Via Sistina looks to solidify Horse of the Year candidacy in Apollo Stakes

Via Sistina is the winner of four Group 1 races since late August and the leading candidate to be Australia’s Horse of the Year for the 2024-2025 season that ends in July. Her performances in the next 60 days will determine whether that is possible, beginning with Friday’s Group 2, seven-furlong Apollo Stakes at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney.

A 7-year-old Irish-bred mare, Via Sistina has not raced since she won the Group 1 Mackinnon Stakes against males at 1 1/4 miles at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne in November. Via Sistina closed from seventh to win by a convincing 2 3/4 lengths as the odds-on favorite.

In the $188,700 Apollo Stakes, also against males, Via Sistina was even money in early betting Thursday in a field of eight and could be a shorter price by post time. The Apollo Stakes is Via Sistina’s first start at seven furlongs since a win in the Group 2 Winx Stakes at Randwick in August. Via Sistina won the Winx Stakes after a four-month layoff.

Via Sistina, trained by Chris Waller, has won 10 of 20 starts. She won the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes for fillies and mares in Ireland in 2023 when trained by George Boughey. In seven starts in Australia, Via Sistina has won five Group 1 races ranging in distance from seven furlongs to slightly more than 1 1/4 miles in the Group 1 Cox Plate last October.

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A closer, Via Sistina will be ridden by Kerrin McEvoy in the Apollo and will have company at the back of the field from the brilliant 6-year-old mare Fangirl, who was third in the Winx Stakes last August. Fangirl was third by slightly less than a length in her last start, the Group 1 Cantala Stakes at Flemington Racecourse in November. A three-time Group 1 winner, Fangirl won the 2024 Apollo Stakes.

The Apollo Stakes lacks a confirmed front-runner, which could lead horses like Fangirl or Via Sistina to race closer to the front than normal. Ceolwulf, a 4-year-old gelding, starts for the first time after a brilliant October campaign in which he won Group 1 races at a mile in the $1.02 million Epsom Handicap and the $3.33 million King Charles III Stakes in a two-week span. Ceolwulf also runs from off the pace.

The Apollo Stakes is the eighth of 10 races on a program that begins at 8:30 p.m. Eastern. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.

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