“I thought I’d win – I hit the turf”: Schofield’s Golden Slipper redemption with $16 roughie

Three years ago, Chad Schofield went into the Golden Slipper with high hopes, but ended on the turf rather than gliding across it.

Schofield was on second favourite in 2023, the unbeaten Learning To Fly, but his Slipper soured in the first couple of hundred metres as she pushed along the rail and nearly through it before parting company with the jockey.

“I thought she was the one to beat, and it ended with me picking myself off the ground,” Schofield said. “That was disappointing, but it can happen in a Slipper.”

He pauses for a moment and adds.

“I think my ride this year is at least as good, maybe better.”

Schofield linked with Stretan Ruler when he arrived in Sydney as a maiden and made an immediate statement that the jockey hasn’t forgotten, but it appears punters have.

Stretan Ruler is a $16 Golden Slipper chance even after he exploded clear in the Silver Slipper a month ago to win by 3-1/2 lengths, the fourth biggest margin in the race’s history.

Dominant Silver Slipper winners like Mossfun, She Will Reign, and Farnan have gone on to make it a pair of Slippers in the world’s richest race for two-year-olds.

“What impressed him about that win wasn’t the margin, it was what I felt through the line,” Schofield said. “He put the race away so quickly, but he was still tugging through the line, there was a whole lot more there.”

“He loved the pressure of that race and that’s a big thing for Saturday.”

Stretan Ruler had to play second fiddle to Paradoxium in a jog and canter in the Todman Stakes but lost no ground to him in the run to the line.

“They just sprinted home in that race and he couldn’t win the way it was run because the winner had control,” Schofield said. “I don’t think he can beat us again.”

“I’m so confident that when the pressure is on in a Golden Slipper, my bloke is ready to handle it.”

“He did in the Silver Slipper and was able to show a long, sustained sprint that not many two-year-olds have.”

“We have a good draw, and it will be a case of getting the right run and then letting him go in the straight.”

“I love the strength my horse has, and I think it can be difference in a Golden Slipper.”