Dual Everest winner Redzel will be the star draw when Eagle Farm hosts the eagerly anticipated Group 2 Victory Stakes on Saturday. The fabled sprinter has twice clinched victory in Australia’s richest race and made more than $15 million for his owners. They are setting their ambitions a little lower this weekend as the Victory Stakes carries prize money of just $200,000, but the prestige associated with winning the race is high. His presence has scared off many runners, so he will just have to beat seven rivals if he is to add to his win tally at Eagle Farm.

The six-year-old has not actually tasted success since triumphing at The Everest back in October 2018. He was back in action the following month, finishing fifth in the Group 1 VRC Spring at Flemington, before trainer Peter Snowden rested him for the summer. He did not make his seasonal reappearance until March 9, when he was second to Ball Of Muscle in the Group 2 Hyland Race Colours Challenge Stakes at Randwick. Since then he has disappointed.

He lined up alongside 11 other hopefuls in the Group 1 Ooh! media Galaxy handicap at Rosehill last month and he could only finish eighth. He was then sixth of 11 at the Group 1 T J Smith Stakes on April 6, well beaten by Santa Ana Lane. Snowden now admits he made an error in resting his star sprinter up for far too long following his spring campaign. But he insists that Redzel is now back to his best and fully expects him to dazzle the crowd in Brisbane this weekend.

“He looks fit now,” said Snowden. “He looks the best he’s ever looked. I gave him six weeks off and I shouldn’t have done it. It was just too long off for a horse of his age now. He’s a stable horse and I shouldn’t have given him that long a break. But he’ll be running well on Saturday.”

This represents the perfect opportunity for Redzel to return to winning ways. It is a step down in class, with a smaller field, and it is set up for him to win. Only Winx has earned more than him in the history of Australian racing, and this race is hardly going to help him overtake the legendary mare, but victory here would represent a good confidence boost ahead of sterner challenges.

He is the clear, odds-on favourite to triumph and Redzel leads the way by a comfortable margin. However, he will not have it all his own way and the supremely consistent Winter Bride is likely to put up a stern challenge. The classy mare has been raced 15 times since moving to Queensland to join Toby Edmonds’ stable and she has picked up eight wins and five places in that time.

Three of her victories are at Group 3 level – she won the How Now Stakes and Northwood Plume Stakes at Caulfield and then seized the Wenona Girl Stakes at Randwick last month – and now it is time for her to step up in class and deliver. She was unplaced in the Group 2 Tab Stakes at Flemington on November 3, but Winter Bride roared back to form this year, and Edmonds is adamant that she is seriously improving, while jockey Tommy Berry called her “a winner, plain and simple”.

Queensland-trained horses have fared well in the 1200m Victory Stakes of late, winning it nine times in the past 13 years. Edmonds is hoping Winter Bride can continue that trend after she has proved her talent against some of the finest mares in Australia. The goal is for her to win a Group 1 contest before thinking about making her a broodmare, and it will be interesting to see how she gets on against Redzel.

Jonker is next in the betting, followed by I am Excited, I’m A Rippa, Music Magnate, Stella Victoria, Chapter And Verse, Fiery Heights and $101 roughies Havasay and Malvern Estate. This race was famed for huge upsets when it was named the Sir Byrne Hart Stakes and raced over 1400m, but short priced horses have done well in recent years. Impending won it at £2.50 last year, and recent winners include Music Magnate, Fell Swoop and Srikandi, who went on to win the Stradbroke Handicap and cement her status as a top mare by earning more than $2 million and triumphing at Group 1 level.

Music Magnate is back for another crack at glory this year, so there are some interesting runners in this race, which heralds the start of the Brisbane Winter Racing Carnival. But all eyes will be on Redzel and Snowden will be desperate for him to reassert his credentials ahead of the big races that take place later this year.