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Sydney’s champion trainer Chris Waller has provided six of the final 11 acceptors for Saturday’s $175,000 Warwick Stakes at Randwick.
It’s a show of strength by Waller with five Group One winners among the six he has declared as acceptors from his original nine entries.
His acceptors are Boban (Glyn Schofield), Sacred Falls (Tomy Berry), Hawkspur (Tye Angland), My Kingdom Of Fife (Jason Collett), Weary (Brenton Avdulla), and Royal Descent (Kerrin McEvoy).
However Waller is not certain to start all six as the weather and track conditions will determine his final line-up come Saturday morning.
The track was rated a Heavy 8 at acceptance time on Wednesday, conditions that will not be favourable for Boban but will definitely suit dual Doncaster winner Sacred Falls and Oaks winner Royal Descent.
The other acceptors for the Warwick Stakes are Derby winner Criterion, Messene, Dissident and the Joe Pride stablemates Tiger Tees and Laser Hawk.
Team Hawkes must be concerned about running Messene second up on a heavy track despite his fine first-up second in the Missile Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on August 9 where Boban finished an eye catching fourth with Weary fifth.
Messene’s only flaw in his autumn campaign was his seventh in the Doncaster, won by wet track specialist Sacred Falls, when he struck heavy going track for the first time, ending a sequence of six straight wins.
Boban is also suspect in heavy ground but Weary performed well in the wet when third in the Doncaster at Randwick in April.
Royal Descent recorded one of the easiest wins in classic history at Randwick when she won the AJC Oaks by 10 lengths on a heavy track as a three-year-old.
She also finished second to Sacred Falls on the heavy track in the Doncaster in April where Weary was a game third.
Hawkspur also excelled in the wet as 3YO when he won the Queensland Derby.
ATC Derby winner Criterion will be having his first start as a 4YO under weight-for-age conditions but his trainer DEavid Payne should have no qualms about running him in the wet after he mastered the conditions in fine style last season.
Waller has a massive team of 17 acceptors for Saturday’s meeting including five in the $125,000 Show County Quality.
His Show County team comprises exciting spring prospect Our Voodoo Prince along with his class stayers Moriarty and Junoob and the former Gai Waterhouse-trained pair Bull Point and Whittington.
