The decision to bypass the Magic Millions Classic with Prost and concentrate on a Golden Slipper bid appears to be a shrewd one, with the colt returning to post an emphatic win in the Group 3 Canonbury Stakes at Rosehill.
Prost ($3.50 equal fav) became the tenth individual two-year-old winner for Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott this season, jumping quickest before handing up the lead to King Of Roseau then reasserting his authority in the straight.
He had a half-length to spare over Fearless ($5.50), who closed from the back, with Traffic Warden ($3.50 equal fav) another 1-1/4 lengths away third after having a chequered run to the line.
Prost’s time of 1:03.25 for the 1100-metres eclipsed the class record set by stablemate Red Resistance last year and Adrian Bott said the winner, who finished third behind stablemates Espionage and Straight Charge in the Breeders’ Plate on debut, had put himself in the Golden Slipper frame.
“After the Breeders’ Plate, discussing the options and being a Magic Millions purchase, we had the option of going up there (to the Gold Coast),” Bott said.
“But speaking with (owners) Kia Ora and everyone involved in this colt, we wanted to give him the right time and have a real good run up and a real good lead up towards the Golden Slipper.
“Today was very important for him to get some prizemoney and get a good win on the board.
“We’ve got a bit of time now to work out what the path is going to be, how many runs he needs, but certainly we will see him again and all roads will be leading towards the Golden Slipper.”
Prost, who firmed from $26 into $17 for the Slipper after his Canonbury Stakes (1100m) victory on Saturday, boasts the right bloodlines for the two-year-old feature, being closely related to last year’s winner Shinzo.
They share the same sire in Snitzel, and Prost’s dam Samameteors is a half-sister to Shinzo’s mum Samaready.
Waterhouse and Bott are building an envious Slipper squad with unbeaten colts Storm Boy and Shangri La Express among the leading early fancies, while Lady Of Camelot added her name to the stable’s Slipper contenders with an all-the-way Widden Stakes (1100m) victory later on Saturday’s program.
Winning jockey Tim Clark deflected any credit for Prost’s success to the training duo, who just keep producing the juvenile winners this season.
“Their two-year-olds are airborne at the moment,” Clark said.
“It makes our job a lot easier when you’re getting legged onto these jets every week and you’ve just got to point them.”