Winx will win; that’s the “hot” Apollo Stakes 2017 betting tip for Royal Randwick on Monday.

The only questions remaining are who will the mighty mare beat home in the rescheduled $250,000 Group 2 Apollo Stakes (1200m) and by how much?

Trainer Chris Waller has never been one for pushing the Street Cry five-year-old further than she needs to be pushed.

Everything she does, all the races she has won she seemingly does with such ease.

And still she put a record eight lengths on Hartnell for her second Cox Plate win in 2016.

That was the last time the now nine-time Group 1 winner raced leading up to her return on Monday where Winx defends her Apollo Stakes title.

She is also chasing down a 14^th win on the trot to equal that of the ill-fated Phar Lap and is unsurprisingly the odds-on favourite in Apollo Stakes betting at $1.16 through Ladbrokes.com.au who have a Winx Special offering $1.80 for the win with a maximum bet of $25 (T&Cs apply).

“Obviously Phar Lap was in different circumstances. Was an out and out freak, he used to back up week in and week out, all distances. Winx probably gets looked after a lot differently,” Waller told Racing Ahead.

“If she can do that it is another talking point I suppose and it gets a bit repetitive with Winx, I can only say so much about her.”

Nothing in this field has beaten her before and the only other single-figure chance Hartnell has met her four times before for four losses.

She gets things her way from the barrier and Hugh Bowman is back aboard.

The only glimmer of hope from the connections of her rivals when the race was set for Saturday were that she won’t fire in the heat-wave conditions on a rain-affected track.

Waller though had warned those things were a non-issue, and with racing called off in Sydney the track has dried out to a Good (4) for the Monday clash.

“They are saying that it [the track] will dry out nicely. We had a lot of rain in the early part of the week,” he on the weekend.

“It was basically a downpour, not like days of rain in a row. A solid 100mm in about an hour or two and therefore it was saturated but we have had really good drying since then, today and tomorrow and it is going to be a very hot so I say we will be racing on a track on the better side of soft.”

Winx is a hero in the racing world and only the bookies are hoping she gets beaten; and maybe Hartnell’s trainer John O’Shea.

With a big autumn campaign ahead that will culminate with a run in the $4 million Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) on April 8 during The Championships, no one is really expecting another Cox Plate winning margin on Saturday.

Everything is there to suggest however that she won’t be challenged, but there is still the minor placings to fill.

1^st

#11 Winx ($1.16)

Really is impossible to see Winx getting beaten first-up, or at all this campaign really with no handicap races scheduled. Her last loss was in April 2015 and today has her coming off 13 straight wins. She has only been beaten once before first-up (6-5-0-0) and she loves it at Randwick (11-7-3-0). The 1400m for her resuming run is ideal (5-3-1-0) and she won this race 12 months ago kicking off. Barrier gives her a big advantage at the track (2), Bowman is aboard, her trials have been excellent and she’ll be very, very hard to beat on a Good-rated track (18-14-2-0). Back don’t sack.

2^nd

#1 Hartnell ($9)

He is the only other horse under $21 to win and he is the obvious choice for second. His place rate behind Winx is very good and expect things to go the way of the Cox Plate result again, albeit not by quite the same historic margin. Barrier suits and this six-year-old for Godolphin is very consistent. Further will be better, but he has two seconds from three 1400m runs. Third in the Melbourne Cup last time out so will improve off what he does here, but deserves respect.

3^rd

#5 Dibayani ($21)

Nice offerings for the third place filler. Lots to like about this Lindsay Park-trained seven-year-old who has four placings from six previous Randwick starts including his Epsom Handicap second over the mile in the spring. Also second at that course / distance on December 17 in the Villiers Stakes when narrowly beaten. Has form around Winx when fourth first-up to her in last year’s Apollo Stakes results and second next start to her again in the Chipping Norton Stakes. Can finish in the money with a nice run pending from the barrier with Melbourne Cup winning jockey Corey Brown in the saddle.

Back Winx to win the Apollo Stakes 2017 at $1.80 through Ladbrokes.com.au this afternoon with their Winx Betting Special (Max Bet $25 / T&Cs apply).