Avienus will be ridden by Craig Williams in the Railway Stakes

Mark Webb has probably enjoyed a level of success with Avienus this season that few would have expected him to achieve.

While to be fair she still hasn’t won a race, she did do enough to gain a start in Australasia’s premiere weight for age race, the Cox Plate.

She did that on the back of two solid placings when second to Descarado in the Caulfield Stakes over 2000m and second to Extra Zero over 1700m before that.

There’s no doubt the Cox Plate was her grand final but after dropping out to second last after a tough run she’s surprised many with her resilience.

She went from there to the Matriarch Stakes and after a far easier run she stormed home late to cross the line in fourth spot.

That gave the team enough hope to continue on with her preparation which leads to the Railway Stakes tomorrow.

It’s a big ask dropping back to 1600m at Group 1 level but trainer Mark Webb says while she’s racing well there’s no need to pull her up.

“When mares are racing well you always keep them going,” he said.

“If she ran poorly at Flemington we’d have been happy to pull her up.”

He says since then things have gone pretty much to plan.

“Apart for a little plane hiccup she’s done super,” he said.

“Mares as they get older get a little bit more adjusted..so far so good.”

Avienus will start the race from gate 10, yet another double figure draw this campaign.

Despite this Webb is confident she will be able to pull up a better position and perhaps enjoy a turnaround in fortunes.

“Ideally that’s where we’d love to be, midfield,” he said.

“I’s not always the best horse that wins its the horse that gets the most luck in running.

“It’s a big field and we certainly need that ounce of luck to go our way.”

Avienus will be ridden by Craig Williams tomorrow against a field of 16 headlined by local hope Ranger.