Chris Waller’s Gr.2 Apollo Stakes (1400m) stars will be his headline acts at Randwick this Saturday, but the champion trainer has more-than-handy support acts resuming in the day’s other $300,000 Group Twos.
Cambridge Stud-owned Joliestar (Zoustar) has been nominated for the Apollo, alongside Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock), Fangirl (Sebring) and Atishu (NZ) (Savabeel), but is primed to kick off her campaign in the Gr.2 Expressway Stakes (1200m).
The four-year-old is one of three Waller entries for the Expressway, accompanying likely runner Olentia (Zoustar) and Lindermann (Lonhro), who is also nominated for the Apollo Stakes.
Joliestar is a Group One winner at 1600m, via the 2023 Thousand Guineas, but was an explosive winner of the Gr.3 Show County Quality (1200m) first-up last time in and was a hard-luck story in The Everest (1200m) despite finishing in seventh position.
The Hall of Fame trainer remains unsure where the daughter of Zoustar best fits in the autumn picture and is looking to the first two runs of the campaign to enlighten him.
“We’re still working out whether we’ll get her out to a mile,” Waller said.
“She’s got a lot of speed and I’d say we’ll go to the Canterbury Stakes second-up.
“If she wins that, then she’ll probably go to the TJ (Gr.1, 1200m), if not she’ll probably head down the mares’ path.”
The A$750,000 Gr.1 Canterbury Stakes (1300m) will be run at Randwick on March 8 with the A$3 million Gr.1 T J Smith Stakes (1200m) at the same track on April 5.
The ‘mares races’ Waller is considering with Joliestar are the A$1m Coolmore Classic (1500m), a handicap event at Rosehill on March 15, and the weight-for-age A$1m Queen Of The Turf (1600m) at Randwick on April 12.
Magic Time is the other Group One (Hellbent) winner nominated for the Expressway Stakes, while Joe Pride’s Gr.1 King Charles III Stakes (1600m) winner Ceolwulf (NZ) (Tavistock) is the biggest name outside the Waller team in the Apollo Stakes entries.