Warwick Farm trainer Gary Portelli has a vision for a perfect weekend in which he is sitting with the Golden Rose trophy waiting for his pigeons to return and deliver a derby victory on Sunday.
The Warwick Farm yard will send Golden Slipper-winning filly Fireburn and colt Sejardan to Rosehill for the first three-year-old group 1 of the season as Portelli’s best five birds from the stable’s loft are basketed for the 670km trip to Kingscliff for the pinnacle of the pigeon racing season.
Gary Portelli believes Sejardan is his best chance of taking the Golden Rose.Credit:Getty
“It would be great to be sitting waiting for the pigeons to come back with the Golden Rose in the bag,” Portelli said. “We would love to win the double.
“The Derby is the biggest race of the year and it has been put back a day because of the weather, which means I will be there when they come back on Sunday.
“Hopefully, I’ll be waiting for the pigeons with a sore head.”
Fireburn and Sejardan sat at the top of the Golden Rose market when it opened but have drifted to double-figure chances on Saturday after perceived poor lead-up runs.
The Portelli pair came the traditional way through the Run To The Rose, where the slow tempo didn’t suit either and they finished fifth and seventh.
Portelli leans towards his colt in the Golden Rose, which goes against market expectations. Sejardan has drawn better than Fireburn in gate eight as opposed to 15 and has the ability to take advantage of the draw and be more forward than before in his career.
There is also the lure of a stud deal for Sejardan, which is surprisingly a $21 chance as opposed to the $10 on offer about Fireburn.
Gary Portelli combines thoroughbred and pigeon racing.Credit:Wolter Peeters
“The filly’s value can’t really change as a Golden Slipper and Sires winner, whereas the colt’s can,” Portelli said.
“It would be a financial windfall for the owners and me if Sejardan wins because he has a stallion profile as a two-year-old winning the Breeders’ Plate, Golden Gift and Todman Stakes and just needs that group 1.
“They are both going well, but Sejardan gets the chance to make his own luck from the gate.
“He is rock-hard fit now. He will still improve on what he does tomorrow, but I think we have him in the right place to win.
“He has always wanted to switch off in his races, and I have definitely always thought his best trips would be around 1400m and a mile, and we get the chance to find out now.”
Sejardan was a storming finisher as a two-year-old, but Portelli is confident he can find a spot in the first half of the field in the Golden Rose, which looks devoid of a leader.
“In the Run To The Rose, Sejardan actually jumped well and could have been in the first three, but we had decided to be negative and go back,” Portelli said. “That proved to be the wrong decision.
“That won’t be happening on Saturday. He will go forward, and he is a horse that has never been run down by anything before.
“He has always been the horse running the others down, and, if he can get into a rhythm and a tempo that is not too fast, he can quicken. If he does, good luck to anything coming from behind him.”
Portelli’s concern for Fireburn is where she will get to from the outside gate.
“There doesn’t look to be much pace in the race and we just aren’t sure where she might find herself from out there,” Portelli said. “I’ll just leave it up to Brenton [Avdulla] but with her, it’s just sit back and wait and see what happens.”
