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Champion trainer Chris Waller hopes outstanding mare Fangirl has taken confidence from her overdue Group 1 win last month as she spearheads his assault on the inaugural $1 million 7 Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on Saturday.
The Winx Stakes winner and fellow Group 1 mare Hinged are using the new race as a springboard to some rich targets during Sydney's Everest Carnival and Chris Waller said he takes these additions to the calendar very seriously.
Fangirl's major target is the Group 1 $5 million King Charles III Stakes (1600m) on TAB Everest Day while Hinged's next stop will be the Group 2 $2 million Hill Stakes (1900m) at Rosehill a week earlier.
"We see these races pop up and we get to know them pretty quickly. They are big deals and hence you've got Group 1 winners going for them,'' Waller said.
"Hinged is a Group 1 winner, Fangirl's in form as a Group 1 winner and we've chosen that race over the Makybe Diva."
Waller took the opportunity to give the two mares a stretch out between races at Rosehill last Saturday and said they did exactly what was needed a week out from the $1 million feature.
Hinged, with Brett Prebble on board, just held Fangirl and Kerrin Mcevoy in the gallop and Waller said it wasn't about the result of the work but what the work will do for both horses that mattered.
For example, Fangirl was shaded by stablemate Lazzago in an exhibition gallop a week prior to her Group 1 Winx Stakes (1400m) win over Princess Grace and Zaaki.
"They haven't raced for four weeks so they needed to do a little bit, they didn't need a trial but it worked out perfectly,'' Waller said.
"It's pretty easy work for a fit horse. You don't want to get them off stride.
"It's the pressure of a mile that tells the difference, not a 1000m gallop. I'd say they are at 80 per cent when they do that type of work."
Fangirl went winless through her four-year-old season but it's been well documented that she clashed with Anamoe in five of her eight starts last season and went down narrowly to I Wish I Win in the $10 million Golden Eagle.
In claiming her second Group 1, Fangirl clocked 33.94 (Punter's Intelligence) for her last 600m in the Winx, which was the race's second fastest, as she stormed home from the second half of the field.
"She's run so many good seconds to Anamoe and other horses and to get a Group 1 herself again I think it's important,'' Waller said.
"It looks a perfect race for her."
Hinged was only a length behind Fangirl in the Winx Stakes, running fourth, and she's taken over the mantle of being overdue for another big win.
The five-year-old's last victory was in the Group 1 Surround Stakes of 2022 but she has recoded four Group 1 placings from 12 attempts since and she tends not to be too far away from Fangirl whenever they clash.
