While there may be a lack of racing in Britain due to the ongoing threat of coronavirus, both Frankel and Siyouni have chances to improve their sire records with runners in the Group 1 Golden Slipper Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday.
Juddmonte’s Frankel, who has been offered to cover at southern hemisphere time for a number of years, has a strong record in Australia with 15 winners. Those figures include his sole representative in the Golden Slipper, the Chris Waller-trained Hungry Heart.
The juvenile filly, owned and bred by Yulong Investments, stepped up from her debut second in January to take the Group 2 Sweet Embrace Stakes at Randwick by three-quarters of a length.
If Hungry Heart were to step up again, she would provide Waller with a maiden victory in the contest at his home track of Rosehill.
Speaking to Racing.com, Waller said: “We’ve always been impressed by what she’s shown us. She started her career in Melbourne and then she came up to Sydney once we identified her talent down there.
“For whatever reason she ended up in Melbourne, possibly going to the Blue Diamond, and although her first-up run was excellent, I thought, ‘no, give her a week [rest] at Yulong, look after her and bring her up to Sydney and give her a chance to quality’, which she certainly did in style.”
Frankel’s clutch of ten Group 1 winners have been achieved by runners in Britain, Dubai, France and Japan. If Hungry Heart were to be successful on Saturday, she would become the son of Galileo’s first top-level winner in Australia.
The Aga Khan Stud’s Siyouni, a stallion who began his stud career at a fee of €7,000 and now stands at €100,000, is represented by Woodpark Stud homebred See You Soon, who is a half-sister to the Listed-winning The Blue Eye.
Siyouni was top-class on the track and is now an in-demand stallion – Photo: George Selwyn
See You Soon has had three runs in her career so far and has struck up a rivalry with Dame Giselle, who she beat on debut before finishing second to on two occasions. The most recent was earlier this month in the Group 2 Reisling Stakes at Randwick.
The out-right favourite for the 6f event on Saturday is Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young’s Tagaloa, who is bidding to emulate Sepoy by completing the Blue Diamond Stakes and Golden Slipper double.
Sepoy completed the feat in 2011 during a leading career that saw the son of Elusive Quality win 10 times including four Group 1s.
Tagaloa will have to bounce back to his best if he is to become the first horse since 2011 to achieve the double as Golden Slipper rival Farnan got the better of him in the Group 2 Todman Stakes at Rosehill earlier this month.
Britain are also represented in the Group by jockey Tom Marquand, who will partner the Ciaran Maher and David Eustace-trained Prague.
Marquand, who enjoyed a successful spell in Australia in January, was on board the son of Redoute’s Choice last Saturday when they took the Group 3 Pago Pago Stakes by one and a half lengths from Kumasi.
The jockey also has rides earlier on Rosehill’s card as he will partner the William Haggas-trained Young Rascal in the Group 3 N E Manion Cup (1m4f) and Addeybb, also trained by Haggas, in the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes (1m2f).
Rosehill’s meeting will also feature the Group 1 George Ryder Stakes and the Group 1 Rosehill Guineas.
