Overnight rain at Randwick will see Winx step out onto a soft track when she chases fifteen straight wins in the Group 1 $600,000 Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m) today.
Winx, above, will be running on a soft track in the Chipping Norton Stakes at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.
Randwick received 7mm of rain since midnight and racecourse manager Nevesh Ramdhani has posted a Soft 6 rating for the nine race program for the Chipping Norton Stakes race day.
Ramdhani also told Racing HQ Saturday that he expects the showers to continue to about midday before the weather should clear for the afternoon.
There has been no overnight movement in the betting at Ladbrokes.com.au with Winx remaining the $1.12 favourite for the Chipping Norton Stakes with the John O’Shea trained Hartnell the second pick at $8 in the ten horse field.
Winx resumed for the 2017 Sydney Autumn Carnival when she stretched her winning streak to fourteen with a two and three quarter lengths win over Hartnell in the Group 2 $250,000 The Star Apollo Stakes (1400m) at Randwick on February 13.
Winx hasn’t been defeated since winning the Group 3 $125,000 XXXX Sunshine Coast Guineas (1600m) at the Sunshine Coast during the 2015 Queensland Winter Carnival and along the way the champion mare has collected nine Group 1 trophies which includes the 2015 and 2016 Cox Plates.
A fifteenth straight win by the Street Cry mare in today’s Chipping Norton Stakes would take her Group 1 tally to ten and her overall winning record to nineteen.
The rain affected track won’t affect the performance of Winx with the champion mare having won twice on the soft and one from one on the heavy.
The soft conditions will also suit Hartnell who has four wins and a second on the soft and a win, a second and a third on a heavy track.
Winx has drawn barrier four and jockey Hugh Bowman can see her getting a nice run in transit and barring bad luck she should be winning again.
“With barrier 4 on Saturday, it’s a beautiful draw for her… and the race looks like it’s going to set up well for her,” Bowman told G1X.
“She’s more relaxed in her demeanour and that suggests to me she’s where she needs to be at this stage of the preparation.”
“I think she has certainly come on from her first-up run.”
“She is a bit stronger in her work and a bit more relaxed in her demeanour so that suggests to me she is where she needs to be.
“I was quite vocal in my thoughts that she was quite away from where she was leading into the Cox Plate (ahead of) her first-up run but I feel like she has really progressed since the Apollo Stakes.”
