McDonald expects Storm Boy and Fangirl to meet lofty expectations

Champion jockey James McDonald is used to carrying the weight of expectation at the races, but there will be a little extra there with Storm Boy and Fangirl heading to Randwick on Saturday.

The unbeaten Magic Millions winner Storm Boy races for the first time since a sale involving Coolmore that valued the colt at $30 million. He is a $1.30 favourite for group 2 Skyline Stakes (1200m). A couple of hours later, Fangirl is the $1.55 top pick in the group 1 Verry Elleegant Stakes (1600m).

“They are just both expected to win,” McDonald said. “If they don’t, it will be labelled a disappointment.

“It’s the first time Fangirl has had that expectation on her like Anamoe and Romantic Warrior, and the way she feels she will live up to it.

“That Apollo win was incredible, and she has so much going for her on Saturday and is looking for the 1600m.

“When I looked at the race and the gate [of 10], I thought, ‘gee we’re going to be back and it might get interesting’.

“But if they go slow, she will be too close to them with her superior turn of foot, and if they go quick she can have the same sprint and run them down.”

McDonald will get to test Storm Boy’s motor earlier in the day as he tries to work out what his Golden Slipper ride will be. Storm Boy is the $2.80 Slipper favourite, but McDonald also rides the unbeaten Switzerland, which is the second pick in Slipper betting at $8 and will run in the Todman Stakes next week.

Coolmore’s retained rider, Ryan Moore, who won last year’s Golden Slipper on Shinzo for the global breeding giant, will come out and ride one of the two colts on Slipper day.

“I will ride both of them and then sit down with the lads at Coolmore and work out which one they want me to ride,” McDonald said.

“I got on Storm Boy in a barrier trial and he has just got a lovely action, and it was like driving a Ferrari in a school zone.

“There is a tremendous amount of ability there, and I think he is going to show it on Saturday. I can’t wait to be on him under race conditions.

“He is looking at the Triple Crown and felt like a colt that is just going to be better as he steps up.”

If Storm Boy can remain unbeaten and if he wins the Triple Crown – the Golden Slipper, Sires Produces Stakes and Champagne Stakes – his value would double to more than $60 million with the kickers built in to stallion deal by Coolmore.

McDonald will also reunite with Our Kobison as a favourite early in the afternoon, and he was delighted to draw a good gate with Tiz Invincible in the Surround Stakes.

Tiz Invincible won the Rosebud, Furious Stakes and Tea Rose Stakes, which is run over the 1400m course of Saturday’s group 1, in the spring but had to go back from a bad draw first up when she resumed and finished midfield in the Light Fingers Stakes.

“Of all my rides on the weekend, Tiz Invincible was the one I wanted to draw a barrier with, and she did,” McDonald said. “In the Light Fingers, we went back and got caught behind a slow one and you didn’t get to see the best of her.

“Barrier five means she will be there in the first half of the field like in the spring, and we saw what she did against these fillies back then.”

Duais ready to get back in winner’s stall

Edward Cummings believes he has found the perfect assignment to get Duais back in the winner’s circle in the Guy Walter Stakes at Randwick on Saturday.

The three-time group 1 winner will race in the Yulong silks for the first time after a spring where she might not have been a winner but ran third in the Might And Power Stakes, fourth in the Cox Plate and was runner-up in the Champions Stakes.

“Yulong are great to work with; all they said was they want her to win races, and I think we have found the right one first up,” Cummings said. “It’s probably the easiest race she has been in first up since she won her maiden, and the conditions really suit us.

“She has to carry the group 1 penalty, but, on ratings, she meets every other horse much better at the weights than she would if was a handicap.

“I was very happy with barrier trial on Tuesday and I know she runs very well first up.”

Duais has only won once first up in seven tries – her maiden win at Newcastle – but she has put in some slashing efforts against the best horses in the country resuming. She was only 1¾ lengths from Fangirl in the Winx Stakes in the spring.

“She should have been closer to her with any luck, and this race is nowhere near as strong as that one,” Cummings said. “She is a group 1 horse and I think she is great value because she is going to be finding the line very hard at the end of the 1400m.”

The Chris Waller-trained Olentia is the $2.30 favourite for group 2 after being unlucky in a lesser grade, and Hinged has had support at $3.90, but Duais was on the drift to $6.

“This is a drop in grade for her, so I can’t work out the betting,” Cummings said. “It is a great place to start and opens options towards group 1 races later on in the preparation.”

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