McCreery finished over the top of his rivals to return to the races with an impressive victory in the 2017 Liverpool City Cup at Royal Randwick this afternoon.
McCreery started his 2017 Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival with an impressive win in the Liverpool City Cup. Photo by: Ultimate Racing Photos
Chetwood took up the running in the early stages of Liverpool City Cup and he quickly established a lead of several lengths.
The Godolphin galloper was still four lengths clear at the 200 metres, but he tired badly in the final stages of the race and was a sitting duck as Testashadow, Arod and McCreery loomed on the outside.
Testashadow took the lead at the 100 metre mark and Arod found the line strongly, but McCreery swooped past all of them to return to the races as a winner in the Liverpool City Cup.
Chris Waller said that McCreery is the smallest horse in his entire stable, but has an enormous heart and was delighted to see him making a winning start to his autumn campaign.
“He was giving them a big start, but obviously there was a bit of pace on,” Waller said.
“He is a good, tough little horse.
“He is a fit horse because he had a couple of trials and he did a very good job.”
Rain continues to fall in Sydney and the Royal Randwick track has been downgraded into the heavy range, which led to speculation that Waller would elect to scratch star mare Winx from the Group 1 Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m).
Waller walked the track before the Liverpool City Cup and was obviously not impressed by the conditions, but he confirmed that at this stage Winx would take her place in the Chipping Norton Stakes.
“At this stage she runs,” Waller said.
“I am going to have a quick chat with the owners.
“It is disappointing, I think we deserve a little bit better than running at tracks like this.
“There is not much you can do about it and it is just a shame that it is so late in the day.
“It is easy for me to say that the best horse in Australia should be running earlier in the day, but you can make a case for the other owners as well.
“It is an endless argument, but at this stage she will run and we will just give an eye on the next race as well to make sure that everything is safe.”
McCreery has been included in the nominations for both the Group 1 Doncaster Mile (1600m) and the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) during The Championships.
