Trainer Chris Waller will leave Hugh Bowman in charge of developing his own tactics for Winx when the gates open for the Group 2 $250,000 Warwick Stakes (1400m) at Randwick on Saturday.
Race tactics will be left up to Hugh Bowman, above, on Winx in the Warwick Stakes. Photo by Daniel Costello.
Australia’s glamour mare is chasing her tenth win in succession when she steps out for the first time since claiming victory in the Group 1 $3m The Star Doncaster Mile (1600m) at Randwick on April 2.
Bowman knows the mare extremely well and has been aboard Winx for seven of her last nine starts, all winning rides, including her wins in the Doncaster Mile and the 2015 Group 1 $3m Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley.
The champion jockey has adopted different tactics on Winx on several different occasions and Waller will leave it up to Bowman again.
“As soon as those barriers open they (jockeys) get a feel for where they should be and what’s happening around them,” Waller told AAP.
“The more you restrict them, the worse it ends up.”
“The more you complicate things the worse it becomes I find.”
“That’s the beauty of the good jockeys.”
Winx had drawn barrier four in the seven horse Warwick Stakes field with her stablemate Grand Marshal drawn to her outside and the John O’Shea trained Hartnell to her immediate inside.
Winx has won most of her races coming from well back in the field but has also raced just off the pace on several occasions.
With no noted front runner in the race, Bowman will be looking to settle Winx where he thinks she will be comfortable.
There will be no pace from the Waller trained stayers Who Shot Thebarman and Grand Marshall who are resuming as is Epsom bound Vanburgh while Hartnell and Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner Lucia Valentina are also back markers.
Rebel Dane also likes to settle off the speed so trying to find the pace in the race will be difficult.
Winx dominates the Warwick Stakes betting at $1.35 at Ladbrokes.com.au with Lucia Valentina the next in the market order at $5.50 ahead of Rebel Dane at $8.
The rest of the field are at double figure odds with Hartnell at $13, Vanburgh at $31, Who Shot Thebarman at $71 and Grand Marshall at $151.
