Equal Favourites for Winterbottom Stakes

Group 1 winners Malaguerra and Terravista have been installed equal favourites for the Group 1 $1m Crown Perth-Winterbottom Stakes (1200m) at Ascot in Perth on Saturday.

Terravista, above, shares favouritism with Malaguerra in the Winterbottom Stakes at Ascot. Photo by Steve Hart.

Terravista, above, shares favouritism with Malaguerra in the Winterbottom Stakes at Ascot. Photo by Steve Hart.

Ladbrokes.com.au have both sprinters at $3.50 at the top of the market order in the twelve horse weight for age Winterbottom Stakes field.

The Peter Gelagotis trained Malaguerra is coming off a last start win in the Group 1 $1m Darley Classic (1200m) at Flemington on November 5 and winning jockey Ben Melham gets the ride again in the Winterbottom Stakes.

Terravista hasn’t won at Group 1 level since taking out the 2014 Darley Classic and resumed from a spell for a first up second to the speedy Redzel in the Listed $150,000 Mumm Stakes (1000m) at Flemington on November 3.

Hugh Bowman was aboard the Joe Pride trained Terravista in the Mumm Stakes and gets the rude again in the Winterbottom Stakes.

On the second line of betting for the Winterbottom Stakes is the up and coming local sprinter State Solicitor and the Gary Moore trained Takedown at $8 each.

The Grant and Alana Williams trained State Solicitor is the winner of six of his seven race starts but is facing a huge step up in class coming off a last start win in a 1200m BenchMark 72+ Handicap at Ascot on November 12.

Takedown is yet to win at Group 1 level, but is a dual Group 2 winner, and Moore is hoping for a win in the Winterbottom Stakes to help his chances of gaining an invitation from the Hong Kong Jockey Club to run in the Group 1 HK$18.5m Longines Hong Kong Sprint 1200m at Sha Tin on December 11.

“It’s probably a tough ask to go to Hong Kong after Perth but we’ll see if he gets an invite and see what happens this weekend,’’ stable representative Marc Chevalier said.

“It looks a good place for a horse that likes to lead and so we go into Saturday’s race with a bit of confidence that he’ll run well.’’

Takedown has had mixed Spring Carnival form which started off with two wins at Randwick in the Group 2 $200,000 The Bowermans Office Furniture The Shorts (1100m) on September 17 and in the Group 2 $300,000 Premiere Stakes (1200m) on October 1.

The Stratum four year old then had two starts in Melbourne for a second to Voodoo Lad in the Group 3 $150,000 Ladbrokes Moonga Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on October 15 followed by a fifth to Rageese in the Group 3 $200,000 L’Oreal Paris Stakes (1400m) at Flemington on Crown Oaks Day.

Tin Clark takes over from Blake Shinn on Takedown in the Winterbottom Stakes.

The Chris Gangemi trained Rock Magic has had solid local form in the lead up to the Winterbottom Stakes and is listed as a $9 chance with regular rider Jarrad Noske in the saddle again.

Rock Magic scored a solid win two starts back in the Group 3 $150,000 Prince Of Wales Stakes (1000m) at Ascot on October 29 and then ran second to Winterbottom Stakes rival Vega Magic in the Group 3 $150,000 Colonel Reeves Stakes (11000m) at Ascot on November 12 .

Vega Magic from the Sean Casey stable is marked as a $10 chance for the Winterbottom Stakes.

Market order for the Winterbottom Stakes at Ladbrokes.com.au: $3.50 Malaguerra, Terravista, $8 State Solicitor, Takedown, $9 Rock Magic, $10 Vega Magic, $11 Sheidel, $17 Keen Array, $21 First Among Equals, $41 Battle Hero, $51 Military Reign, $101 Regal Commander.

About The Author

Mark Mazzaglia

Mark is a passionate journalist with a life-time involvement in the racing industry. He spent many years as an analyst and form expert at the Courier Mail and also has hands-on experience working with some of Queensland’s top trainers.