\u201cIt\u2019s hard to compare tracks, but the one thing I don\u2019t think she likes is a shifty track, and that\u2019s what she got in the Makybe Diva last year. It rained an hour before the race \u2013 it actually hailed an hour before the race \u2013 and it was a firm base; it was quite shifty, and she didn\u2019t like it.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut when she\u2019s getting into the ground, which is where her English form comes in, I think she\u2019s pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also took encouragement from Moore\u2019s assessment of Via Sistina before her winning Australian debut in March last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember Ryan Moore, he rode in the same race that she was in, in the Ranvet, and he said, \u2018If she turns up and brings her best form she\u2019ll beat this lot easy, and when you get her on a wet track she\u2019ll be better again\u2019,\u201d Waller said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve remembered that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Off an economical run, Via Sistina edged out stablemates Zougotcha and Fangirl in the Winx Stakes last year. This year Fangirl ($6.50), Aeliana ($7.50), Lindermann ($35) and Full Count Felicia ($41) will also contest the race for Waller, who trained the great Winx.<\/p>\n
Randwick has copped about 150 millimetres of rain in the past week, casting doubts about the meeting, which also features the group 2 Silver Shadow Stakes, group 3 Toy Show and Show County qualities and the Premier\u2019s Cup.<\/p>\n
Waller hopes to get his star team\u2019s spring campaign under way, and he believes his stars are well prepared. Unbeaten four-year-old mare Autumn Glow ($1.85), which returns in the Toy Show (1100m) against her own sex, is among his headline acts but is untested on heavy tracks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to see if she can sprint and, if not, we\u2019ll quickly go down the mile path,\u201d Waller said of his spring plans for the Epsom Handicap (1600m) favourite and potential Everest (1200m) runner.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause we\u2019re well prepared, I\u2019m prepared to try [her on heavy], but I would like to see no rain on the day [Saturday]. That would make everybody\u2019s job easier, and it would make my job easier, getting them through the run.<\/p>\n
Loading<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want them slipping and sliding, being uncomfortable, but if they\u2019re getting into the ground, that\u2019s fine because they\u2019re well prepared. They\u2019ve had good preps \u2013 that goes for all of them \u2013 but with her, obviously she\u2019s in no rush just to begin, and we have looked after her this far. But as long as it\u2019s safe on the day, she\u2019ll run.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if they run, you\u2019ve just got to be careful they don\u2019t need to be backing up two weeks later.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for his other Winx Stakes entries, Waller said the heavy track would take away from Fangirl\u2019s brilliance, \u201cso I\u2019m a little bit more concerned with her\u201d. American mare Full Count Felicia is untried on the going but needs to build for longer targets and ATC Derby champion Aeliana will measure up as a multiple group 1 winner in the spring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s hard to compare tracks, but the one thing I don\u2019t think she likes is a shifty track,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-360911","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115064313271863693","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}