By Brad Gray
Nothing but quotes from trainer Chris Waller who has another strong hand on Saturday at Royal Randwick including Winx in the TAB Chipping Norton Stakes.
Race 3: Schweppes Skyline Stakes
Zousain ($11 TAB): “I love his attitude, there is so much of dad in him it’s not funny. He continues to improve. He walks back after his gallops very relaxed, which I think is a really good sign in a racehorse. He is a very professional horse but Saturday will tell us if he is a genuine Golden Slipper contender at his third race start or we do like dad and go to Queensland.”
Race 4: Chandon S Sweet Embrace Stakes
Fiesta ($5 TAB): “She is a natural and has the points on the board. It was a pretty dominant win after being in a pinball machine up the straight. That’s pretty gusty for a young filly to come out on top like that and her work has been good. I'd just like to see her settle a touch better in the blinkers. She's a foolproof horse and she’ll be there in three weeks' time."
Fiesta winning the Widden Stakes (Pic: Steve Hart)
Race 5: Liverpool City Cup
Mackintosh ($9.50 TAB): "He hasn’t found his best form for a while. We might go forward and start and being more positive on him, as he did in Winx’s trial. He travelled up nicely in that trial and we’ll probably do something similar."
McCreery ($26 TAB): "McCreery is looking for easier targets. Instead of tempting us in Group Ones where he was very close a number of times, we’ll be more realistic this time and set the bar lower. He has come back well and although his trial against Winx was fair, I think race conditions will see him hit the line."
Egg Tart ($10 TAB): “She wasn’t eating as much last preparation as she was as a three-year-old so whether it was seasonal, or something bothering her, we couldn’t put our finger on it but she certainly didn’t race as well. She is eating what she was as a three-year-old now and maintaining her weight. I’m happy with her and at her best she can win that race on Saturday.”
Jay Ford maintains his association with Unforgotten (Pic: Steve Hart)
Race 6: TAB Chipping Norton Stakes
Winx ($1.08 TAB): "She is a lot easier horse to train now than when she was at four. She copes with her racing and training better and is handling it better mentally. There are so many positive signs that she is just as well now as she has ever been. There’s certainly no signs of her training off or suggesting she doesn’t want to be a race horse. Everything has gone to plan and we wouldn’t change anything in any way."
Race 7: James Boag's Premium Surround Stakes
Unforgotten ($11 TAB): “Her trials have been disappointing and she hasn’t given me that same wow factor we saw in the summer. I don’t remember being overly confident ahead of the first win of the three she had and we progressively got confidence from the way she was winning so I’m hoping she is a horse that turns it on race day. I’m not expecting her to win against those horses but I’d like to come out with a bit of confidence going onto races we raced Winx in.”
And the latest on Kaonic: "We are going to press on to the Randwick Guineas at this stage. He’ll definitely have blinkers. If for any reason we backed out he’d run in the Phar Lap the following week.”
Check out all the fields, form and replays for Saturday's Royal Randwick meeting.