With the prospect of a heavy track, and the scratching of the nominal favourite Four Moves Ahead (Snitzel), Saturday’s $250,000 Group II Iron Jack Silver Slipper Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill Gardens shapes as an opportune time for Newgate Farm’s Extreme Choice to put a stakes-winner on the board.
Randwick-based trainers Richard and Michael Freedman have a genuine Golden Slipper hope in the undefeated Extreme Choice colt Stay Inside.
If that colt is the stables top seed, they have a more than able back-up in Tiger Of Malay.
The son of Extreme Choice has not raced since making a winning debut in the Kirkham Plate at Randwick last October.
He showed he is ready for Saturday with a third behind the star colts Shaquero and Remarque in a 900m barrier trial at Rosehill on February 11.
Bred by West Australian Bridie O’Bree, Tiger Of Malay was consigned to the 2020 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale by Tyreel Stud. He was knocked down to China Horse Club / Newgate Bloodstock for $255,000.
O’Bree’s daughter Jamie, who with her brother Dan runs Ruby Racing and Breeding, has retained a share in the son of Extreme Choice.
Tiger Of Malay is a three-quarter brother to Listed winner Samizdat and a half-brother to Group III winner Samovare (Savabeel) out of the More Than Ready (USA) mare Sambar.
A son of Not A Single Doubt, Samizdat made a sale-topping $325,000 at the 2017 Perth Magic Millions.
A useful performer for Star Thoroughbreds, Sambar, is a granddaughter of the Red Anchor mare Red Spice, a half-sister to the 1980 Golden Slipper winner Dark Eclipse (Baguette), a daughter of the Major General mare Majoram.
Majoram was a half-sister to one of the great three-year-olds of the 1970s, Taj Rossi.
Trained by Bart Cummimgs, the son of Matrice cut a swathe through the best around in 1973, chalking up wins in the Cox Plate, Victoria Derby and the George Adams Handicap on his way to a Horse Of The Year title.
Majoram also had a sister that deserves mention despite not being on the scoreboard of stakes-winners.
Strong Queen won 16 and placed in 12 of her 37 starts. Hugely popular in her hometown of Brisbane and in Sydney, Strong Queen won eight of her 19 starts at two and was placed a further eight times, often under crushing weights.
The dam of Majoram, Taj Rossi and Strong Queen, the Coronation Boy mare Dark Queen, was a sister-in-blood to another Bart Cummings-trained champion, Storm Queen.
The best two and three-year-old filly of her era, Storm Queen won the STC Golden Slipper, VRC Sires’ Produce Stakes and AJC Champagne stakes at two and the Caulfield Guineas, Edward Manifold and George Adams at three and later the VRC Lightning Stakes.
Tiger Of Malay’s dam Sambar has had a tough time of it in recent years. She lost a Lonhro colt after his birth and missed to Exceed And Excel in 2019. She was covered by Lonhro again last spring.
Extreme Choice has a starter in Saturday’s Group 1 $1.5 million Blue Diamond Stakes, one of three Group 1 features at Caulfield.
The Lloyd Kennewell-trained Abseiler won at Flemington on debut on January 9 and was most recently fourth in the Listed Blue Diamond Preview at Caulfield. He is a bolters odds in a market dominated by the brilliant Written Tycoon filly Enthaar.
