Race favourite State Solicitor has come up trumps with gate four in the Winterbottom Stakes 2017 barrier draw for Saturday’s Perth major.

Victorian visitor Santa Ana Lane has a wide barrier 11 of 13 Winterbottom Stakes 2017 draw to overcome in Perth on the weekend. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.

A final field of 13 sprinters take to the Ascot track for this season’s Group 1 $1 million Winterbottom Stakes (1200m) and on Tuesday night (AEDT), barriers for all the hopefuls were announced.

Following a smart lead-up win in the Group 3 Colonel Reeves Stakes (1100m), his third win on the trot, the local Grant & Alana Williams-trained son of Nicconi is tipped as the one to beat stepping up in grade this weekend.

State Solicitor ran a midfield sixth to Takedown in last year’s Winterbottom Stakes results after winning his six lead-up runs.

He gets the chance to improve and salute for the punters on Saturday, the five-year-old currently paying $3 in the Winterbottom Stakes odds at Ladbrokes.com.au, after the favourable barrier four draw that last produced a winner with Marasco (2006).

Takedown won the Winterbottom Stakes last year from barrier eight, a gate drawn this season by the Simon Miller-trained Hinchinbrook mare Whispering Brook who backs up off a sixth in the Colonel Reeves.

A better fancied mare in the mix this weekend looking to be the sixth female winner in the race since 2004 is Viddora.

Currently occupying the second line of Winterbottom Stakes betting at $4, the Lloyd Kennewell-trained daughter of I Am Invincible has gate seven.

She races for the first time since her fourth to Hey Doc at The Valley in the Group 1 Manikato Stakes (1200m), which followed a brave first-up second to She Will Reign in the Group 1 Moir Stakes (1000m).

Winning over 1200m is the challenge for Viddora, but the bookies are taking no chances with her off the good Melbourne form over the spring.

It is a close first half of the markets for the lucrative Group 1 Perth sprint this summer with Rock Magic ($6) and Santa Ana Lane ($7.50) also at single-figures.

Chris Gangemi’s gun local Rock Magic gets the options from barrier six, the son of Redoute’s Choice presenting rock hard fit off a four run Melbourne campaign.

He was a $41 roughie last time out at Flemington in the Group 1 Darley Classic (1200m) but raced better than his odds crossing only three and a half lengths back sixth to Redzel.

Gangemi goes into the race full of confidence and believes Rock Magic is a genuine winning hope out to go two better than his third in the Winterbottom Stakes trifecta of 2016.

Santa Ana Lane did not have the same luck in the Winterbottom Stakes barriers, Anthony Freedman’s Victorian raider needing to overcome gate 11.

Since 2005, just one Winterbottom Stakes winner has jumped from double digits with Magnifisio (10 of 12) in 2014.

Despite the wide alley, Lope De Vega entire Santa Ana Lane presents as a danger with plenty of class having won the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m) last time out on October 1 at Caulfield.

Check out the official Winterbottom Stakes 2017 Field & Barriers below before heading to Ladbrokes.com.au for the latest Perth Summer Racing odds online.

2017 Winterbottom Stakes Final Field & Barrier Draw

Ascot Racecourse – 02/12/2017