Australia: Hamogany back at right distance for handicap at Bathurst

Hamogany has already had a busy August in Australia, finishing third in a seven-furlong race at Forbes Racecourse on Aug. 3 and fifth against a solid field in the Narromine Cup at a mile on Aug. 16.

The distances may not have been to the liking of the 5-year-old Hamogany, who won a handicap at 1 1/4 miles at Canberra in February. At the time, Hamogany was trained by Gwenda Markwell. Earlier this year, Hamogany was transferred to Dean Mirfin, who started the gelding twice earlier this month.

Hamogany will be favored to win for the first time for Mirfin in a handicap at 1 1/4 miles at Bathurst Racecourse on Monday.

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First post time on the seven-race card is 10:50 p.m. Eastern, or 7:50 p.m. Pacific, on Sunday. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.

Hamogany was assigned 138.8 pounds, but will carry 132 pounds because of the presence of apprentice jockey Heni Ede. From May 22 through Friday, Ede won with seven of 50 mounts. She was aboard Hamogany for the third-place finish at Forbes.

Monday’s handicap drew a field of 12. Hendo’s Magic has defaulted into the role of topweight at 135.5 pounds because of Ede’s deduction.

A 6-year-old gelding, Hendo’s Magic has won at about 1 5/16 miles in his 27-race career, and was second in a handicap at Bathurst at 1 1/4 miles in 2018. Hendo’s Magic is winless in five starts since a surprise 20-1 win in a handicap at about 6 1/2 furlongs at Muswellbrook in May.

Hendo’s Magic could dispute the pace in Monday’s race.

Verry Elleegant rallies to nose victory in Winx Stakes

Verry Elleegant won her third stakes of 2020, and first start since April, in Saturday’s Group 1 Winx Stakes at seven furlongs at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney.

Verry Elleegant ($11.70 in North American pools) closed from the back of a field of 16 to take the lead in the final sixteenth, finishing a nose in front of 40-1 Star of the Seas. Chris Waller, who trained the famous mare Winx, saddled the first two finishers of the $361,500 Winx Stakes.

Con Te Partiro, a stakes winner at Saratoga in 2016, finished fifth, beaten 1 1/4 lengths. She has been mentioned as a potential runner in a Breeders’ Cup race at Keeneland in November.

James McDonald rode Verry Elleegant, a 5-year-old New Zealand-bred mare who has won 9 of 21 starts. Verry Elleegant won the Group 1 Tancred Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on March 28.

The Winx Stakes was formerly known as the Warwick Stakes, and was won three times by Winx during her 33-race winning streak from 2015 to early 2019. Winx won the Warwick Stakes in 2016 and 2017 and the race in 2018 when it was named in her honor.

Waller said Verry Ellegant will be pointed for the Group 1 George Main Stakes at a mile at Randwick on Sept. 19. Winx won that race three times, from 2016 to 2018.