\n\t\t\t\t\tBy Tayla Dyke\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Listen<\/p>\n
A number of high-profile spring contenders stepped out at the Randwick trials this morning on the Heavy 9 surface. The opening trial, over 1000 metres, was won by Gai Waterhouse, Adrian Bott and Australian Bloodstock\u2019s Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) hopeful Vauban (Galiway).\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe seems in good shape. He will have a couple of trials and then we\u2019ll see him resume most likely in a race like the Chelmsford,\u201d Bott said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel he\u2019s in for a good campaign. He\u2019s had that bit longer to acclimatise down here. He\u2019s in off the back of a nice break and he had a positive racing campaign last time in and has improved nicely for it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yulong\u2019s Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) heroine Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock) worked home nicely to finish in second.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was awesome,\u201d Charlie Duckworth told Racing.com. \u201cObviously she\u2019s just ready for her first-up assignment now. She\u2019ll more than likely have an exhibition gallop, which is stock standard for her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cJames [McDonald] was rapt. She got through the conditions well, which was pleasing obviously because there are question marks over the wet tracks.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fangirl (Sebring) finished further back in fourth, with Duckworth saying: \u201c[Fangirl was] brilliant. Damian [Lane] was very happy with her. She jumped, travelled well, did everything right and is obviously following the same first-up path as the big mare, Via Sistina.\u201d<\/p>\n
The second trial of the morning over 1000 metres was taken out by the John Sargent-trained Palmetto (Ghibellines), with the Waller-trained duo Lady Shenandoah (Snitzel) and Aeliana (Castelvecchio) closing nicely late to finish in third and fourth respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c[Lady Shenandoah] was very good. Very sharp. James [McDonald] was very complimentary of her. His only knock was that she was so sharp going 1400 metres first-up, but there\u2019s obviously other options available so let Chris and the ownership, as well as James, discuss where her kick-off point is but at this stage it is likely that it will be the Winx Stakes,\u201d Duckworth said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAeliana was very good,\u201d he added. \u201cAlso heads to the Winx. All of these Winx Stakes horses might well end up having an exhibition gallop together, so just depending on how they come through it and whether they need it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously today was a good day out for her. Damian hasn\u2019t sat on her since winning the [Australian] Derby, so he was full of praise. Strengthened up and looks like she\u2019s taken a good step forward from that win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trial three, which was over 850 metres, was won by Michael Freedman\u2019s recent Group 3 winner Just Feelin\u2019 Lucky (Justify), with Waller\u2019s unbeaten mare Autumn Glow (The Autumn Sun) hitting the line strongly to finish third.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBrilliant. There\u2019s an 1100-metre and 1200-metre option for her (first-up) on the same day as the Winx Stakes, so either one of those two options look suitable. But she looks as sharp as ever and obviously has got to try and maintain her unbeaten record,\u201d Duckworth said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Randwick Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Linebacker (Super Seth) worked home nicely at his second trial of the preparation, and further back under a hold in sixth was Godolphin-owned colt Beiwacht (Bivouac), who recently joined the Waller stable.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally good,\u201d Duckworth said of the colt. \u201cAdam Hyeronimus obviously knows him better than what we do, which is why he rode him this morning, and he said he just continues to learn and [is] a lot more responsive as a three-year-old, just relaxing much better which I think was the chink in his armour as a two-year-old.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said even cantering down to the gates he was on a lovely loose rein, so he\u2019s fit and ready to go to the races. He could race in the Vain Stakes next Saturday down in Melbourne or alternatively wait and more than likely go to the San Domenico.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fourth trial of the morning was won by Group 1-winning mare Manaal (Tassort), who narrowly defeated Coolmore\u2019s star colt Wodeton (Wootton Bassett) in the 850-metre heat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWodeton was brilliant. He loved the track, got through that incredibly well. James just asked him to find the line and he responded nicely and right the way through the line. So he\u2019s obviously come back well,\u201d Duckworth said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Further back in the field was the Waterhouse and Bott-trained Clean Energy (Zoustar), with Bjorn Baker\u2019s Doncaster Mile (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Stefi Magnetica (All Too Hard) and talented filly Stardom (Zoustar) right there at the finish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Tayla Dyke Listen A number of high-profile spring contenders stepped out at the Randwick trials this morning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-50741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}