By Zdin
SYDNEY Climate has literally set the early stakes to the 2025 Winter Stakes.
Sydney’s wet and wild weather has been both the push and pull factor to the two top fancies’ participation in the A$200,000 (S$167,000) Listed 1,400m race at Rosehill on July 5 (at 1.50pm Singapore time).
On one hand, the likelihood of a heavily rain-affected track has been enough to tempt Bjorn Baker to run back-to-back winner Thunderlips on a seven-day back-up.
On the other, such a prospect may throw a dampener by depriving the race of second favourite Accredited.
Not only will trainer Joseph Pride pray for blue skies, but also for the drying capacity of the Rosehill track to determine whether the son of All Too Hard takes his place.
With the course proper a heavy 9 on July 3, Pride is hoping it improves into the soft range as Accredited’s best form is on firmer ground.
Racing fans will, however, be hoping that, come rain or shine, the Winter Stakes line-up will not change, even if one drop-out, Grand Impact, has already been registered.
The late sneaking in of the in-form Thunderlips is a welcome addition, but losing Accredited would rob the race of its gloss.
Baker’s racing manager Luke Hilton confirmed that Thunderlips had pulled up in great order from his victory in a Benchmark 88 over 1,500m at the same venue last weekend. The six-time winner by Zoustar will take his place alongside stablemate Robusto on Saturday.
“He has handled backing up before but it’s more so because of the rain-affected track we’re going to get,” said Hilton.
“He loves the wet tracks. He went great on a dry track last week and back on a wet track is going to be an advantage to him.”
The stable thought highly enough of Thunderlips as a young horse to run him in a brace of Group races in Brisbane as a two-year-old but he did not quite hit the mark.
However, he is beginning to fulfil that potential this campaign with three wins from his past four starts, two of them over the 1,400m Winter Stakes journey.
Robusto returns to Sydney after failing to beat a rival home first-up in the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1,400m) at Eagle Farm, when he had to work early to go forward from a wide draw.
While Pride is sweating over the weather, he has already mulled over a back-up plan for Accredited – the Group 2 Missile Stakes (1,200m) at Randwick on Aug 9.
“It has been an unfortunate winter for him because there was always a chance it was going to be wet and he just hasn’t had much luck yet,” said Pride.
“He is a nice horse and the main thing I have found in these instances is you just look after the horse, get them through the period, don’t run them in unsuitable races and then you’ve still got a horse there at the end of it.”
Accredited has won seven of his 17 starts, one of the only blots to his copybook a forgettable trip to Melbourne in May when he failed to navigate the undulations of the Sandown Hillside track.
“He had won at Nowra, Warwick Farm, Randwick. I thought, this is a good horse to travel, he is versatile. But, no, he didn’t have a bar of it,” said Pride.
Back in familiar territory at Randwick last start, the five-year-old bounced back to post an impressive win, aided by a textbook Nash Rawiller ride from what could have been an awkward draw.
A capacity field of 13 is set to line up in the Winter Stakes with Thunderlips an early 19-5 favourite ahead of Accredited (4-1) with Robusto a 5-1 chance. SKY RACING WORLD