No pressure on Mystic

She might have been Winx-like in the manner in which she strung victories together in autumn but Mystic Journey’s Cox Plate campaign will not be compromised in order to prolong her winning sequence.

“We’re definitely not scared of defeat,” trainer Adam Trinder said from Flemington yesterday prior to her return to racing in today’s Group 2 PB Lawrence Stakes at Caulfield.

Once Winx’s ultimately recordbreaking winning run was under way, her trainer Chris Waller had the extra pressure of ensuring she was ready to win every race she contested, but Mystic Journey’s camp is under no such burden to achieve perfection according to Trinder.

“We have an objective that we’d like to be able to obtain and that’s moving forward to a Cox Plate in October,” he told Racing.com.

“If she runs top three, that’s good enough for me. We’d obviously like to protect her record, but we’re not scared of defeat. On Thursday, Mystic Journey arrived in Melbourne from Tasmania, by boat as always and Trinder was pleased to report there were no hiccups along the way.

“I definitely think she’s come back at least the same level as what she left the autumn. I wouldn’t dare suggest she’s improved but her trials have probably been better than they have in the past.”

Trinder said he had plenty of reason to expect Mystic Journey can improve again into her 4-year-old season. If she was to be beaten on Saturday, Trinder has already identified the horse he would prefer to be the one to end her winning run.

“He’s a horse that I admire from afar,” Trinder said of the Godolphin horse Hartnell, who won the 2017 Lawrence Stakes first-up.

“I think he’s a champion. He’s got a really good record over 1400m at Caulfield so he’s the benchmark horse for the race.”