Final Field is in for the first Group 1 of the season

A field of 14 is set to contest the Winx Stakes on Saturday headlined by reigning champion and eight time Group 1 winner Verry Elleegant.

The Chris Waller trained mare is looking to claim back-to-back wins in the Winx Stakes after a tough victory in the 1400 metre feature last year with James McDonald back on board. 

Waller has a strong hand away from Verry Elleegant with the likes of Kolding, Imaging, Star Of The Seas and Hungry Heart all heading towards the feature at Randwick on Saturday.

An interesting runner is the Matthew Smith trained Keiai Nautique who will make his Australian debut with Smith acknowledging that the 1400 will be too sharp earlier in the week. 

Superstar jockey Glen Boss will take the ride on the former international after his application to enter Victoria is still pending after announcing he was going to base himself in Melbourne for the Spring Carnival.

13 of the 14 runners in the field are first up which adds to the conversation in the past few weeks about whether there are too many Group 1’s on the Australian racing calendar. 

For race favourite Verry Elleegant, after her first up run on Saturday the Caulfield Cup champion heads to the George Main Stakes before potentially heading to kick start her Melbourne campaign where it was announced earlier this week that Mark Zahra has been booked to ride. 

Full field for the 2021 Winx Stakes 

1. Kolding (10) 59kg – Chris Waller – Tim Clark
2. Think It Over (2) 59kg – Kerry Parker – Brenton Avdulla
3. Cascadian (7) 59kg – James Cummings – Hugh Bowman 
4. Dreamforce (11) 59kg – John Thompson – Nash Rawiller
5. Imaging (6) 59kg – Chris Waller – Kathy O’Hara
6. Star Of The Seas (9) 59kg – Chris Waller – Jay Ford
7. Keiai Nautique (4) 59kg – Matthew Smith – Glen Boss
8. Master Of Wine (8) 59kg – Michael, Wayne and John Hawkes  –
9. Brandenburg (13) 59kg – John Sargent – Rachel King
10. Mount Popa (1) 59kg – Michael, Wayne and John Hawkes – 
11. Mo’Unga (12) 58.5kg – Annabel Neasham – Tommy Berry
12. Verry Elleegant (5) 57kg – Chris Waller – James McDonald
13. She’s Ideel (14) 57kg – Bjorn Baker – Jason Collet
14. Hungry Heart (3) 56.5kg – Chris Waller – Kerrin McEvoy

For a full market on the Winx Stakes head to TopSport for all the latest markets.