It's on: Queen Elizabeth clash looms for Winx and The Autumn Sun
The dream match-up between the undisputed racing queen Winx and boom colt The Autumn Sun could come in next month's Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick.
The Autumn Sun has been compared to the great mare after his stunning win in the Randwick Guineas on Saturday, and rarely does racing get the opportunity of seeing a champion take on a young buck.
“It is probably the race everyone wants to see,” The Autumn Sun's managing owner John Messara admitted. “For the sport, it would be a contest that would get everyone talking.
“We have options with him. Hong Kong and Royal Ascot have been in contact, but we want to see him do it at home.”
The next race for four-time group 1 winner will be at weight for age, which is a big test for three-year-old against older rivals. That could come in the Ranvet Stakes, and there is the ultimate test against the seven-year-old mare Winx in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes over 2000m.
Winx has an unprecedented streak of 31 straight wins, which has included 23 group 1 victories in a four-year domination of racing that started before The Autumn Sun was born. Her record puts The Autumn Sun’s eight starts in perspective.
“The Autumn Sun is up with the best three-year-olds we have seen in modern times. He is trending to be the best on our data and is getting towards a mark where he could win a Cox Plate,” Daily Sectionals Vince Accardi said.
Of course, Winx has won four of them. It shows the regard The Autumn Sun is already held in.
“Winx is at the pinnacle of our data and I don’t think we have seen her full exertion in a race because the competition hasn’t been there,” Accardi continued.
“Would he give he that? Not on our data. Her peak is 15 lengths above standard and I would think there might be more there.
“The Autumn Sun is at eight lengths above standard now, which is outstanding, and the indication is that he will get to 10, but that wouldn’t be enough to pressure her. But he is still on the way up.”
The Autumn Sun produced a phenomenal burst of speed at the end of a searching run to snatch the Randwick Guineas, and the three-year-old's future is taking on the older horse after proving the best of his generation.
For so long, Winx has been without peer, with even the second-best horse in the country, Happy Clapper, unable to match her sustained speed.
Even though The Autumn Sun was visually stunning on Saturday, he is still way off Winx. But the only way to truly find out is for them to meet on raceday.
Daily Sectionals rated Winx's Chipping Norton Stakes win 3½ lengths better than what The Autumn Sun produced in Randwick Guineas. Winx achieved her mark with more pressure in the race.
“The unknown with Winx is what she could do, because everything she has done has been within herself,” Accardi said.
“The unknown with The Autumn Sun is would he might do, particularly at 2000m.”
Winx will run in the group 1 George Ryder Stakes (1500m) on March 23 and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick on April 13, races she has won for the past two years.
The Autumn Sun's future will be decided this week when trainer Chris Waller, Messara and Hermitage racing manager Oliver Koolman decided what weight-for-age target he will take on.
Waller is clear in his thinking about where the pair sit against each other.
“There is no doubt she would beat him,” trainer Chris Waller said. “He is still not mature, but what he is doing is amazing.
“She took until she was four and five to fully mature, and hopefully we will get to see him then.
“He still gives me the feeling that only a special horse does.”
Winx and The Autumn Sun will probably be separated at their next start but a clash in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes to crown the ultimate champion of champions looms.