War Machine ready to bounce back in 2025 Russell Balding Stakes

Despite finishing down the track in The Everest, War Machine is poised to rebound when he lines up in the $3 million Russell Balding Stakes at Randwick this weekend, according to co-trainer Ben Hayes.

The Group 1-winning gelding was only having his second start of the preparation when contesting The Everest, where he finished 10th. Hayes said there were genuine excuses.

“He sprinted really well fresh and then got a bit crowded and a bit further back than we wanted in the Everest and then he was good through the line,” Hayes said.

“The 1300 is right up his alley and he’ll now be third-up and ready to go and he’ll go really well.

“We go to the Russell Balding and then we’ve got the Orr Stakes on the 15th (of November) and that’s probably been his Grand Final race for the spring.”

War Machine’s spring opened perfectly with victory in the Group 2 Gilgai Stakes (1200m) at Flemington, following his Group 1 breakthrough in the Stradbroke Handicap earlier in the year.

While The Everest result looked plain, sectional times highlight he closed off as one of the fastest late in the race.

“Obviously we were a little disappointed with his Everest run, but he did actually finish off really strongly and ran quite good sectionals. I think only Angel Capital ran better sectionals than him,” Hayes said.

“He’s got a lot of improvement (to come), he’s only third-up into the Russell Balding, so don’t discount him.”

Tim Clark stays with the horse and barrier seven gives the stable confidence that War Machine can settle closer and launch late.

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