Slipper chance Forbes forced to trial again after failing to load

The autumn aspirations of lightly-raced colt Forbes were put under a cloud of uncertainty when Silver Slipper Stakes contender failed to load at the trials for the second time at Randwick on Tuesday.

After becoming fractious in the barriers in a Rosehill heat last week, Forbes was set to line up in a 745m trial in Sydney in order to get the green light from stewards to run in Saturday’s Group 2 Silver Slipper Stakes at Rosehill.

But any hope of that happening quickly went pear-shaped when the Anthony and Sam Freedman-trained colt couldn’t be loaded and had to be scratched from the trial.

“He obviously didn’t go in and after we tried the method the trainer asked us to do as well, he still wasn’t going in,” Racing NSW chief steward Marc Van Gestel said.

“He will have to go back to the trials before he races again and that will be up to the stable.”

Forbes was uninjured in the barrier incident.

The Capitalist colt had opened on the second line of ‘all in’ betting at $6 for the Silver Slipper with TAB.com.au on Monday and was a $5 chance before Tuesday‘s trial.

He had drifted out to $8 following the mishap but he won’t be among the acceptances when fields are announced on Wednesday morning.

The colt is also rated a $26 elect for the Golden Slipper, held on March 20 at Rosehill.

Forbes showed plenty of promise in his only start, finishing a close runner-up to Blue Diamond contender Anamoe in the Listed Merson Cooper Stakes at Sandown last November.

Originally published asBarrier dramas for Slipper hopeful

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