‘You’re always nervous going into a race like this’: Master trainers prepare for superstar showdown

Too often these days, it’s easier for showdowns like Autumn Glow-Sheza Alibi not to happen, with a variety of choices for our best horses.

Stars don’t align because you pick off millions of dollars of prizemoney without taking on the very best.

Peter Moody had a choice with his star mare Sheza Alibi and opted for the challenge in Saturday’s Winx Stakes at Randwick rather than staying at home in Victoria.

“It’s a 1400-metre G1 and we’ve got a 1400-metre G1 horse, so I would be derelict not to have a look at it,” Moody said on Monday.

It doesn’t matter that she will take on Australia’s highest rated horse in Autumn Glow, Sheza Alibi is ready, and Moody wouldn’t be bringing her if she wasn’t.

It was a final piece of work on Tuesday morning over a 1000m at Pakenham that made the decision easier.

“She’s pretty forward, she’s pretty well,” Moody said in report posted on X after the gallop.

“The horse is in great order, a happy, healthy girl. Hardly a bead of sweat on her. Pleasing work, and also a very pleasing recovery.”

The anticipation of the pair meeting started in the autumn when the Doncaster loomed as a clash point.

In the end, Autumn Glow opted for a Queen Elizabeth Stakes, where she lost her unbeaten mantle, while Sheza Alibi destroyed the field in Australia’s most famous mile with the featherweight of 49kg.

It is meeting that was always going to happen but looked like it would be much later in the spring after a couple of tune-ups.

It sets up a possible series of match-ups that could define the spring.

Chris Waller likes to build into the spring with his star team and admits that this isn’t the Grand Final on Saturday.

“We have them ready for the first-up run, so they have a good experience but we have move to room,” Waller said. “It is still a Group 1 and every one of them is important.

 “It is about getting a good recovery and performing at your peak at that point.

“It is a great challenge and it is good that public will get to see these two horses race against each other, so early on in their preparation.

“You’re always nervous going into a race like this and Sheza Alibi adds to that.”

The pair dominated the market with Autumn Glow the $1.90 favourite, while Sheza Alibi is $2.80 at TAB.

It leaves rest of the field of 14, which are all Group 1 winners except for Midnight Dynamite, at $19 and beyond.

Waller and Moody have experienced what it means to have a horse that is public property in Winx and Black Caviar.

What Saturday will decide is which star will head along that path. Victory will decide who starts the queen of the spring, but it is a title that could change hands later on.