By Scott Bailey
Randwick again takes centre stage this Saturday for Day 2 of The Championships, with four Group 1 races giving the program its shape and its status.
The Australian Turf Club positions the meeting as the second day of the grand finals of Australian racing, and the card reflects that, with the Australian Oaks, Sydney Cup, Queen Of The Turf Stakes and the $5 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes all packed into the feature part of the afternoon.
The Queen Elizabeth Stakes is the pinnacle of the two days, with the meeting building naturally toward the race that now stands as one of the great weight-for-age contests of the Australian season.
The Australian Oaks opens the Group 1 sequence in race five and looks a strong staying test for the three-year-old fillies over 2400 metres. A talented lineup that has Ohope Wins, After Summer, Profoundly and Soverato among the leading names, and it reads as a race where recent Sydney and New Zealand form both hold real weight.
Ohope Wins brings top-level staying credentials into the race after her New Zealand Oaks success, while Profoundly comes off a convincing Adrian Knox win at Randwick and Soverato has already shown she can handle the build-up to this sort of assignment.
It gives the Oaks the look of a race where proven stamina and the ability to absorb pressure late will be crucial.
The Sydney Cup always changes the rhythm of the day because it asks a very different question, and this year’s field looks no exception. Run over 3200 metres for $2 million, the race again brings together a mix of proven stayers, lightly weighted hopes and horses building through the traditional lead-ups.
The 3200m test includes River Of Stars, Campaldino, Soul Of Spain, Paradise Storm and Piggyback, and it looks the type of staying handicap where tempo and timing will matter as much as class.
Campaldino comes through the Chairman’s with strong local credentials, while River Of Stars and Soul Of Spain bring depth and profile, and Paradise Storm adds a different layer after his Auckland Cup success.
The Queen Of The Turf Stakes brings the elite mares into focus and looks one of the more tactical races on the program with crowd favourite Pride Of Jenni expected to string them out in her usual running style.
It is the kind of Group 1 that rarely lacks depth at this stage of the autumn, and this year appears no different, with several genuine top-line mares set to clash at the Randwick mile. It shapes as a race where the balance between speed and control will matter, particularly if one of the recognised on-pace runners gets the chance to dictate.
That usually gives the race its intrigue, because it often comes down to which mare gets the right run rather than simply which mare arrives with the strongest profile.
The Queen Elizabeth Stakes is where the meeting reaches its peak as one of the greatest races on the Australian turf, and it is easy to see why, with its history, its weight-for-age conditions and its place as the headline event on Day 2.
This year the focus sits squarely on Autumn Glow, with the Australian Turf Club noting she will be chasing a 12th straight victory, and that gives the race a very obvious centre. The big question is weather she is as dominant at 2000m than what we have seen over 1600m. Connections seem to think she will be better and this will test her as a proper Cox Plate contender for the spring.
Around her, the supporting cast still ensures the contest carries proper depth, but the feature is being framed around whether she can confirm her standing on the biggest stage of the carnival.
Taken as a whole, Day 2 again looks like a meeting built on contrast and quality. The Oaks brings the staying fillies into the spotlight, the Sydney Cup tests the two-mile horses, the Queen Of The Turf gives the mares their chance at Group 1 level, and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes lands as the race everything points toward.
That progression is what makes the Randwick program work so well. It starts with depth, builds through stamina and tactics, and then arrives at the feature with the sense that the biggest moment of the afternoon is still to come.
