Can Waller Deliver Frankel's First Aussie G1 Winner?

Clinton Payne - Friday March 9

Sydney's premier training operation will have four runners in Saturday's $1 million Group I Randwick Guineas (1600m) and the stable believes one of their outsiders will defy his$51 quote.

Classy colt D'argento heads up Chris Waller's assault on the race when teamed up with Tangled, Kaonic and Tangmere but it's the latter that Waller's racing manager Charlie Duckworth says could be the real surprise packet.

The blue-blood son of Frankel, cost $1.3 million as a yearling and looked impressive when overcoming trouble to win his maiden first-up at Randwick before being beaten at Canterbury last time out.

Duckworth says the Canterbury defeat could be the performance that unlocks the potential of Tangmere and could result in a huge upset on Saturday.

"Getting beaten at Canterbury the other day should be looked upon as a negative for a Randwick Guineas but I believe it did him the world of good," Duckworth said.

"He was knocked off balance around the turn, he had to pick himself up, balance up and go again and he's come out of that race so much more switched on.

"This is the big watch horse.

"He will be more suited as the trips get longer but his work the other day was outstanding, genuinely outstanding.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he causes an upset. He's genuinely flying."

The booking of Kerrin McEvoy also indicates the market has got it wrong with Tangmere at $51, after opening as high as $101 behind stablemate Kaonic, a $21 chance. Waller's main man,Hugh Bowman will ride D'argento, the $5 second favourite for the race.

"The question that hung over D'argento in the Hobartville was if he could step up to this class and he erased those pretty quickly," Duckworth said.

"He's a horse that on a whole will race in the second half of the field so barrier 14 isn't really a problem.

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"The way Randwick has been playing of late, some would say you're better off drawn out than in and it is the Randwick mile, one of the fairest starts in Australian racing.

"He won his maiden on soft. It was a maiden but he didn't just let down on it, he flew so the edge off the track shouldn't be a problem either.

"The mile is obviously what he's looking for, his work has been good and we're looking forward to Saturday."

The only one of Waller's quartet of runners to have a gear change on Saturday is Kaonic, a horse that has been disappointing in two runs this preparation after being touted as a likely autumn start when chalking up two impressive wins late last year.

"The blinkers go on him," he said. "He's a colt that is so casual but his work has improved in the blinkers.

"He's rock hard fit now third-up and hopefully the blinkers will bring out the best in him because his best is pretty good."

Tangled rounds out theRosehillstable's runners and he's the $71 outsider of the group.

"Realistically this is a stepping stone to theRosehill Guineasover a distance he's Group I-placed," Duckworth said.

"We still expect to see him run a race, they just may be a bit too sharp for him on Saturday."

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