Australia: Trekking favored to win third Group 1 in Winterbottom Stakes at Ascot

The six-time stakes winner Trekking is winless in his last four starts in some of Australia’s top sprints.

This is largely unfamiliar territory for Trekking, who has won 10 of 32 starts and will be favored to win his third Group 1 race in Saturday’s $736,000 Winterbottom Stakes at six furlongs at Ascot Racecourse in Perth.

Owned by Godolphin Racing and trained by James Cummings, Trekking won the Group 1 Goodwood Stakes at six furlongs at Morphettville Racecourse in May. More recently, he was second in the Group 1 Moir Stakes at Moonee Valley in September, fourth in the $10.7 million Everest Stakes at Royal Randwick on Oct. 17, and second in the Group 1 Manikato Stakes at Moonee Valley on Oct. 23.

The Winterbottom Stakes will have a full field of 16 but none of the other runners have such strong recent credentials. Trekking was the 6-5 favorite as of Wednesday.

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The Winterbottom is the Group 1 debut for Indian Pacific, a winner of 6 of 9 starts. Indian Pacific, a 4-year-old Southern Hemisphere gelding, won the Crawford Stakes at five furlongs at Ascot on Oct. 17 and was third behind Celebrity Queen in the Group 3 Colonel Reeves Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs at Ascot on Nov. 14 as the 8-5 favorite.

Celebrity Queen, a winner of 6 of 10 starts, won her group stakes debut in the Colonel Reeves, closing from ninth of 13 to win by about a neck over Stageman, who is part of the Winterbottom field.

Celebrity Queen, one of three fillies and mares in the field, tends to run near the front.

The field includes the 11-year-old Rock Magic, who was third in the 2016 and 2019 runnings and will start in the race for a fifth time on Saturday.

◗ Saturday’s top race at Rosehill Gardens in Sydney is the Group 3 Festival Stakes at 7 1/2 furlongs, which drew a full field of 16.

Cummings has three runners – probable favorite Phaistos as well as Gaulois and Ranier.

Phaistos was third in the Sale Cup at a mile on Oct. 25. His main rivals in the $117,760 Festival Stakes are Outrageous, the winner of a seven-furlong handicap on the Melbourne Cup undercard at Flemington Racecourse on Nov. 3, and Through the Cracks, who rallied from well off the pace to win a handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs at Newcastle Racecourse on Nov. 14.

The Festival Stakes has a post time of 1 a.m. Eastern on Saturday, or 10 p.m. Pacific on Friday. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.