Slipper win no boost for business

Gary Portelli has not been inundated with future Golden Slipper hopefuls as he thought he might be on the back of She Will Reign’s win in the world’s richest race for two-year-olds.

With the Easter yearling sale following hard on the heels of the Warwick Farm trainer’s career highlight, he assumed She Will Reign’s exploits would lead to an increase in clientele.

“It was starting to scare me, the numbers. I thought the Slipper might put us right over the top here. It was a big worry going into Easter that maybe I’d end up with a few extra,” Portelli said.

“But It turned out whoever was buying them had already picked out their trainers. I got two out of Easter, that’s all.

“Business didn’t actually improve one iota by winning the Golden Slipper believe it or not. I thought I’d have horses coming left, right and centre.”

Portelli still has 40 two-year-olds in his stable, a significant boost on the 15 he handled last season thanks to pre-Slipper successes.

“We won the Manikato (Rebel Dane), the Magic Millions Cup (Testashadow), Single Bullet won the Pago Pago …. I had 36 of them before She Will Reign won the Slipper,” Portelli said.

He introduced his first batch of two-year-olds in the Listed Gimcrack Stakes in September, where Now or Never’s fourth was the quartet’s best placing.

Secret Lady had her first start on Saturday and ran second behind Godolphin’s Dynamited with the winner running 33.85s for the last 600m.

She Will Reign, who won the Group One Moir Stakes before she was unplaced in the $10 million Everest, returns to work this week.

Portelli said she would begin a campaign geared towards the TJ Smith in the Group Two Rubiton Stakes at Caulfield on February 10 and stay in Melbourne for the Group One Oakleigh Plate a fortnight later.