Australia’s favourite racehorse Winx is marked at $1.10 to extend her winning run to fifteen in the Group 1 $600,000 Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on Saturday.
Winx, above, has been installed the short priced favourite for the Chipping Norton Stakes at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.
Winx kept her winning momentum going in scoring her fourteenth win in succession with an effortless first up victory in the Group 2 $250,000 The Star Apollo Stakes (1400m) at the postponed Randwick meeting last Monday.
Trainer Chris Waller said that Winx has come through the run in great order and she has actually put on a couple of kilos since her first run back after winning her second Group 1 $3m Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley during the 2016 Melbourne Spring Carnival.
‘We weighed her and she’s put on a couple of kilos since the Apollo,” Waller AAP.
“So she is holding her racing weight and that’s important.
“She is fit and our job is to maintain that and keep her going through the preparation and she’s as good as she can be.”
Winx will be facing a similar field in the Chipping Norton Stakes as she did first up with Apollo Stakes runner up Hartnell the closest to her in the betting at $8 with Ladbrokes.com.au.
Apollo Stakes third placegetter and Winx’s stablemate Endless Drama is next in the betting at $16 ahead the of the Lindsay Park trained He’s Our Rokkii at $31.
Hugh Bowman will again be aboard Winx while Brenton Avdulla is the new rider for Hartnell, replacing James Doyle who is the sidelines with a broken hand.
Doyle is out from England as the stand-in number one rider for Godolphin after their contracted jockey James McDonald was disqualified for eighteen months after pleading guilty to placing a bet on the stable’s smart three year old Astern in his debut win in December 2015.
Hartnell has finished second to Winx at their last three meetings in the Group 2 $250,000 Warwick Stakes (1400m) at Randwick and in the Cox Plate during the 2016 Spring Carnival and in the Apollo Stakes.
After she runs in the Chipping Norton Stakes on Saturday, Winx will head towards the Group 1 $1m George Ryder Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill on March 18 before ending her 2017 Autumn Carnival campaign in the Group 1 $4m Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Randwick on April 8, the second day of ‘The Championships’.
Early market order for the Chipping Norton Stakes at Ladbrokes.com.au: $1.10 Winx, $8 Hartnell, $16 Endless Drama, $31 He’s Our Rokkii, $61 Libran, Tavago, Magic Hurricane, $101 Lasqueti Spirit, Preferment, $201 Ambience, Who Shot Thebarman, $251 Sacred Master, $301 Grand Marshal.
