Winx ‘ready to go’, Waller says
MELBOURNE: Champion Winx remains in picture perfect order ahead of what is anticipated to be her final hometrack appearance and the likely penultimate start of her career.
As has become the norm for Winx, the 7yrold had a comfortable early morning gallop at Rosehill yesterday with Hugh Bowman aboard, in preparation for the group 1 George Ryder Stakes (1500m) at the same track tomorrow.
Winx will be out to stretch her winning sequence to 32 and her group 1 tally to 24.
Bowman said she felt ‘‘amazing’’.
‘‘She feels as good as she looks,’’ he said.
‘‘She wasn’t out there to do a whole lot this morning, and she galloped very well here with Unforgotten on Tuesday morning.
‘‘She’s ready for Saturday.’’ With recent rain in Sydney, a rainaffected surface is expected tomorrow but that is no concern.
‘‘I think one of her best performances was in this race two years ago when it was a very heavy track, and with an expected wet track . . . that just gives us more confidence than we already have,’’ Bowman said.
‘‘But it’s really just about going through the process and making sure it is a troublefree passage for her and I’m sure she will deliver as she has done for the last four years.’’
Winx has seven rivals in the George Ryder including her stablemates, Ringerdingding and Prompt Response.
‘‘I don’t want to sound arrogant but Winx only has to hold her position where she has been the last 10 or 20 starts, let alone 30 starts,’’ trainer Chris Waller said.
‘‘And as Hugh said, we’ve just got to make sure she’s troublefree and comes home safely.
‘‘There’s always challengers coming through and we always respect them but ultimately we’ve got to worry about Winx and she’s pictureperfect and ready to go.’’ — AAP