Ken Condon: facing Winx will be like going into gun battle with a knife

Challenging Winx in her backyard is never easy, but Ken Condon has described the task at hand for his Success Days prior to Saturday’s Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick as "going into gun battle with a knife" given the unseasonably quick going in Sydney.

Success Days, a high-class performer on soft ground who landed a Group 2 at York last season, was given the green light to travel down under by Condon, who admitted one of the deciding factors over opting to take up the challenge was the prospect of racing on soft ground.

However, the quicker than ideal surface has put a dampener on the handler’s confidence, with Condon more hopeful than confident his charge can stop Winx in her tracks as she attempts to equal Black Caviar's record of 25 straight wins.

He explained: “Aside from Winx, our big worry heading into Saturday is the ground.

“It’s not a typical Sydney autumn in that this is the first time they’ve had to water the track at Randwick for this meeting since 2006.

“They haven’t had rain here for about three weeks. That’s the shame of the whole thing, but on the upside the horse is in terrific form.”

He added: “I can’t help but feeling that taking on Winx on this ground will be like going into gun battle with a knife, but we’re up for the fight.

“There is terrific prize-money up for grabs all the way down to the finishing positions so hopefully we can pick up as much of that as possible.”

Condon arrived in Syndey last Saturday in time to oversee the final preparations of Success Days, who galloped over seven furlongs on grass.

He added: “All the indicators are positive. He’s settled in well, he looks a picture and he seems to be in very good form.

“He galloped on Tuesday over seven furlongs with Pre Stwick, the Japanese horse, who's second or third favourite for the Sydney Cup, and that went very well.”

Success Days is a general 33-1 shot to lower the colours of Winx and the popular grey will be ridden for the first time in public by Joao Moreira.