Sydney's wet weather looks to have closed the door on the group one aspirations for one of trainer Joe Pride's team on Golden Slipper day tomorrow, but could have opened it for another.
The Doncaster plans for classy mare Judged are in disarray with Pride almost certain to scratch herfrom the Queen Of The Turf Stakes at Rosehill because of the expected heavy track.
Conversely, there could not be enough rain for stablemate and mudlark Vision And Power who runs in the George Ryder Stakes (1500m).
Rosehill track manager Lindsay Murphy last night said Rosehill was a heavy 9 after 14.5mm of rain fell overnight for a total of 61mm since Monday.
"If the track is genuinely heavy and a real bog which it looks like it's going to be then Judged won't run," Pride said.
"By the minute we are losing hope of making it to the Doncaster, it's not like she needs to win but she needs to run."
Pride believes the most likely option for Judged is to run her in Saturday week's group two Sapphire Stakes (1200m) at Randwick before tackling the group one All-Aged Stakes (1400m) at Randwick two weeks later.
"There is an outside chance that she could go to the Sapphire and then back up in the Doncaster (1600m) but that's very unlikely because the rain looks like it's here to stay," Pride said.
The High Yield mare showed what she is capable of on top of the ground when she rocketed home to defeat El Cambio to win the group three Liverpool City Cup (1300m) at Randwick on March 7.
Pride's confidence is growing by the day that Vision And Power will measure up in the star-studded George Ryder.
The Warwick Farm trainer admitted the prospect of tackling 11 group one winners in tomorrow's weight-for-age feature seemed a daunting task for Vision And Power - until the rain hit.
"At first I thought I was being a bit ambitious giving him a run in this but when it's wet he's competitive in anything, he's an absolute swimmer," Pride said.
Six-year-old Vision And Power boasts an outstanding record on heavy tracks, having won four of his seven starts.
