{"id":89013,"date":"2025-08-24T06:45:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T06:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/89013\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T06:45:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T06:45:10","slug":"waller-locks-in-melbourne-jockey-for-fangirls-memsie-assignment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/89013\/","title":{"rendered":"Waller locks in Melbourne jockey for Fangirl\u2019s Memsie assignment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Champion trainer Chris Waller has locked in star Melbourne jockey Mark Zahra to pilot Fangirl in Saturday\u2019s Group 1 $750,000 Memsie Stakes (1400m)<\/a> at Caulfield after abandoning plans to run her first-up in the Winx Stakes last Saturday.<\/p>\n

Waller won the Group 1 Winx Stakes anyway with his superstar mare Via Sistina while gun stablemate Aeliana<\/a> ran a game second however Fangirl\u2019s poor heavy track form saw her saved for the following weekend.<\/p>\n

Fangirl was sent down to Melbourne on Saturday night to prepare for the first Victorian Group 1 of the new season and she is now a $5 second elect.<\/p>\n

\u201cFangirl will run in the Memsie,\u201d Waller<\/a> said. \u201cShe will gallop there Tuesday to get used to the track.\u201d<\/p>\n

Waller\u2019s only Memsie Stakes victory came via Boban in 2015.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately rain could follow Fangirl to Melbourne with showers predicted in the Victorian capital later this week but Waller is optimistic Fangirl will get conditions to suit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tracks (in Melbourne) dry pretty quickly,\u201d Waller said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a big track, they raced there a few weeks ago nine metres off the fence with fresh ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the Memsie is a deviation from the original plan, Waller intentionally had his star horses ahead of schedule in the build up to their return.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d hate to be on the back foot and her second-up run will probably be down there anyway,\u201d Waller said.<\/p>\n

Waller confirmed he could have multiple runners in the Memsie with Moira<\/a>, Buckaroo and Anisette all set to feature in the weight-for-age event.<\/p>\n

Moira ($15) ran fourth in the Group 2 P B Lawrence Stakes first-up while Anisette ($51) ran sixth in the same event at Caulfield.<\/p>\n

Buckaroo<\/a>, last seen finishing 10th in the Group 2 Hollindale Stakes at the Gold Coast, is yet to have a start this season.<\/p>\n

Waller, who questioned if Saturday\u2019s Winx Stakes meeting should go ahead due to the state of the track, enjoyed another standout day on the weekend.<\/p>\n

Superstar mare Via Sistina<\/a> made an early spring statement by winning the Winx Stakes, boom mare Autumn Glow<\/a> retained her unbeaten record to score in the Group 3 Toy Show Quality (1100m) while Lazzura<\/a> highlighted her Group 1 potential with victory in the Group 3 Show County Quality (1200m).<\/p>\n

Via Sistina is now a $2.20 favourite to defend her Cox Plate crown at The Valley later this spring.<\/p>\n

Originally published as Chris Waller locks in Mark Zahra as Fangirl rerouted to Melbourne for the Memsie Stakes<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Champion trainer Chris Waller has locked in star Melbourne jockey Mark Zahra to pilot Fangirl in Saturday\u2019s Group…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[44540,428,7614,5304,15011,44541,44548,8216,44538,31900,7618,7611,5017,12029,7616,12035,3004,44545,101,44546,44547,44542,44544,56,54,55,5536,44543,44539],"class_list":["post-89013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-3-show-county-quality","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-chris-waller","tag-gold-coast","tag-gun-stablemate","tag-mark-zahra","tag-melbourne","tag-mitch-cohen","tag-multiple-runners","tag-oceania","tag-punters-racing","tag-queensland","tag-racenet-group-1-racing","tag-racenet-jockeys","tag-racenet-vic","tag-racing","tag-royal-randwick","tag-sports","tag-spring-statement","tag-standout-day","tag-star-horses","tag-superstar-mare","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-victoria","tag-victorian-group","tag-weight-for-age-event"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89013","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=89013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}