Both fillies have been in Sydney for long enough to have a barrier trial and, after a gallop on Tuesday morning, Maher favours Nice For What, which was runner-up to Dosh in the Ottawa Stakes during the Flemington carnival.

“Nice For What is going great. They worked together the other morning and she is probably going the better of the two,” Maher said.

“The form looks all right after Dosh won at Caulfield [in the Blue Diamond Prelude] and she is that little bit stronger now.”

Nice For What is a half-sister to dual group 1 winner Montefilia, who completed the Flight Stakes-Spring Champion Stakes double in the spring, but she is much more of an early two-year-old type with a sprinting frame.

“She is by Shalaa, so is bred to have a bit more speed than Montefilia. She is just a nice horse,” Maher said. “We bought six Shalaa last year and two have gone to the races. Nice For What is stakes-placed and the other won on debut in South Australia. He is a stallion to watch.”

Bookmakers made Nice For What an $11 chance for the Millennium and the unbeaten Sneaky Five is at $9 in a market that is dominated by highly touted colt Profiteer, the $1.75 Sportsbet favourite.

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Sneaky Five was the star of the spring and she has already banked more than $860,000 for owners in winning the Inglis Banner at Moonee Valley before being too strong in the $1 million Golden Gift, which assured her a spot in the Golden Slipper. But if she can win the Millennium, Sneaky Five will race for a $2million bonus in the Inglis Sires in April.

“That would nice, very nice,” Maher says understatedly again about the bonus. “She came on the scene quickly and was very good at the Valley and then was the same in the Golden Gift. She hasn’t done much wrong and you had to look at this race with her. She is a real raceday filly.″⁣

Meanwhile, the Inglis Nursery winner Acrobat has been spelled and will miss the Golden Slipper after injurying a hock.

“With his Golden Slipper lead-up rapidly approaching, we have simply run out of time and together with Coolmore and his connections, we have made the decision to spell him with the view to a spring campaign,” the Maher-Eustace stable said in a statement. “He is a colt with enormous potential.”