Trainer Chris Waller will keep his options open about running his super star Winx on a heavy Randwick track in the Group 2 $250,000 Chelmsford Stakes (1600m) on Saturday.
Winx, above, could miss the Chelmsford Stakes if the Randwick track is heavy. Photo by Steve Hart.
The Randwick track is rated a Soft 6 on Wednesday and the Bureau Of Meteorology is predicting more rain, possibly more that 60mm, leading up to the weekend.
Winx is due to have her second run this preparation after scoring an effortless win in the Group 2 $250,000 Warwick Stakes (1400m) at Randwick on August 20 and Waller said that if she had to miss this weekend it would not affect the rest of the Spring Carnival campaign.
“There’s all sorts of options, she’s had the first-up run and she’s not soft,” Waller told The Daily Telegraph.
“I’ve planned a preparation to miss a race, I hope I don’t have to but she won the Cox Plate third-up last spring and this prep we’re looking at going there at her fifth run.”
“She has had a first-up run and she can go three or four weeks between runs.”
Winx will be chasing her eleventh win on the trot if she takes her place in the Chelmsford Stakes while Waller said that the Group 1 $500,000 George Main Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on September 17 will be the mare’s main Sydney Spring Carnival target before she heads to Melbourne to defend her title in the Group 1 $3m Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley on October 22.
“The George Main is our main Sydney goal so you’d like to give her two runs before that,” Waller said.
“With a three week gap you have to go a little bit harder with them on the training tracks and four weeks you have to think about trialling in between but she’s a mature horse now and I can be a little more adventurous with her.”
In early Cox Plate betting at Ladbrokes.com.au Winx has firmed in slightly to $2.50, maintaining her spot at the top of the market order, well ahead of her nearest rivals, the Aidan O’Brien trained Highland Reel, Group 1 winner The United States and the Darren Weir trained Tosen Stardom at $17.
