Racing
Sir Delius out to end Autumn Glow's unbeaten run
Adrian Bott, trainer of Sir Delius, acknowledged the enormity of the task trying to end the unbeaten run of outstanding mare Autumn Glow in the Group 1 $1 million Verry Elleegant Stakes (100m) at Royal Randwick on Saturday.
Autumn Glow has been installed at the $1.30 TAB Fixed Odds favourite to enhance her race record to 10 wins from as many starts.
Racing's "Miss Invincible" resumed with a brilliant win in the Group 2 Apollo Stakes over 1400m, returning an equal-bestTimeform
rating of 124. She also achieved that figure winning the Group 1 Epsom Handicap last spring."Autumn Glow is a remarkable mare,'' Bott conceded.
"She will be very hard to beat. She will benefit from the run and looked particularly sharp there last start.''
But Sir Delius actually has the highest Timeform rating of any locally-trained horse this season with the 126 figure he returned winning the Turnbull Stakes from Antino and Via Sistina last spring
The only horse to better this Timeform rating in this Australia this season is Hong Kong's champion sprinter Ka Ying Rising who ran to 128 winning The Everest at Royal Randwick last spring.
Sir Delius hasn't raced since his successive Group 1 wins in the Underwood Stake and Turnbull Stakes last spring but Bott said the five-year-old son of England's superhorse Frankel has come up well for autumn carnival return.
"We have always had this (race) as the long range kick-off point for him,'' said Bott, who trains in partnership with Hall of Famer Gai Waterhouse.
"The mile (a1600m) is going to be well short of his best but it is a nice starting point for his campaign.''
Sir Delius has only met defeat once in four Australian starts and that was first-up last spring when he was narrowly beaten by Lindermann in the Chelmsford Stakes over the Randwick mile course.
"He has had three trials and we are very pleased with him,'' Bott said.
"Naturally, he is going to improve with race fitness. His main targets are the 2000m Group 1 races, the Ranvet Stakes and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.''
Despite Bott's reservations about Sir Delius at 1600m, he is at $6 second favouritism for the Verry Elleegant Stakes behind the Chris Waller-trained Autumn Glow.
Aeliana, a stablemate of Autumn Glow, is next at $8 followed by Ceolwulf and Lindermann at $11.
Ray Thomas chats to Adrian Bott about Sir Delius' return in the Verry Elleegant Stakes at Randwick
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| Ray Thomas chats to Adrian Bott about Sir Delius' return in the Verry Elleegant Stakes at Randwick |
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