Cox Plate winner Adelaide will need a good racing surface to produce his best in the Group 1 $4m Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Randwick on day two of ‘The Championships’ on Saturday.
Adelaide with jockey Ryan Moore returning to the saddling paddock after winning the 2014 Cox Plate at Moonee Valley. Photo by Sarah Ebbett.
Leading Sydney trainer Chris Waller is preparing Adelaide for a first up tilt at the premier weight for age race of the Sydney Autumn Carnival after taking over from champion Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien who fine-tuned the flashy stallion for a historic win in the Group 1 $3m Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley in the Spring.
But Waller has been in contact with O’Brien who has informed the premiership winning trainer that the Galileo four year old needs a good surface to perform at his premium.
“Aidan said he needs the ground to be vibrating under him to be at his best,” Waller told Racenet.
“Aidan has been a great help. Coolmore and even (jockey) Ryan Moore have been involved in discussions about training him.”
“It’s been a real team approach.”
“It (the Queen Elizabeth) is a new Cox Plate. It’s a $4 million race so there’s going to be pressure on. It’s not going to be a typical Sydney sit-and-sprint race.”
Sydney was soaked last week with persistent rain forcing Day One of ‘The Championships’ to be transferred from last Saturday to Monday with the track rated a heavy 9 at the beginning of the day before being upgrade to a soft 7 for the final race of the program.
Randwick was still rated a soft 7 on Thursday with the Bureau of Meteorology forecasting a few showers for Sydney in the lead up to the weekend.
Waller said earlier in the week that he would be reluctant to run Adelaide in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes on a heavy track even though he has recorded two wins on a soft track in Ireland.
“I doubt he’ll run on a heavy track but we’ll have a talk to the team on Thursday and go from there,” Waller said.
“We didn’t realise how good this horse was until we galloped him on dry ground. He’s got form on slow tracks overseas but he’s much better on top of the ground.”
Waller has given Adelaide two barrier trials in his lead up to his return to the race track and even though he didn’t shine in either of the hit outs, the top trainer is sure to have him primed for a super first up performance.
“We’ve shortened his work up and trained him a bit more like an Australian horse to get the speed into his legs but I’m very happy with him,” Waller said.
Highly rated English jockey Ryan Moore was aboard Adelaide for his Cox Plate victory and is booked to ride again in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Adelaide has drawn one from the outside in the thirteen horse field and is marked as an $8 chance with Ladbrokes.com.au.
Queen Elizabeth Stakes market order at Ladbrokes.com.au: $3.80 Contributer, $4.20 To The World, $7.50 Tosen Stardom, Criterion, $8 Adelaide, $15 Lucia Valentina, $17 Royal Descent, $21 Spillway, $26 Beaten Up, $34 Red Cadeaux, $41 Happy Trails, $67 Fiveandahalfstar, $201 Aomen.
