Egg Tart ready to step out

Comparisons to Winx are premature but Egg Tart is ready to step out in a spring preparation that mirrors that of her illustrious stablemate two years ago.

As he often does with Winx, trainer Chris Waller took Egg Tart to Randwick on Saturday for a raceday gallop, a week out from her return in the Group Two Theo Marks Stakes.

After Saturday’s Group Two 1300m-race she will go to the Epsom Handicap, both won by Winx in 2015, the third and fourth of her now 19-race winning streak.

After winning the two Sydney races, Winx went on to claim her first Cox Plate but whether Egg Tart takes her on as she goes for a third, remains to be seen.

“I think she is a genuine Epsom horse,” Waller said.

“We gave her a good break after Queensland and that is the reason she wasn’t racing two or three weeks ago.

“She is not a big mare but she is very athletic and quite fit.

“Taking her to the races just gives her a day out and blows the cobwebs out.”

While he is not sure how far Egg Tart will go this spring, Waller said the Caulfield Cup was not a preferred option.

“It is a hard race and I think it takes a lot out of a newly turned four-year-old mare,” he said.

“I think Egg Tart is the sort of horse who could be even better in the autumn so we will look after her.”

Egg Tart’s final start as a three-year-old was in the Queensland Oaks which coincidentally was run over 2200 metres at Doomben when Eagle Farm was shut down in winter as it had been when Winx won.

Unlike Winx at the same stage, Egg Tart spent the autumn travelling, and winning, in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide before Brisbane.

Before she got to Queensland she won the Group One Schweppes Oaks at Morphettville.

Egg Tart is the $5 Epsom favourite before the release of weights ahead of Saturday’s Tramway Stakes winner Happy Clapper at $8.