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She doesn’t have the Winx aura of invincibility but champion jockey James McDonald says Australia’s best racehorse Verry Elleegant has earned the right to be the horse to beat in her Group 1 return at Randwick on Saturday.
The six-year-old will be out to defend her title in the Group 1 $500,000 Winx Stakes (1400m) and James Mcdonald said the field's familiar look gives him confidence they can go back-to-back but qualifies that by saying if she is going to be beatable it'll be first-up on a good track.
Verry Elleegant, $2.90 favourite with TAB on Thursday, won the race last year on a soft 6 while in 2019 she finished ninth on a good 4 behind all the way upset winner Samadoubt.
"She's going every bit as good as what she was last season,'' McDonald said.
"I couldn't say there's any factors to say she's going better or worse.
"She is vulnerable but she got away with it last year. It's going to be a similar sort of race to last year, though, the same quality horses. So if she's going every bit as good last year she's going to be around the money, isn't she."
Six of Verry Elleegant's 13 rivals contested the Winx Stakes last year and in that race she sustained a long run from near the tail to hit the front inside the 200m and held off stablemate Star Of The Seas.
She'll jump from gate five in 2021 so it'll be interesting to see where she lands with all but one of the runners contesting the race first-up.
"As she's got older she's got more adaptable but I wouldn't like to see her spot a big start over seven furlongs on lightning fast ground,'' McDonald said.
We haven't seen Verry Elleegant since her two stirring battles with UK star Addeybb, downing him in the Ranvet Stakes before having the tables turned in the Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
With five Group 1 wins last season she's widely expected to be voted Australia's Horse Of The Year.
McDonald, who won his fifth Sydney Jockeys title last season, partnered the mare in her only official trial this preparation back on July 27 but due to Covid-19 restrictions wasn't able to get on her back again until a special track gallop at Randwick last Friday.
"I probably would have had two trials on her but it's not that important,'' he said.
"I know her pretty well by now and she was just there for a routine gallop last week. She didn't light the track on fire, she just went around."
Trainer Chris Waller has won five of the last six editions of the race named in honour of his former champion and has five runners on Saturday with Kolding, Hungry Heart, Imaging and Star Of The Seas taking their place along side the mare.
Waller's promising filly She's All Class is a horse that reminds McDonald a little of Verry Elleegant in her younger years describing her as a real talent but a work in progress.
The three-year-old hasn't raced since she produced a sizzling finish from last to run second to Four Moves Ahead in the Sweet Embrace Stakes in February.
In that race She's All Class clocked a last 600m of 34.30 (Punter's Intelligence) which was three lengths superior to her other rivals.
She'll renew rivalries with Four Moves Ahead in the Group 2 $200,000 Darley Silver Shadow Stakes (1200m) and has drawn favourably in six compared to 14 of 16 in the Magic Millions and 12 of 12 in the Sweet Embrace.
"She's highly strung but if you strike her on the right day she's as good as any filly in the land,'' McDonald said.
"I just don't want her manners to let her down.
"She's developed significantly since her two-year-old year, you can really notice it. She's just got to harness her energy in the right way."
She's All Class was $3 with TAB on Thursday in the Silver Shadow and $51 in the TAB Everest market.
