Blue Diamond and Golden Slipper, with Sepoy the colt who last did it in 2011.

McDonald's maternal grandfather, Bon Hoysted, similarly conditioned Manikato for the double back in 1978.

"I followed a bit of the same path as dad did with Courtza and we're going straight to the Slipper (from the Blue Diamond), but we feel that she's got the race smarts and the race sense to be able to do that," he said.

With barrier 11 drawn in the Slipper, Streisand might drop to nine if emergencies three and four scratch, and McDonald draws reassurance from her gate 10 win in the Diamond.

"It was a slow tempo, but she still sat wide and sprinted off it, so I think she's in it right up to her ears," he said.

"She can race on speed, she can race back, she goes on wet and dry. She's got no chinks in her armour."

Ben Melham retains the ride on Streisand, mirroring her Blue Diamond mount, as he seeks another Golden Slipper victory like his 2017 success with She Will Reign.

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