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Godolphin warhorse Hartnell could back up against Winx at Randwick on Saturday following his game third in Saturday’s Doncaster Mile under the topweight.
Trainer James Cummings has booked Kerrin McEvoy to ride the seven-year-old in Saturday’s $4 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes Stakes (2000m) with a decision on a start to be made on Tuesday.
Winx’s jockey Hugh Bowman rode Hartnell in the Doncaster, where the big gelding tried hard under his 58kg behind the lightly weighted winner Brutal (49.5kg) and runner-up Dreamforce (53.5kg) .
Hartnell has been one of the constant rivals for Winx through her sequence of 32 successive wins and has come off second best four times.
They have met seven times since their first clash more than three years ago in the 2015 WS Cox Plate but they haven’t hooked up since the 2017 Queen Elizabeth Stakes where Hartnell finished second.
Hartnell previously finished second to Winx in the 2016 Warwick Stakes, 2016 WS Cox Plate and 2017 Apollo Stakes.
The list of horses set to take on Winx in her final career start on Saturday will also include dual Australian Cup winner Harlem, high class import He’s Eminent and the Kiwi mare Danzdanzdance.
Harlem has not started since he won his second Australian Cup (2000m) at Flemington on March 9. He was scratched from the Rosehill meeting on March 30 due to the heavy track but has since finished third in a trial at Warwick Farm on April 1.
Yet to race against Winx, Harlem is a possible visitor to Hong Kong for the QEII Cup at Sha Tin.
He’s Eminent made a big impression at his first Sydney start when he set a strong pace and held on gamely to finish second to Avilius in the G1 Ranvet Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill on March 23.
Trained by New Zealand’s Olympic equestrian champion Sir Mark Todd, Eminent was having his first start for seven months and is expected to have taken plenty of improvement from the Rosehill race.
He’s Eminent, a G1 wining son of Frankel, is owned by prominent New Zealand breeder Sir Peter Vela and is set to take up stud duties in NZ next season.
He is a G2 and G3 winner in the UK and was G1 placed in the Irish Champion Stakes in 2017.
Danzdanzdance, winner of the G1 Zabeel Classic at Ellerslie in January, made a strong start to her Sydney campaign with her third in the Ranvet Stakes.
