Trainer Chris Waller has opted to keep champion mare Winx at home today after the Randwick track was rated a heavy 9 for Chelmsford Stakes Day at Randwick.
Winx, above, has been scratched from the Chelmsford Stakes at Randwick. Photo by Daniel Costello.
Waller also scratched French import Spirtijim leaving six runners to go around in the Group 2 $250,000 Tattersalls Club Chelmsford Stakes (1600m).
Winx was listed as the $1.14 favourite for the Chelmsford Stakes when she was scratched, forcing a complete overhaul of the market at Ladbrokes.com.au with the James Cummings trained Prized Icon now at the top of the market order at $1.95.
The John O’Shea trained Group 1 winner Hartnell is next in the betting at $2.80 ahead the rest of the Waller runners, Preferment at $9, Who Shot Thebarman and Storm The Stars at $10 and Grand Marshal the outsider of the field at $34.
Randwick received 28.2mm of rain in the last twenty-four hours and a total of 45.6mm for the last seven days and Waller didn’t want to risk Winx on the heavy track and said that her missing today’s weight for age contest won’t affect her Spring Carnival campaign which includes her defence of the Group 1 $3m Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley on October 22.
“It does do a lot of damage to them running on wet tracks,” Waller told G1X’s EON Sports Radio program Three Wide No Cover show this morning.
“It is a lot harder for them internally and that’s also when you can have your injuries come about like pulled muscles or even joints because their legs move around so much more.”
“We thought she would have been a great chance, but it would have been a harder job getting her through to the big races ahead.”
Winx will now have her next run in the Group 1 $500,000 George Main Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on September 17 before she heads to Melbourne.
