Champion mare Winx headlines the 2017 Queen Elizabeth Stakes nominations for this yearâs The Championships in Sydney following the close of early entries on Monday.
Winx is the odds-on favourite in 2017 Queen Elizabeth Stakes betting of the 101 nominations for the April 8 classic. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.
Racing NSW and the Australian Turf Club (ATC) took a record number of nominations across the 10 feature races held at Royal Randwick on the opening two Saturdays in April including 101 for the $4 million Group 1 Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m).
The weight-for-age clash is the richest race held during The Championships and already the Chris Waller-trained Winx ($1.80) is odds-on in pre-field Queen Elizabeth Stakes odds at Ladbrokes.com.au.
Last autumn the Street Cry mare made history carrying 56.5kg to a two length win in the Group 1 Doncaster Mile (1600m) to round-out her campaign.
This year she will be out-weighted of Doncaster Mile contention and instead her grand final run takes place on April 8 in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes 2017.
Winx returns to racing this weekend in the Group 2 Apollo Stakes (1400m) where she attempts a 14th consecutive win.
Waller has a total of 13 Queen Elizabeth Stakes nominations chasing his third win in the race after previous success with My Kingdom Of Fife (2011) and Reliable Man (2013).
Other key Waller-trained entries include his gun filly Omei Sword ($17) who races first-up in the Light Fingers Stakes this weekend and a half-brother to Criterion Cominâ Through ($26).
Three-year-olds however have a dismal record in the race with the sole three-year-old ATC Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner in over 30 years being Intergaze (1997).
The Queen Elizabeth Stakes nominations have a true international flavour this season with 11 Japanese-trained horses in the mix plus Tosen Stardom who is now prepared by Darren Weir at Ballarat.
The other Japanese raiders possibly heading towards a Queen Elizabeth Stakes run are: Admire Deus (Mitsuru Hashida), Clarity Sky (Makoto Saito), Decipher (Futoshi Kojima), Meiner Honey (Hironori Kurita), Meiner Milano, Meiner Sage, Neorealism (Noriyuki Hori), Prodigal Son, Rainbow Line (Hidekazu Asami), Satono Crown (Hori) and Smart Layer (Ryuji Okubo).
Second favourite behind Winx in the futures Queen Elizabeth Stakes betting markets at $11 meanwhile is Hartnell.
The John OâShea-trained galloper has faced off against Winx four times to date, beaten by a combined margin of over 26 lengths.
His latest encounter with the equine superstar was in the Cox Plate last October when Winx beat him home by eight lengths in a record winning margin.
Hartnell backed-up with a Melbourne Cup third and also returns first-up in the Apollo Stakes on Saturday.
Other exciting Queen Elizabeth Stakes nominees include the Robert Hickmott-trained Galileo stallion The United States, Ciaron Maherâs Caulfield Cup winning mare Jameka and Victoria Derby winning colt from last year Prized Icon.
View the full 2017 Queen Elizabeth Stakes Nominations by following the link, while the latest markets on the race and other Group 1 autumn carnival classics are open now at Ladbrokes.com.au!