{"id":51873,"date":"2025-08-08T04:04:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T04:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/51873\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T04:04:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T04:04:15","slug":"ceolwulf-chimes-in-late-at-trials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/51873\/","title":{"rendered":"Ceolwulf chimes in late at trials"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Group One winner Ceowulf. Photo: bradleyphotos.com.au<\/p>\n

The spring carnival build-up continued at Warwick Farm on Friday morning, where Group One winner\u00a0Ceolwulf (NZ)\u00a0(Tavistock) made his final public appearance before he resumes in the\u00a0Gr.1 Winx Stakes (1400m).<\/p>\n

Trainer\u00a0Joe\u00a0Pride\u00a0gave him an intentionally quiet hit-out when he trailed the field home in a 900m heat at his home track last month, but speaking before Friday\u2019s trial session the trainer said he was content for Ceolwulf to be asked for a little more by regular rider\u00a0Chad Schofield.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if it had any bearing on his prep but I let him do a bit too much in his trials last time around so I deliberately got him out of the contest the other day,\u201d Pride said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019m happy for him to do a little bit more on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been great and the Winx Stakes will be his first-up run for sure. It\u2019s locked in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ceolwulf downed\u00a0Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock)\u00a0and\u00a0Fangirl (Sebring)\u00a0in his second barrier trial leading into the autumn then had a mixed carnival in which he raced competitively but didn\u2019t quiet reach the heights he\u2019d climbed the previous spring.<\/p>\n

With that seasoning and experience under his belt, Pride is hopeful Ceolwulf can return to the form that resulted in him claiming the Gr.1\u00a0Epsom\u00a0Handicap (1600m)-Gr.1 King Charles III\u00a0(1600m) double last year.<\/p>\n

Ceolwulf closed off stylishly under light riding to finish a half-length second in Friday\u2019s 1000-metre trial, which was led and won by stablemate\u00a0Private Eye (Al Maher), who trialled in preference to running in Saturday\u2019s Gr.2 Missile Stakes (1200m) at Randwick, for which he was favourite.<\/p>\n

The A$1 million Winx Stakes is the first Group One of the Sydney season and will be run at Randwick on August 23.<\/p>\n

It is expected to attract a mouth-watering field with Chris Waller confirming Via Sistina, Fangirl, Lady Shenandoah (Snitzel) and Aeliana (NZ) (Castelvecchico) are all scheduled to resume there, while Ciaron Maher is expected to be represented by the likes of\u00a0Another Wil (Street Boss),\u00a0Gringotts (NZ) (Per Incanto)\u00a0and\u00a0Light Infantry Man (Fast Company).<\/p>\n

Maher\u2019s New Zealand Derby-winning recruit\u00a0Willydoit\u00a0(NZ) (Tarzino) was among the others to trial on Friday with the gelding settling last but working through the line strongly to be beaten four lengths by\u00a0Felix Majestic (Smart Missile).<\/p>\n

Group One winner and Caulfield Cup (Gr.1,2400m) runner-up\u00a0Buckaroo (Fastnet Rock)\u00a0made his first trial appearance of the campaign in the same 900m hit-out, finishing immediately behind Willydoit.<\/p>\n

Gr.1 Melbourne Cup (3200m)\u00a0favourite\u00a0Sir Delius (Frankel)\u00a0had his second trial of the preparation, settling back in a five-horse trial over 1200m before working home under urging from Tim Clark to finish third, beaten a neck by the Bjorn Baker-trained\u00a0Nkosi (Shamus Award).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Group One winner Ceowulf. Photo: bradleyphotos.com.au The spring carnival build-up continued at Warwick Farm on Friday morning, where…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-51873","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\/51873","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=51873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}