Queen Elizabeth Stakes-bound Winx will face 13 rivals when she kicks off her Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival campaign on Saturday in the Apollo Stakes 2017 field.
Winx is the odds-on favourite in 2017 Apollo Stakes betting to successfully defend her crown in the Randwick race first-up on Saturday. Photo: Steve Hart.
Running as Randwick Race 6 at 3:10pm (AEDT), this season’s $250,000 Group 2 The Star Apollo Stakes (1400m) has surprisingly attracted a capacity field despite the presence of Chris Waller’s dual Cox Plate hero Winx.
The mighty Street Cry mare chases her 14th consecutive win first-up and defends her Apollo Stakes title after she won the race first-up last autumn as the odds-on favourite.
Since then the five-year-old has taken her Group 1 tally up to nine victories and will unsurprisingly jump at close to even money in Apollo Stakes betting at Ladbrokes.com.au.
Helping the punters that love to back the superstar, Ladbrokes.com.au are offering $1.80 on Winx (max bet $25) so check out the markets for the full and conditions.
A first-up flyer with five wins from six resuming runs so far, Winx is the darling of the Australian turf and is back at Royal Randwick for the first time since the Group 1 George Main Stakes (1600m) success in September.
Hugh Bowman will be back aboard his favourite horse again on the back of two solid Rosehill trials and from a gun barrier three draw the rest of the Apollo Stakes field will be fighting for second place at best.
Regular rival but far from a danger is the returning John O’Shea-trained Hartnell who comes up against Winx for a fifth time on Saturday.
His last encounter produced the 2016 Cox Plate second when the Godolphin galloper was smashed by a record eight lengths.
Hartnell is no donkey, the Authorized six-year-old having amassed over $3 million of his own prize money to date, but up against Winx over 1400m he’ll be no match.
Yet to win first-up, the reigning Turnbull Stakes winner runs for the first time since his brave third in the Melbourne Cup and will only improve getting out over more metres later this campaign.
Waller meanwhile has also accepted for four stablemates of the already-crowned Apollo Stakes winner.
The stable’s other runners are: Preferment (8), Libran (13), Endless Drama (14) and Sacred Master (5).
Most are stayers gearing up for longer-distance targets including the Group 1 Sydney Cup (3200m) during The Championships, especially Lawman six-year-old Libran who was last seen finishing runner-up in that race last year.
Along with Hartnell O’Shea will also saddle-up Magic Hurricane (12) who hasn’t won a race since the 2015 The Metropolitan and four-year-old Street Cry mare Ambience (2) whose last start produced a second in the Group 1 Queensland Oaks (2400m) in June.
Two gun three-year-old fillies are accepted for the tough Apollo Stakes assignment this year with the Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott-trained Global Glamour third-up and Lee Curtis’s Crown Oaks champion Lasqueti Spirit kicking off her campaign.
Winner of the Flight Stakes – Thousand Guineas double last spring, Global Glamour comes off a Magic Millions 3YO Guineas second and gets the rails run in the Apollo from barrier one.
Lasqueti Spirit meanwhile is drawn out in gate 10 for jockey Jay Ford to overcome.
See below for the full Apollo Stakes 2017 field and barriers, betting on which will open shortly at Ladbrokes.com.au.
2017 Apollo Stakes Final Field & Barrier Draw
Randwick Race 6 (3:10pm) – 11/02/2017
| # | Form (Last 10) | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Br. | Wgt. | H. Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | x5x211123x | HARTNELL (GB) | John O’Shea | James Doyle | 7 | 59kg | 118 |
| 2 | 4110x4540x | PREFERMENT (NZ) | Chris Waller | Jason Collett | 8 | 59kg | 115 |
| 3 | 36x561019x | LEEBAZ (NZ) | Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes | Tommy Berry | 11 | 59kg | 110 |
| 4 | x6x341112x | LIBRAN (IRE) | Chris Waller | Brenton Avdulla | 13 | 59kg | 108 |
| 5 | 4249×23292 | DIBAYANI (IRE) | David & B Hayes & T Dabernig | Corey Brown | 6 | 59kg | 107 |
| 6 | 7966x5340x | MAGIC HURRICANE (IRE) | John O’Shea | Christian Reith | 12 | 59kg | 105 |
| 7 | 22x3915x0x | ENDLESS DRAMA (IRE) | Chris Waller | Tye Angland | 14 | 59kg | 103 |
| 8 | 13x882140x | SACRED MASTER (NZ) | Chris Waller | Glyn Schofield | 5 | 59kg | 103 |
| 9 | 20x70x0592 | SHIRAZ | Kim Waugh | Joshua Parr | 9 | 59kg | 101 |
| 10 | 463877031x | SAVVY NATURE (NZ) | Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott | Tim Clark | 4 | 59kg | 90 |
| 11 | 1111x1111x | WINX | Chris Waller | Hugh Bowman | 3 | 57kg | 132 |
| 12 | 13x850202x | AMBIENCE | John O’Shea | Ms Kathy O’Hara | 2 | 57kg | 100 |
| 13 | 1x3611x92 | GLOBAL GLAMOUR | Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott | Tim Clark | 1 | 53.5kg | 106 |
| 14 | 3x6538241x | LASQUETI SPIRIT | Lee Curtis | Jay Ford | 10 | 53.5kg | 100 |
