By Chris Roots
The return of Winx in Saturday's Bob Ingham Warwick Stakes has the air of inevitability about it. She is expected to make it 18 wins in a row against seven rivals at Randwick with one bookmaker conceding they are "giving away money" trading her at $1.08.
The TAB took a bet of $61,600 at $1.08 on Wednesday and wound her into a $1.06 favourite, but Sportsbet continued to offer $1.08 on the champion mare.
Unrivalled: Winx is expected to make it 18 wins in a row at Randwick on Saturday.Credit: AAP
"In the past you could find something that you thought could challenge her but I think everyone is conceding that she is just too good for these on Saturday," Sportsbet's Christian Jantzen said.
"It is just free money for those that want to have 8 per cent on their investment.
Too good: Champion mare Winx is favourite to win the Warwick Stakes.Credit: AAP
"She is a shorter price than any team in the NRL or AFL this week and looks like starting the shortest quote of her career."
While it is a starting point for Winx, her record suggests that 1400 metres first-up is often one of her best runs.
Even though group 1 mile winners Inference and Foxplay are among her rivals, sharing the second line of betting at $17, they appear to be making up the numbers.
Gerald Ryan will have Red Excitement and Harper's Choice taking on Winx but he is looking further into the preparation with both of them.
"She is a champion but I'm doing what's best for my horses and placing in the right race to start, so I won't be playing catch up," Ryan said. "They will run good races but can they match her – almost certainly not."
Red Excitement is the likely leader and if he can run into the prizemoney he will edge closer to the magic $1 million in earnings.
"He has won 13 races, so he has the benchmark of a group 1 horse but has never run in anything better than a group 3. So Saturday is the best race he has run in and he won't disgrace himself," Ryan said.
"He is an eight-year-old so he is not getting any better but it is about placing him right to get him to the right races around 2000m.
"Harper's Choice could have waited a couple of weeks for the Tramway but it would put him behind in his preparation and this race suits what we have planned."
Winx's main recent foe, Hartnell, will return in the Lawrence Stakes at Caulfield on Saturday as James Cummings keeps him away from the champion mare and wet tracks. Hartnell is a $3.50 second pick in the Lawrence behind Black Heart Bart at $3.20 after going to Caulfield for a sighter on Tuesday.
"He hadn't raced at Caulfield so we took him there for a gallop on Tuesday and all the reports were good," Cummings said.
"He handled the track well and enjoyed it. It was also good to give him a little float trip to take him out of his comfort zone.
"I'm looking forward to him running well on Saturday and to seeing him onto dry tracks for the spring."
Meanwhile, the second race at Canterbury on Wednesday was delayed by five minutes when the barriers were placed in the wrong position by 10 metres.
"Greg Carmody radioed us just as they were going in and asked are the the gates in the right position," starter Dale Jeffs said. "We had only put one horse in and it turned out to be the winner [Super Ex]."
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