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Winx cruised home in a barrier trial at Randwick on Monday and is set to kick off her spring campaign in the Warwick Stakes on August 19.
THE foiled plan of 2016 could come to fruition this spring, with Winx poised to race at Flemington for the first time in the Emirates Stakes.
Trainer Chris Waller revealed on Wednesday that the $2 million Emirates, run on the final day of the famous four-day carnival, was again on the agenda.
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Waller had planned to tackle the Emirates with Winx last year but the champion was treated with antibiotics after her seven-lengths Cox Plate romp, her second straight win in the race.
Winx was galloped on in the Cox Plate, requiring the medical treatment that ruled her out of the 2000m Flemington race.
A handful of Winx’s owners, including Queensland businessman Peter Tighe, were at Flemington on Saturday, where Tighe had a runner.
Winx would be a massive attraction on the final day of the Flemington carnival. Picture: Nicole GarmstonSource:News Corp Australia
The Emirates had always been a likely option after Winx’s third Cox Plate but the presence of Tighe and others last Saturday, where they were committee room guests, is believed to have been part of the wooing process by the Victoria Racing Club.
A programming and race name change means the Emirates, formerly the Mackinnon, is now a fortnight rather than a week after the Cox Plate, described by Winx’s trainer Chris Waller as a plus in pencilling the race in for her final spring start.
The Emirates was run for the first time under the new conditions last year.
The presence of Winx on the final day of the carnival presents the likelihood that the final day crowd could attract the biggest attendance of the four days, including Cup day.
Winx cruised home in a barrier trial at Randwick on Monday and is set to kick off her spring campaign in the Warwick Stakes on August 19.Source:Getty Images
Cup Week crowds are now capped at 100,000 for all of the four days.
Confirmation of an Emirates start is likely to be a square off for the probability that Winx will contest the revamped Craven Stakes at Randwick on October 14, instead of the Caulfield Stakes, which Winx won last year, on the same day.
Winx ran a fast-closing third in a Sydney barrier trial on Monday to prepare for her first-up run in the Warwick Stakes (1400m) at Randwick on August 19.
Originally published as Flemington finale in mix for Winx