Not long ago, three months specifically, Chayan wasn’t seen as a Golden Slipper candidate.

Co-trainer Annabel Archibald had the filly pegged for a break, no trial required.

A standard jump-out upended that, remaking Chayan in the process.

‘She had an unofficial jump-out at Christmas and I said to Eric Koh, her owner, “she will probably just have this jump out and go out” because mentally, she was a little bit hot,’ Archibald recalled.

‘But she jumped out really well and really relaxed after that. She started mentally going the right way.

‘We sent her down to Melbourne and she had those couple of runs there, and I think that has held her in really good stead.’

Those Melbourne runs saw Chayan second in the Blue Diamond Fillies’ Prelude (1100m) and seventh wide-drawn in the Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) with a testing run.

In Sydney again, her efforts earned a Golden Slipper warm-up entry.

She demolished the Reisling Stakes (1200m) field by three lengths for Saturday’s elite company, and gate 12 promotes her to outright Slipper favourite status.

Archibald confirms she’s order-perfect post-last-start, with Tuesday’s gallop a highlight.

‘I couldn’t be any happier with her. She started her campaign off in Melbourne and didn’t have much luck with the draws down there, but ran really well,’ she said.

‘It was pleasing to see her come up here and put it all together. All of the ratings guys said she ran really good time, and the figures were good, and that’s all we can ask for as a last start heading into this race.’

Archibald has Slipper form, sending unbeaten Learning To Fly in 2023 at $6.50—a ‘character-building’ day when she tripped badly pre-turn, dumping jockey Chad Schofield.

Schofield now backs Stretan Ruler for Phillip Stokes, who took the Silver Slipper (1100m) with authority and surged late for second in a pace-biased Todman Stakes (1200m).

Recent rides convince Schofield of his prospects.

‘I just think he wants tempo,’ Schofield said.

‘In the Silver Slipper, we got tempo. It was free-flowing, and he unlocked that devastating turn of foot.

‘The other day in the Todman, it was just a trot and canter and a dash home for three hundred metres. He was still really good, but if we get a solidly run 1200 metres, which the Slipper generally is, we will see the best of him. And I think the best of him is going to be hard to beat.’

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