\n\t\t\t\t\tBy Mary-Jo Jackson<\/b>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Listen<\/p>\n
Australasia\u2019s reigning queen of the turf Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock) laid down a gauntlet for the spring on Saturday when digging deep on a heavy Randwick track to secure back-to-back victories in the Winx Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m).<\/p>\n
Having her first start since victory in April\u2019s Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m), the Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) heroine \u2013 who equalled Winx\u2019s (Street Cry) record of seven Group 1s for a season in the autumn \u2013 was made to fight for her tenth elite-level triumph in the $1 million feature by her burgeoning stablemate Aeliana (Castelvecchio).<\/p>\n
The ATC Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) winner and one of six Chris Waller-trained runners in the race. Aeliana was sent off a $6.50 chance and loomed inside the final 100 metres to briefly look the $2.80 favourite, only for Via Sistina\u2019s class to tell once again as she stretched to prevail by 0.4 lengths under a composed ride from James McDonald.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finishing another 1.4 lengths behind in third, Sydney Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) winner Arapaho (Lope De Vega) impressed with his first-up effort at $26, while multiple Group 1 winner Ceolwulf (Tavistock) rattled home from last to finish fourth, another 0.6 lengths back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Waller recalled memories of Winx\u2019s victory in the 2017 edition of the then Warwick Stakes, when she had to call on every ounce of her ability to reel in stablemate Foxplay (Foxwedge).<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was almost a Foxplay moment, wasn\u2019t it?\u201d the champion trainer said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a couple of decent mares on our hands. Via Sistina is a champion, but Aeliana will get her time to shine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Waller had been vocal through the week about his concerns with the Heavy 10 surface given Randwick\u2019s recent struggles with wet weather. Post-race, he stressed the need for racing administrators to protect Sydney\u2019s premier tracks during the winter months to avoid compromising the spring campaigns of Australia\u2019s elite horses.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t have a doubt we could run today. My doubt was, where are we after today? In two weeks\u2019 time, four weeks\u2019 time?\u201d Waller said.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Australian Turf Club track manager] Michal Wood does a fantastic job and [ATC senior racing official] Nevesh Ramdhani. They\u2019ve got a fantastic team. We went and walked the track before and it\u2019s safe. They\u2019ve got a great track.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I want to help them in July and relieve them so they\u2019ve got fresh ground to work with.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese horses are worth so much money and the punters put so much into it week-in, week-out we\u2019ve got to have the best surface.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey need Via Sistina, not just winning today. They need Via Sistina winning second up, third up, fourth up, and the horses behind her they\u2019ve got to come through the race.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to have all the best horses for as many times during the spring as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having reaffirmed her status as the horse to beat this spring, Via Sistina is now on course to follow a similar program to last year, with the Makybe Diva Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) at Flemington a possible next target before a defence of her Cox Plate crown, with Sportsbet shortening her from $2.30 into even money for the weight-for-age showpiece at The Valley in October.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s more than likely going to Melbourne for her second-up run,\u201d Waller confirmed. \u201cWe\u2019ll sit down with the owners, but everything is geared toward the Cox Plate again.\u201d<\/p>\n
McDonald admitted that Aeliana gave him a scare late, but said the win confirmed Via Sistina had lost none of her edge.<\/p>\n
\u201cGee, the second horse was great,\u201d the winning rider said. \u201cI could see the shadow and couldn\u2019t think what it would be. She gave me a hell of a fright. But even if we went another furlong, I think I would have held her. It was a pleasant race to ride.<\/p>\n
\u201cNice for her [Via Sistina] to come back as good as she left off. It worked out really well. The deeper into her prep she goes, the better she will go. It\u2019s good signs ahead.<\/p>\n
On the impressive performance of the runner-up in weight-for-age company for the first time, jockey Jason Collett said: \u201cShe\u2019s very exciting. She was a bit fresh and tardy out of the gates, which didn\u2019t help, but she challenged a very good winner.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Mary-Jo Jackson Listen Australasia\u2019s reigning queen of the turf Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock) laid down a gauntlet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367777,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-367776","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\/115079314526424806","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367776","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=367776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}