Foxplay, Egg Tart kick off autumn campaign

Foxplay (r) begins her campaign to defend the Queen of the Turf Stakes when she runs at Rosehill.

Foxplay’s trainer Chris Waller is not reading anything into her barrier trials ahead of her return in the Group Two Millie Fox Stakes at Rosehill.

The four-year-old will be up against her fellow Group One-winning stablemate Egg Tart over 1300 metres on Saturday.

Like her illustrious stablemate Winx, Foxplay shows little in trials and her trainer is hoping she is saving it for race day.

“She’s come back really well. Forget about the trials, she’s been sitting next to Winx for a long time now and they don’t do trials,” Waller said.

“She showed me a really sharp piece of work on Tuesday morning so she’s ready to show her best form first-up.”

Foxplay, who last raced in the Myer Classic last November, is being set for a defence of the Group One Queen Of The Turf (1600m) at Randwick on April 14.

Waller said the Group Two Emancipation Stakes (1600m) was also on her schedule before the Queen Of The Turf but said the program could be revised to include the $3 million Doncaster Mile on April 7.

“I wouldn’t say no to the Doncaster,” he said.

“It depends how she fits in the weights. If she’s got 53, she’ll be there for sure.”

Weight might count against Egg Tart shading Foxplay and Millie Fox favourite Prompt Response.

“As a dual Group One winner she’s got the 59, so she’s giving away four kilos to some pretty useful horses around the same ranking as her,” Waller said.

“She’ll run second-up in the Coolmore Classic and you’ll see a massive change in the weights. She’ll probably go close to the bottom against horses she’s running against on Saturday.”

Waller admitted Egg Tart’s previous campaign wasn’t up to scratch after a game second in the Group Two Theo Marks Stakes in September.

“She ran well first-up behind Deploy and then she didn’t come up as good as we would have liked,” he said.

“I think the firm tracks were a big part of it. The autumn tracks are a lot more forgiving.”