Champion Via Sistina is attempting to become the oldest mare to win a Group 1 race in 80 years at Royal Randwick on Saturday.
Via Sistina, the Horse of the Year-elect, makes her eight-year-old season debut in the $1 million Winx Stakes (1400m).
If the Chris Waller-trained Via Sistina can go back-to-back in the Winx Stakes, she will become the first eight-year-old mare since Tranquil Star in 1945 to win at Group 1 level.
Tranquil Star won the Mackinnon (now Champions) Stakes at Flemington that year, the ninth win of her remarkable career in races recognised today as having Group 1 status. She also won two Cox Plates (1942, 1944) and a Caulfield Cup (1942) and was eventually retired having had 111 starts for 23 wins and 32 placings.
It is unusual for top class mares to race on as long as Tranquil Star as most are retired to stud although that trend has changed a little with the inflated prizemoney of the modern era.
Winx, also trained by Waller, was retired after her seven-year-old season on the back of a 33-race winning streak including her world record 25th at Group 1 level in her farewell race, the 2019 Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Makybe Diva retired in a blaze of glory as a seven-year-old mare after she won her third successive Melbourne Cup in 2005.
But Via Sistina is in rarefied air if she can win at Group 1 level as an eight-year-old mare. She is the early TAB Fixed Odds favourite at $2.80 for Saturday’s big race.
Waller believes age hasn’t yet caught up with the Irish-bred Via Sistina: “Probably the opposite,” the Hall of Fame trainer said when the question was put to him.
“She has taken time to acclimatise. She is well-rounded without being too heavy. She is as bright as anything, exactly where you need her to be.”
Waller, who is chasing a ninth win in the Winx Stakes, said there had been “no need to change anything” with Via Sistina’s preparation going into the new season.
“She knows the drill,” he said. “We just don’t complicate it.”
Via Sistina is relatively sparingly raced for an eight-year-old, having had 24 starts for 13 career wins. She is aiming to become only the seventh mare to win at least 10 Group 1 races on Saturday.
Since the Group and Listed race classification system was officially introduced in 1979, the only mares to achieve this feat are Winx (25 Group 1 wins), Black Caviar (15), Melody Belle (14), Sunline (13), Verry Elleegant (11) and Imperatriz (10).
But Via Sistina won’t lack for opposition on Saturday with the Winx Stakes having 18 elite entries.
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