First Lady Of The Turf Gai Waterhouse has reported that Wandjina has settled in well at his Newmarket stables as he prepares for the Group 1 £525,000 The Diamond Jubilee Stakes (6 furlongs) at Royal Ascot on June 20.
Wandjina has settled in well in his new surrounding at Newmarket in England. Photo by Sarah Ebbett.
Wandjina arrived at his new surroundings in England with fellow Australian Royal Ascot contenders Shamal Wind and Brazen Beau over the weekend.
The Robert Smerdon trained Shamal Wind is set to contest the Group 1 £375,000 The King’s Stand Stakes (5 furlongs) at Royal Ascot on June 16 while Brazen Beau is likely to line up against Wandjina in The Diamond Jubilee Stakes.
Champion Melbourne jockey Damien Oliver has been booked to ride Wandjina on the final day of the five day Royal Ascot Carnival and Waterhouse has tweeted that the Snitzel colt has settled in well.
“Wandjina continues ticking over nicely – loves a good post-trackwork stretch at physiotherapy,” Waterhouse tweeted.
Waterhouse also confirmed in her blog on her website that Wandjina was enjoying his work at Newmarket.
“Wandjina arrived in England on my coat tails,” Waterhouse wrote.
“The colt has not put a foot wrong since he arrived. He has had a look around at his magnificent surroundings, and at his most recent piece of work, the colt was the only horse (and we were the only people) for miles.”
“I think he is right in his race up to his eyeballs (in the Diamond Jubilee).”
“It’s an uphill 1200m and you need to be a very strong sprinter or a good miler to run up that hill.
“He’s a Group 1 winner over a mile and a Group 1 place getter over 1400m so to me he ticks every box.”
Wandjina started to show his class during the Melbourne Spring Carnival last year with a third to Shining To Win in the Group 1 $1m BECK Caulfield Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield before running tenth to Adelaide in the Group 1 $3m Sportingbet Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley.
The three year old then returned in the Autumn in scintillating form against his own age with an all the way win in the Group 3 $150,000 CS Hayes Stakes (1400m) at Flemington on February 21 followed by another tough win from the front in the Group 1 $500,000 Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington on March 7.
Waterhouse then stepped Wandjina up to weight for age company and the colt ran multiple Group 1 winner Dissident to a head when second in the Group 1 $400,000 Schweppes All Aged Stakes (1400m) at Randwick on April 18.
Brazen Beau is currently the $3.60 favourite for The Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Ladbrokes.com.au ahead of Dermot Weld’s smart sprinter Mustajeeb at $7 and Wandjina at $10.
Aidan O’Brien’s Due Diligence at $11 and $13 chance G Force from the stables of David O’Meara are also well in the market.
