As equine superstar Winx closes the book on her storied career, Kembla trainer Gwenda Markwell will look to add another chapter to her own fairytale week at Randwick on Saturday.
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Seven days after claiming a memorable victory in the Group 1 Australian Derby (2400m) with Angel Of Truth, Markwell will launch a two-pronged attack at the Provincial Championships Final (1400m).
Markwell has $3.60 TAB favourite Archedemus and late call up Mandylion ($14) set to step out in front of a sell-out crowd in Sydney.
Archedemus has long been the horse to beat for the lucrative $500,000 decider.
It's not the first time the Queen of Kembla has saddled up the favourite in the finale.
In 2017, she and jockey Chad Lever combined with $2.35 favourite Pomelo. The mare got overrun late to finish fourth behind Maryore.
Lever is hopeful of a different result two years down the track.
"I know Gwenda won the Derby last week but to be able to do this together would be great," he said.
"Archedemus has got the wood on Pomelo if you wanted to compare them.
"She probably wasn't really a 1400m horse where he is a 1400m horse and probably looking for further."
Archedemus brings an amazing five run winning streak into this year's final, including three consecutive dominant performances this preparation. The Lope De Vega five-year-old stormed into the main event after taking out the Newcastle Qualifier on March 9.
"He has been outstanding this preparation," Lever said.
"He will be there for a long way.
"He has drawn a nice alley and there is probably a bit of speed in the race so hopefully we can be right on the speed and he will be too good for them."
Whatever Archedemus does on Saturday, Lever is sure Markwell's rising star's best is yet to come.
"He has learnt a lot this preparation as each run has gone by so it will be interesting to see how far he gets next time around," he said.
"I think he will get to Group level at some stage anyway."
Markwell's numbers in the final only doubled when Kris Lees was forced to scratch Evalina due to a high temperature.
It gave Mandylion the chance to contest her second consecutive final as the first emergency for the event.
Kembla Grange will also be represented by the Robert and Luke Price trained Eugene's Pick and Mick Tubman's Bye See in the final.
