Romantic Moon hits sweet spot Surprise performance: Romantic Moon, ridden by James McDonald, wins the Sweet Embrace Stakes on Saturday. Clarry Conners was in pain as favourite Assail failed badly in Saturday's Sweet Embrace Stakes at Warwick Farm that went to the John O'Shea-trained Romantic Moon. O'Shea was too, for a different reason. "I backed her at $12 and they bet $17," O'Shea said. I said to the boys before the race that she was a certainty because I had the unders. We actually rated her a $5 chance and that is very pleasing. Romantic Moon can get ready for the Golden Slipper at Rosehill on April 6, where she shortened from $101 to $26 after her win. The fillies went 0.3 slower than colt All The Talk did earlier in the day in the Skyline. He shortened from $51 to $17 in Slipper betting. Slipper favourite Overreach was tightened after Saturday action from $4.20 to $3.80. She will take on second favourite Villa Verde in next Saturday's Reisling Stakes. Assail doubled her Slipper quote from $13 to $26 after he fifth and will have a final shot at getting a place in the $3.5 million feature a week out in the Magic Night Stakes. "She came out flat footed and that's just not her at all," Conners said. She then had to catch up and was running up their backs and that didn't help. She wasn't lame, so I don't know what to make of it. Peter Robl couldn't hide his disappointment. "She missed the start and that's not her, she usually goes 10 to the furlong, and it was over then," Robl said. In the straight, when I went for her, she went two strides and stopped. Assail was in bar plates, which she has worn since suffering an abscess on her hoof the morning of the Magic Millions, in which she was favourite. "She has had them on since January 12 and won a [barrier] trial in them," Conners said. We wanted to get to front and have an easy [race], instead she had a hard run but we can come back in a couple of weeks and have another go. Romantic Moon sat three-wide near the tail but swept to the front at the 250-metre mark and raced away to score by a length from Thump as Greytfilly got home third a further neck away. Romantic Moon's jockey, James McDonald, was always held a high opinion of the filly. "In her first trial at Randwick, she came up the rise like a really good horse," McDonald said. She just did easy and then came out and backed it up at her first start. She has come back a lot stronger and John has bit left to work with. Romantic Moon returned by running eighth in the Silver Slipper on a wet track. "I thought that run was OK and we were very happy coming here," O'Shea said. She had improved nicely. We still have a bit of gear there we could use. I will talk to James but the blinkers or winkers are an option to make sure she settles a bit closer in the Slipper because you wouldn't want to get that far back in it.