Slipper Island shooting for five-straight in chute resumption
Jess de Lautour • September 18th, 2025 4:39 PM • 3 min read
Slipper Island put together a picket fence form line down the Trentham chute last season and he’ll be aiming to pick up where he left off at the Upper Hutt venue on Saturday.
In autumn, the No Nay Never gelding went from winning at Rating 65 grade to defeating Group One winner Pier and subsequent Group One placegetter Tomodachi three runs later in the Listed City Of Napier Sprint (1200m).
That performance made four straight successes down the dogleg, and while his trainer Tony Pike hadn’t intended to head back there first-up, bad weather in the north shifted those plans.
“He’s come back in great order again this preparation and his trials have been good, he looks pretty forward,” Pike said.
“Ideally we wanted to go to Te Rapa last week, but with the wet track there, that forced our hand to decide to go back to Trentham, a track he obviously loves. It looks like they’re going to miss most of the rain and it’ll be about a (Soft) 6 or 7, which will be a big help.
“The better the track conditions, the better he’ll go, but with his form on this track, I think he’ll be hard to beat on Saturday.”
Slipper Island shares favouritism for the CR Grace And Waterforce Handicap 1200 with his stablemate Witz End, but the pair will likely head in different directions after resuming, with the Listed Stewards Stakes (1200m) during New Zealand Cup Week the goal for the former.
“I think the Stewards will be ideal for him, he should still get in on a reasonably light weight and the straight racing really seems to suit him,” Pike said.
“Riccarton has similar sort of track dimensions to Trentham, so that is the plan for the short term.”
A Group Two performer as a three-year-old, Witz End mixed his form at times last season at four, and Pike is looking forward to seeing a stronger galloper this time in.
“He was also entered for Ellerslie (on Saturday) but I thought the 1200m was a better fit first-up,” Pike said. “His preparation last year was a bit hit or miss at times, but he’s come back and trialled well and is looking like a more mature horse this time in.
“He’ll be very competitive fresh-up, and with that extra season of racing under his belt, he’ll come back a stronger horse and hopefully be up to those good mile races this season.”
The Cambridge horseman will also send a pair of promising three-year-olds on the journey south, with the proven Ashoka and debutant Pure Lotus going head-to-head in the Marsh Insurance Brokers and Treadwell Gordon 1200.
A son of in-form sire Hello Youmzain, Ashoka was twice runner-up in his two juvenile starts to Boombox, his former stablemate who has recently entered quarantine on his way to racing in Hong Kong.
“Ashoka is probably a little bit better left-handed even though he ran well in both of his two-year-old races going right-handed,” Pike said. “He just tended to want to drift to the middle of the track and I think the straight 1200m at Trentham will really suit him.
“He’s run second in a couple of quality two-year-old races and trialled really nicely, so you’d expect him to be really hard to beat down there on Saturday.”
While the less experienced of the two, Pike isn’t counting out Pure Lotus as he steps out on raceday for the first time.
“I didn’t really want to run the two of them together but we have a couple of three-year-olds in at Ellerslie as well, so we’re trying to split them up with the lack of maiden 1200m races at the moment,” Pike said.
“He’s a beautiful type that has trialled well, he’ll probably have to go back from that draw but I think he’s a talented horse going forward. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him go close to winning, with improve to come from the trip away and raceday experience.”
Pike will be well-represented at the other New Zealand meeting on Saturday at Ellerslie, including recent debut winner Is That All stepping up in the Trackside.co.nz 1300.
“He’s been a slow maturing horse, obviously making his debut at four, but he looks a nice progressive type that was pretty impressive at Ruakaka,” Pike said. “He still has plenty to learn, he’s pretty new and green, so that would be my only concern heading into Saturday.
“It’ll be his first time at Ellerslie, but he looks like a talented horse going forward.”
Pike is expecting to see an improved effort from well-bred colt Storm Front in the NZB Ready To Run Trainers Series 3YO 1400, having finished in the second half of the field when resuming in the Listed Sir Colin Meads Trophy (1200m).
“I was happy enough with his fresh-up run, we were dictated to by the barrier draw having to go all the way back in a slowly run race,” he said. “He made up good ground late off the back of one very soft barrier trial, so he’ll improve immensely off that.
“He’s a really talented colt, unfortunately he had a cardiac arrythmia in his last start as a two-year-old, so it was a bit of a messy preparation and we were a bit held up by the weather to get him ready for that first-up run.
“He’s drawn a better gate on Saturday, and with the application of blinkers, he’ll be able to put himself closer to the speed. I think you’ll see a marked improvement from him.”
He will present a trio of well-performed open gallopers in the Eagle Technology 1400 in Churchillian, Cannon Hill and Rudyard, with the youngest of the three expected to feature prominently.
“Cannon Hill and Churchillian ran in the 75 carrying big weights two weeks ago, so they’ll improve off that, I was happy with both of them,” Pike said.
“Cannon Hill was very good as a close-up fifth, he drops to 54.5kg here and I think he’ll be very hard to beat. Churchillian was off the scene for a long period of time so her run had merit, she only peaked late and will drop to the minimum on Saturday, where I think she can be competitive with further improvement to come.
“Rudyard has trialled well, I think he’s going a lot better than he did towards the end of his last preparation. He’ll probably benefit from the run, but he’s drawn to get a soft trip and he’ll improve quickly off this run.”
