Australia: Via Sistina may be vulnerable shortening up in Winx Stakes

Via Sistina is a certainty to be named Australia’s Horse of the Year in a ceremony in Brisbane on Aug. 31.

She won seven Group 1 races through the season, beginning with the Winx Stakes at Royal Randwick Racecourse last August in a 10-1 upset.

Via Sistina will be about 8-5 to win Friday’s $643,000 Winx Stakes against 11 rivals in her first start since a commanding win in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Randwick in April.

The Winx Stakes was the shortest race of Via Sistina’s 2024-2025 campaign which included one Group 1 win at a mile and five wins at the highest level at 1 1/4 miles.

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The seven wins in a Group 1 equaled a record set by Winx in the 2018-2019 season. Winx won an incredible 37 of 43 starts. Via Sistina has won a highly impressive 13 times in her 24-race career, which began in Europe.

If she is vulnerable in her comeback, the distance could be an issue for Via Sistina. In February, Via Sistina could only manage a third by a length as the 11-10 favorite to Fangirl in the Group 2 Apollo Stakes at seven furlongs at Randwick in her first start in slightly more than three months. A 7-year-old Irish-bred mare trained by Chris Waller, Via Sistina has not lost in three subsequent starts.

The Winx Stakes field has eight geldings and four fillies and mares, including Fangirl and Gringotts, the winner of the Group 1 George Ryder Stakes at 7 1/2 furlongs at Rosehill Gardens in Sydney in March. Gringotts, a gelding trained by Ciaron Maher, was 11th by 1 2/3 lengths in a field of 20 in the Group 1 Doncaster Mile at Randwick in April, one of the country’s toughest races at the distance.

Fangirl, a 7-year-old mare, was third by a half-length to Via Sistina in the 2024 Winx Stakes. Fangirl won the 2023 Winx Stakes.

Earlier this year, Fangirl was second by a nose in the George Ryder Stakes and closed from well of the pace to win her fourth Group 1 race in the Queen of the Turf Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile at Randwick on April 12.

The Winx Stakes has a North American connection through Full Count Felicia, the winner of the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine last September. Full Count Felicia was fourth behind Via Sistina in the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Rosehill Gardens in March in her last start and only appearance in Australia to date. She was withdrawn from the Group 2 Lawrence Stakes at Caulfield Racecourse in Melbourne last weekend in favor of this race.

Waller also trains Fangirl, and Full Count Felicia and has five of the runners in the field. Last year, Waller had six of the 12 starters and swept the trifecta.

Friday’s Winx Stakes is part of a 10-race program at Randwick that begins at 9:40 p.m. Eastern or 6:40 p.m. Pacific.

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