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The Roar

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Should Hartnell keep lining up to get beat by Winx?

Warwick Farm racing - the best fun you can have on a farm! (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)
Editor
14th February, 2017
26

Winx spanked her rivals in the Group 2 Apollo Stakes in the late afternoon sun on Monday, easily beating Hartnell and everything else in the race, to record her 14th race victory in a row, equalling the great Phar Lap.

The five-year-old mare is going better than ever, too. She appeared to be around at least three lengths better first-up than when she returned in 2016 in the same race, when pushed by Solicit. That’s a wonderful sign for her trainer Chris Waller, and racing generally.

Hartnell finished in second position, in another very good performance. He’s back in fine form too for Godolphin and trainer John O’Shea.

But it’s 5-0 to Winx now and it hasn’t really been close.

Many comments were made that Hartnell is now to Winx what Hay List was to Black Caviar – both just a rung or two below the world-class mares, and metaphorically making the boys the bridesmaids.

Hay List would’ve probably been ranked one of Australia’s best sprinters without Black Caviar taking at least four Group 1s from him. He was never closer than two lengths to her but gave us a thrill when they clashed.

And that pair were bound to clash in Group 1 sprinting grand finals – they were sprinters through and through, and neither were ever stretched beyond 1400m.

But Hartnell’s victories have all come between 1600m and 2400m, and he was third in the Group 1 Melbourne Cup over 3200m. Winx famously couldn’t stretch to 2400m in the Victorian Oaks but did win the Queensland Oaks over 2200m.

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The point, more or less, is that Hartnell has such a range of distances up his sleeve that he probably doesn’t need to keep finding himself getting windburn from Winx.

The pair are still bound to clash in major grand finals such as the Cox Plate, and perish the thought that Godolphin should simply avoid her. But with Winx set for a campaign at home in Sydney, should Hartnell have gone down south to compete in the Group 1 CF Orr (1400m) to try and notch a victory, rather than the seemingly inevitable in running second in a Group 2?

And rather than take on the Chipping Norton and Ranvet, should Hartnell line up for the Group 1 Australian Cup (2000m)? He’s only likely to avoid Winx in the Ranvet at this stage.

Further, could he switch to the Group 1 BMW (2400m) and the Group 1 Sydney Cup (3200m) instead of the Queen Elizabeth, where he’ll likely face Winx again? Indeed, he won the BMW in 2015, and was fourth in the Sydney Cup, and is going far better now, so it’s not out beyond the realm of possibility.

What would you do, if Hartnell was your stable star?

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