Champion mare Winx looks unbeatable again in Saturday’s Group 1 $500,000 Seppelt Turnbull Stakes (2000m) at Flemington and trainer Darren Weir admits that his charge Kings Will Dream won’t be the one to end her extraordinary winning run.
Kings Will Dream, above, is up against Winx in the 2018 Turnbull Stakes at Flemington. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.
“Not in my wildest dreams am I expecting that to happen,” Weir told the Herald Sun.
Winx is chasing her twenty-eighth straight win on Saturday while Weir said that European import Kings Will Dream will be using the Turnbull Stakes as an important lead up run for the Group 1 $5m Stella Artois Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield in a fortnight.
“It’s not about the race but it’s more about getting him ready for the Caulfield Cup. Running in the Turnbull is the path we’ve chosen to get him to the Caulfield Cup and I’m looking for him to hit the line strongly,” Weir said.
Winx is well into the red at $1.16 for the Turnbull Stakes with Ladbrokes.com.au, well ahead of Kings Will Dream and Grunt at $12 while Kings Will Dream is the current $4.50 favourite for the Caulfield Cup.
Kings Will Dream worked his way up through the grades with five wins for Weir in the first half of the year before a spell and resumed in the Spring for a first up fourth to Showtime in the Group 2 $200,000 Sir John Monash P.B. Lawrence Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on August 18.
Kings Will Dream’s next two runs in Group 1 company were eye catches and he was installed the favourite for the 2018 Caulfield Cup following his third to Humidor in the Group 1 $1m New Zealand Bloodstock Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield and his second to Grunt in the Group 1 $750,000 PFD Food Services Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) at Flemington.
Kings Will Dream has drawn the rails in the Turnbull Stakes with Craig Williams in the saddle.
Winx will line up against nine opponents in the Turnbull Stakes as she attempts to stretch her unbeaten winning record to twenty-eight and collect her twenty-first Group 1 trophy and regular rider Hugh Bowman is happy with her number eight barrier draw.
“I am really pleased with barrier eight. What I don’t want these days is an inside draw, one, two or three, I guess,” Bowman said.
“Barrier eight does set up well for us.”
Winx has cruised through her build up to the Turnbull Stakes with a first up win in the Group 1 $500,000 Winx Stakes (1400m) at Randwick on August 18 followed by a four lengths win in the Group 1 $500,000 Colgate Optic White (George Main) Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on September 15.
The champion mare is on track to make it back to back wins in the Turnbull Stakes as well as attempting to win her fourth Group 1 $5m Ladbrokes Cox Plate (2040m) at The Valley on October 27.
