Fireburn takes out Golden Slipper after brilliant Brenton Avdulla ride

Tom Naghten

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Fireburn takes out Golden Slipper after brilliant Brenton Avdulla ride image

Fireburn has taken out the Golden Slipper with a powerhouse performance at Rosehill on Saturday.

Pre-race favourite Coolangatta loomed up and looked the winner at one stage but Brenton Avdulla’s peach of a ride got Fireburn home by more than two lengths.

Avdulla had little choice but to stay inside on the $12 shot, having settled back from midfield after jumping from barrier one.

Into the straight, the filly still had plenty of work to do but saved ground along the fence and powered through the line for the victory.

Take a look at the finish below.

Trainer Gary Portelli got the seventh Group 1 of his career and second Golden Slipper.

Best Of Bordeaux finished second in a brave effort, having led for the majority of the race and battled on strongly to hold off Coolangatta in third.

After the victory, Avdulla said he had all but given up hope after getting shuffled back mid-way the race.

“I don’t know how the hell it won to be honest, far out,” Avdulla said.

“I just thought, ‘well, there’s our race over.’

“So I just tried to balance her up and try to get her sorted so she could earn a bit of prize money for connections and I got 300m out and said this thing’s still going to win and I just had to duck and weave.

“When she came off Best Of Bordeaux’s heels, it was race over.”

 

Tom Naghten

Tom Naghten Photo

Tom Naghten is a senior editor at The Sporting News Australia where he's been part of the team since 2017. He predominantly covers boxing and MMA. In his spare time, he likes to watch Robbie Ahmat's goal against the Kangaroos at the SCG in 2000.