The Apollo Stakes 2017 will attract more attention than ever before at Royal Randwick on Saturday with the return of equine superstar Winx who is the odds-on favourite and firming for a first-up win.

Get Apollo Stakes 2017 odds on Winx of $1.80 only at Ladbrokes (T&Cs apply). Photo Credit: Ultimate Racing Photos.

Winx hasn’t been seen since her historic eight length romp home in the Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley last October, a race she successfully defended her title in to take her winning streak to thirteen on the trot.

This weekend she is back looking to equal Phar Lap on fourteen straight turf triumphs when she faces eleven rivals in the $250,000 Group 2 Apollo Stakes (1400m).

Chris Waller’s daughter of Street Cry won the Apollo Stakes first-up last autumn and she is at a very short quote through Ladbrokes.com.au to do it again in 2017.

The latest Apollo Stakes odds in open betting have the five-year-old at a near career low of $1.12.

She can be had at $1.80 however in the Ladbrokes Winx Special (Max Bet $25 / T&Cs apply).

Hugh Bowman will give the nine-time Group 1 champion the run of the race from barrier two and nothing is there to suggest she won’t come away victorious and keep the fairy tale going for race fans, Waller and connections.

The only other horse in Apollo Stakes betting at single-figures is the John O’Shea-trained Hartnell at $9.50.

The record in the Winx vs Hartnell story sits at 4 – 0 in favour of the mare, but the Godolphin stable continue to give their imported six-year-old a shot at one of racing’s great upsets.

The last time Hartnell came up against her was in the Cox Plate for his distant second, after which he stepped up to the two miles in the ‘race that stops a nation’ for a brave third to Almandin.

Juicy Apollo Stakes odds are on offer on the remaining contenders with the next best in betting being $19 hope Dibayani for the David Hayes-led Lindsay Park team.

Jumping from barrier four with Melbourne Cup winning jockey Corey Brown in the saddle, the Shamardal seven-year-old is yet to win at Randwick from his six previous starts.

He does have a nice Place Rate at the track however with three seconds and a third including his runner-up position behind Sense Of Occasion last start in December’s Group 2 Villiers Stakes (1600m).

Dibayani has been racing in Australia since August of 2015 but remains a maiden down under and is out to improve on his fourth to Winx first-up in last year’s Apollo Stakes results.

After that he was runner-up to her in the $600,000 Group 1 Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m), which is again the next-up option for the 2017 Queen Elizabeth Stakes-bound Winx.

The only other Apollo Stakes runners considered any hope of a run in the money according to the bookmakers are the returning Waller-trained import Endless Drama ($31) who has had just the one run in Australia to date and Kim Waugh’s Carrington Stakes runner-up last start Shiraz ($31).

Check out the full 2017 Apollo Stakes betting markets below, prices courtesy of Ladbrokes.com.au.

2017 Apollo Stakes Odds