Sydney’s Chris Waller is out to continue his gun run in the George Main Stakes nominating for a total of five hopefuls in the mile feature, his contingent dominated by superstar mare Winx.
Winx is already odds-on to win the George Main Stakes 2017 this weekend at Royal Randwick Racecourse. Photo: Steve Hart.
Winx is already odds-on at $1.10 through Ladbrokes.com.au in pre-field markets for Saturday’s Group 1 $500,000 George Main Stakes (1600m) – run as the Colgate Optic White Stakes.
The champion daughter of Street Cry won the race 12 months ago and is out to emulate Kingston Town (1981-82) who was the last successive George Main Stakes winner.
Winx has had two runs for two wins already this spring giving her 19 straight turf triumphs and she is back up in elite grade for the first time since her Queen Elizabeth Stakes win at Randwick during April’s ‘The Championships’.
The six-year-old had her closest call in over two years a fortnight back in Randwick’s Group 2 Chelmsford Stakes (1600m) where she had to run down the tearaway leader Red Excitement to win.
She has taken no ill effects from the big effort according to Waller however who is full of confidence heading into the weekend’s opening Sydney Spring Racing Carnival Group 1.
Waller is after his fifth George Main Stakes victory in six years after his recent success with: Shoot Out (2012), Sacred Falls (2014), Kermadec (2015) and the aforementioned Winx (2016).
Racing NSW took 11 early George Main Stakes nominations on Monday and have extended entries until 11:00am (AEST) on Tuesday.
Among the current hopefuls are four of Winx’s stablemates including Foxplay who gave the mighty mare something to chase home first-up in the Group 2 Warwick Stakes (1400m) on August 19.
Waller gave the four-year-old daughter of Foxwedge an extra week off after she led nearly all the way before being run down late by Winx, who missed the kick by nearly five lengths in her resuming run.
Winner of the Group 1 Queen Of The Turf Stakes (1600m) during the autumn, Foxplay is again a “danger” looking to end the winning streak of her champion stablemate.
The other Waller-trained entries that could line-up against Winx in the George Main Stakes field on the weekend are Mackintosh, McCreery and Tom Melbourne who has run second in both his spring runs.
The lightly-raced seven-year-old was last seen finishing three-quarters off the winner Happy Clapper in the Group 2 Tramway Stakes (1400m) on September 2.
The Tramway Stakes – George Main Stakes double was last completed by Sincero (2011) and trainer Patrick Webster has nominated Happy Clapper to attempt the feat in 2017 despite the dominance of Winx in the Group 1.
Other standout entries include Kris Lees’ three-time Group 1 winner Le Romain coming off a fifth in the Memsie Stakes at Caulfield, his stablemate Invincible Gem who ran third in the Tramway a fortnight ago and Gerald Ryan’s exciting Chelmsford Stakes second placed veteran Red Excitement.
Check out the current George Main Stakes 2017 nominations below, heading to Ladbrokes.com.au to get the latest Winx odds for the Group 1 on Saturday.
2017 George Main Stakes Nominations
Randwick Racecourse – 16/09/2017
| # | Form (Last 10) | Horse | Sex | Age | Trainer | Hcp. Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | x113380x34 | ECUADOR (NZ) | G | 8 | Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott | 110 |
| 2 | 14x24141x2 | FOXPLAY | M | 4 | Chris Waller | 112 |
| 3 | 469x2125x1 | HAPPY CLAPPER | G | 7 | Patrick Webster | 113 |
| 4 | 1670x910x5 | HEAVENS ABOVE | M | 6 | Tim Martin | 108 |
| 5 | 1541112×13 | INVINCIBLE GEM | M | 4 | Kris Lees | 108 |
| 6 | 1x11202x25 | LE ROMAIN | G | 5 | Kris Lees | 116 |
| 7 | x13540x0x6 | MACKINTOSH (NZ) | G | 5 | Chris Waller | 103 |
| 8 | 2x156495x8 | MCCREERY (GB) | G | 6 | Chris Waller | 106 |
| 9 | 3311255×42 | RED EXCITEMENT | G | 8 | Gerald Ryan | 110 |
| 10 | 23x6905x22 | TOM MELBOURNE (IRE) | G | 7 | Chris Waller | 103 |
| 11 | 11x1111x11 | WINX | M | 6 | Chris Waller | 132 |