All Hail Queen Winx

[Wandering Eyes]

With A$4-million in prizemoney on offer, Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}), the world’s greatest racehorse, will face the largest field she has raced against since September last year in an attempt to equal Black Caviar (Aus) (Bel Esprit {Aus})’s unbeaten run of 25 consecutive race wins, as well as record back to back running’s of the G1 Queen Elizabeth S. Second to Winx in the G1 George Ryder on Mar. 18, before making the G1 Doncaster H. his own last start with a two-length victory, triple Group 1 winner Happy Clapper (Aus) (Teofilo {Ire}) looks ready to achieve his fourth Group 1 second placing to the Champion mare. Set to have his third Australian start, the Anthony Freedman-trained Ambitious (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), has two wins over the 2000m, most recently when defeating dual Japanese Horse of the Year Kitasan Black (Jpn) (Black Tide {Jpn}) and if the drop back from a last start second in the G1 Tancred S. over 2400m poses no issue, a forward showing would not surprise at all.

Dropping back to his more preferred 2000m trip, Gailo Chop (Fr) (Deportivo {GB}) has seven wins at the trip, including two back in the Ranvet S. on Mar. 24, and the Mark Zahra-ridden gelding is in with place claims. A stablemate to Gailo Chop, the Darren Weir-trained Humidor (NZ) (Teofilo {Ire}) is remembered as running Winx to a narrow margin in last year’s G1 Cox Plate and as a winner over 2000m in the G1 Australian Cup, jockey Blake Shinn should be able to ensure the 5-year-old gets a good run in transit and looks ready for an improved run up to his right trip.

The interesting runner in the race is the Ken Condon-trained Success Days (Ire) (Jeremy {USA}), an international who has come over for the race and is having his first Australian start. Beaten with ease at his past two starts behind the world class-Cracksman (GB) (Frankel ({GB}) and Decorated Knight (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), his two starts prior to those were a win in the G2 York S. and a narrow Group 3 second to Johannes Vermeer (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), a horses well-known to Australian’s, having had three Group 1 starts here for a most recent second in the Melbourne Cup.

 

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