Brenton Avdulla and James Cummings have combined to take out the Group 2 Silver Slipper Stakes defeating two Golden Slipper fancies Kings Gambit and Platinum Jubilee.
With King's Gambit dominating the market as a $2.50 favourite with online betting sites, Cylinder was backed in from $6 to $4.40 before the jump in the two-year-old Group 2 event, with the latter showing that he has more improvement to come, going into the Golden Slipper in four weeks time.
Platinum Jubilee led the field up to the home corner, but as soon as the field entered the final 300m there was only one runner that you wanted your money on, and that was the winner.
The Exceed And Excel colt lengthened nicely to run past Platinum Jubilee and then pull away for a nice half a length victory and put himself into the Golden Slipper conversation.
2023 Silver Slipper Stakes Replay – Cylinder
James Cummings and Godolphin have plethora of two-year-olds and three-year-olds coming into the autumn carnivals for the Blue Diamond Stakes and Golden Slipper, and he spoke post-race about another of their up-and-coming two-year-olds.
“We're cooking with gas with this one,” Cummings said.
“He is just loaded with ability.
“First-up at his second preparation, that's a damn good sign from this colt.
“They kept him in the barriers long enough in that small field there just to test him out, but he got back on all fours and he was quickly away, good pace in the race.
“Not everything went right for him in Victoria, thankfully we were able to get him back to Osborne Park on a pretty quick turnaround and nature took its course.
“I think he has got what it takes to keep improving and get to the level required to be competitive in the Slipper in four weeks time.”
Brenton Avdulla may have found his top seed in the Golden Slipper, if he can retain the ride on Cylinder in four weeks.
“I think he's a good quality colt and he's been excellently prepared,” Avdulla said.
“He had duck eggs from two in away, but he probably should have been undefeated with a bit of luck and it's not ideal that they run with a fractured jaw out of the barriers and still be hard to beat.
“His trial was good, James gave him a good push through the week and again this morning James said ‘ride him positive, ride him confident because he's quite a good colt' and I think they're right.”
Cylinder has now shortened into $17 in the 2023 Golden Slipper futures market with online bookmakers.