Reflections On 2016

WinxSharon Chapman

Over the next week the team of Editors of TDN Europe/International will look back on 2016 and pick their most memorable racing moment of the year. We begin with International Editor, Kelsey Riley.

WINX, G1 DONCASTER MILE, AUSTRALIA

Anyone who has experienced racing in Australia knows that Down Under, they embrace their stars like perhaps nowhere else. I was fortunate enough to be living and working in Australia at the height of Black Caviar's career, and thus when the bay filly Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) began to shape as a potential superstar in the same ilk last year, I began to take notice. A near five-length romp cemented Winx's status as a world-class racehorse last October, and as her win streak continued through the Australian autumn earlier this year, my anticipation began to build about the possibility of getting to witness a Winx win in person at The Championships in April. Sure enough, Winx was signed on for the G1 Doncaster Mile on the first day of the meeting, and I too was signed on for an assignment at the races and the Easter sales.
An absolute travel nightmare ensued (for the reporter, Winx's preparations thankfully were said to be smooth), and I landed in Sydney a day late, on the morning of the race, luggage-less. Now, anyone who has experienced racing in Australia will also know it is under no circumstances acceptable to attend a metropolitan meeting anything less than totally decked out, and here I was in the same clothes I'd been wearing for two days, through three airports, with not even a hairbrush. So I desperately ran around Sydney and, in the space of about two hours, bought myself an entire new outfit–and dashed into a couple of salons–so I could be seen fit to get into the races. I was sure glad I did; Winx won the race with her now trademark authority, her ninth straight win, and nearly brought down the Royal Randwick grandstand (video). She has now extended her streak to 13, with most recently a scarcely believable eight-length defense of the Cox Plate, and I have hopes of seeing the great mare back at The Championships in 2017 in the G1 Queen Elizabeth S. Hopefully without all the pre-race drama.

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