James Cummings and the Godolphin team have yet another Golden Slipper fancy, with Cylinder getting the better of the pre-race Golden Slipper second favourite, Red Resistance in the Group 2 Todman Stakes at Randwick on Saturday.
Going into the traditional Group 2 lead-up for the Golden Slipper for the colts and geldings, both the winner and runner-up jumped as the favourite and second favourite with online bookmakers.
As the field hit the top of the home straight it appeared as though the punters had got the betting spot on, with Red Resistance leading them up and kicking clear with 300m to go, however, under the urgings of James McDonald, Cylinder chased him down with 100m to go and recorded a very nice victory.
After todays win, Cylinder will go to the Golden Slipper third-up with back-to-back wins under his belt this preparation.
2023 Todman Stakes Replay – Cylinder
James Cummings was very happy with his colt's performance in the Todman and he spoke post-race.
“It's a horse race and we've beaten a very good horse only by three-quarters of a length but you have to love the way he did it,” Cummings said.
“The second horse is a magnificent animal and he was huge again there.
“There was nearly three lengths back to the third horse so those two look like extremely good chances in two weeks.
“Cylinder is going to take the A1 form going into the Golden Slipper with the Silver Slipper and Todman (Stakes) under his belt.
“Now Mark Guest has just got to lock in that James McDonald next to his name in two weeks, and James might be able to win a little million bonus on the horse by having won these two lead-ups.”
As the number one jockey in New South Wales, and arguably the best in the world, James McDonald will have options in the Group 1 Golden Slipper in a couple of weeks, but he spoke about his win on Cylinder and the potential of him riding this colt in that big two-year-old race on March 18.
“I feel he's got improvement to come,” McDonald said.
“He's second-up, he had that grounding work done back in the spring.
“His work seems to be getting stronger and stronger.
“I went out there Tuesday, he worked well and I think he'll take another step up which he will need to do, there's some good horses in this Golden Slipper.”
When McDonald was questioned about whether he will ride Cylinder in the Golden Slipper, he had a simple answer.
“I do the lock-in on Mondays.”
Cylinder is now a $5 second favourite in the Golden Slipper futures market with online betting sites.