The Warwick Stakes meeting will be held at Royal Randwick this Saturday. The course proper was rated a Soft 5 on Thursday and with fine weather in Sydney leading up to the weekend, Randwick is likely to be racing on a Good track on raceday.
Super Tycoon has won 3 races in a row and he is set to continue his winning streak in the opening event on Saturday (Sydney Race 1, 1400m). The Greg McFarlane-trained gelding has won his last 3 metropolitan starts and he defeated the field convincingly last start. 1400m is his pet distance as he is unbeaten winning 4 from 4 at the trip. From barrier 5, Glyn Schofield will settle Super Tycoon in a lovely mid-field position. Down slightly in class and even though he’s up in the weight, Super Tycoon is still a strong chance to make it 4 wins on the trot.
Last start winner Lie Direct had absolutely blitzed the field over this track & trip two weeks ago and is the horse to beat again in The Randwick Mayor’s Cup (Sydney Race 2, 2400m). The 5YO has been racing very consistently having not finished out of a placing in his last 5 starts. In-form apprentice Deanne Panya is great on riding leaders and will no doubt taking Lie Direct straight to the front and dictate terms there. With Panya’s 3kg claim, Lie Direct will only be carrying 57.5kg and he’ll try to run them ragged.
The lightly raced Melbourne visitor Derryn has a lot of improvement left in him and he is the testing material in the Up And Coming Stakes (Sydney Race 4, 1300m). The Hinchinbrook 3YO won brilliantly 1st up coming from last to win over 1000m at Caulfield. He sprinted the fastest last 600m of the race in 34.37sec. Stepping up to 1300m 2nd up looks suited. No doubt he’ll close in fast in the Up And Coming and Derryn will be hard to hold out.
The best horse in Australia, Winx, is resuming in the Warwick Stakes and she is going to be hard to beat (Sydney Race 7, 1400m). There has been shock revelation during the week that Winx did have surgery after her Doncaster Handicap victory in the Autumn. But according to all reports, the 5YO mare has taken no harm from the surgery and has come back in good order. Chris Waller has put Winx through two trials to get her ready for this 1st up assignment. There are only 7 starters in the Warwick Stakes so tactics will play an important part. Winx is the best WFA horse with the best sprint, and she is all set to win her 10th race in a row.
By Owens Wong, Editor
