SATURDAY sees the return of racing’s pin-up girl Winx who will be seeking a 30th straight win as she stares down her final preparation. To say Winx fever is building in Sydney is an understatement.
At her final hit-out at Randwick last Saturday morning, over 700 fans and innumerable media were there by 8am to catch glimpse, take a selfie and in some cases get a pat of the great mare.
“It is great to see Winx get the following she deserves and the following the sport deserves,” said Chris Waller. “Winx keeps flying the flag.” With over 11,700 followers to her official twitter account Randwick will no doubt be prepared for the extra turnstile traffic that Winx, the box-office star guarantees.
She kicks of with the Group 2 Apollo Stakes over 1,400 metres at Randwick, a race she has won in both 2016 and 2017. Her main danger is expected to come from another crowd favourite Happy Clapper, who makes his racetrack return after satisfying his three month ban for a first bleeding attack in September.
Inglis Millennium splash before sale
THE Inglis Classic Yearling sale at Warwick Farm kicked off with a night session on Saturday, 10 minutes after the last at Warwick Farm. Positioned adjacent each other, Inglis had earlier displayed the embarrassment of riches that sales sponsored races can now boast, hosting the A$1 million Inglis Sprint for three-year-old’s the forerunner to the $2 million Inglis Millennium for two-year-olds.
Held over 1,100 metres and 1,200 metres respectively, the target demographic is not surprising. Successful in the older age group was the Chris Waller-trained Fiesta, who set Star Thoroughbreds back $150,000 at the 2017 Classic Yearling Sale.
Fiesta is by I Am Invincible, whose 11 yearlings that sold over the following three sessions averaged $206,818 as the Classic Sale averaged $76,692 across the 588 yearlings to sell at the clearance rate of 81%.
In the $2 million two-year-old Inglis Millennium, the first edition of this race, the ‘chocolates’ went to another $150,000 yearling buy, Castelvecchio, a Dundeel colt, the 11th foal of the Dehere mare St Therese. Bought by Ottavio Galletta, Castelvecchio is trained at Warwick Farm by Richard Litt. “He’s nominated for the Slipper but we won’t push him,” said Litt. “We’ll take our time and see where he takes us.”
Manuel produces a very convincing performance
GROUP 1 racing returned to Melbourne with the running at Caulfield of the CF Orr Stakes making a welcome distraction from the devastating Darren Weir scandal. A total of 14 faced the starter for the open-age weight-for-age contest over 1,400 metres, with Godolphin’s Kementari a warm favourite, his last win being the Group 1 Randwick Guineas the previous March.
He didn’t improve that statistic being the next best after the surprise 20/1 winner Manuel, a Commands five-year-old gelding who was second-up after winning the Listed Kilmore Cup in November.
Trained by Tony McEvoy, Manuel led from pillar-to-post finding enough to hold off the baying hounds and win by a half-length from a wall of four, separated by just a head.
“He got a lot of confidence from a win back here mid-spring and it culminated in a Kilmore Cup,” said McEvoy stable foreman Mick Shepherdson. “The edge off the track today really brought him into the race as did the barrier (three). He had to take a big jump and he did.” Also on-hand was Calvin McEvoy, Tony’s son.
“As a colt he might not have been putting in a bit so gelding was the making of his horse. His form last prep was amazing. It was a surprise today as he beat some real quality horses but we always thought there was a good win in him.”
Manuel was purchased for $240,000 at the Inglis Easter yearling sale.