Winx In Historic Cox Plate Repeat

Winx gets a hero's welcome | Bronwen Healy

In the leadup to Saturday's A$3-million G1 Cox Plate, racing pundits were tasked with the duty of dreaming up possible scenarios in which Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) could fail to defend her title and have her 12-race win streak snapped. Many expected Hartnell (GB) (Authorized {Ire}), the open-lengths winner of his three lead-up races, would at last give the great mare something to think about. Any scenarios that would see the 5-year-old mare beaten, however, were laid to rest on the turn into the short Moonee Valley straight when Winx blew past the last-out G1 Turnbull S. winner. Hitting the 200-metre mark at the top of the short stretch about five lengths in front, Winx needed only a couple of reminders from jockey Hugh Bowman's stick to draw clear and win by a race record eight lengths under wraps, with Hartnell and the 3-year-old filly Yankee Rose (Aus) (All American {Aus}) simply toiling in her wake.

Saturday, Moonee Valley, Australia
WS COX PLATE-G1, A$3,050,000, MVRC, 10-22, 3yo/up, Open Weight For Age, 2040mT, 2:06.35, Soft.
1–WINX, 57.0, m, 5, by Street Cry (Ire)
1st Dam: Vegas Showgirl (NZ) (MSW & GSP-NZ, $172,062), by Al Akbar
2nd Dam: Vegas Magic, by Voodoo Rhythm (USA)
3rd Dam: Vegas Street (NZ), by Sovereign Edition (IRE)
(A$230,000 Ylg 2013 MM Gold Coast Yearling Sale) O-Magic
Bloodstock Racing (Mgr: P G Tighe), R G Treweeke & Mrs D N
Kepitis; B-Fairway Thoroughbreds NSW; T-C J Waller; J-J
Bowman; A$1,850,000. Lifetime Record: 23-17-3-0,
A$9,348,175. *1/2 to El Divino (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}), GSW-Aus,
$134,260. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Hartnell (GB), 59.0, g, 5, Authorized (Ire)–Debonnaire (GB),
by Anabaa (USA). O-Godolphin; B-Rabbah Bloodstock Limited;
T-J A O'Shea; J-J B Mc Donald; A$440,000.[bullet ad=”irt-shell”]3–Yankee Rose, 47.5, f, 3, All American–Condesaar, by Xaar
(GB). (A$10,000 Ylg 2015 WI Classic Yearling Sale – Summer)
O-S G Darby, M J Royal, Mrs S E Weigall, H C Sharpe, P G Davis,
J Fowler, Mrs H E Sumner, M A Slack-Smith, A C Beckmann, W
M Bell, Ms J E Falls, D G Penno, I F D Thacker, Ms C M McGe;
B-Wexford Farm NSW; T-David Vandyke; J-D Yendall;
A$220,000.
Margins: 8, 3/4, 1. Odds: 0.80, 4.00, 12.00.
Also Ran: Vadamos (FR), Awesome Rock, Happy Clapper, Lucia Valentina (NZ), Hauraki, Black Heart Bart, Happy Trails.
Click for the Racing Post result. VIDEO.

On this day 12 months ago, Winx stamped herself as a star of her generation with a near five-length win in the Cox Plate over G1 Queen Elizabeth S. winner Criterion (NZ) (Sebring {Aus}) and Highland Reel (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who has significantly flattered that form since with wins in the G1 Longines Hong Kong Vase and G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S., and seconds in the G1 Juddmonte International and G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. In the year that has ensued, however, Winx has ensured that she will be remembered as not just the best of her generation, but among the all-time greats.

Rested for the summer after last year's Cox Plate triumphs, Winx sauntered through her four-start autumn campaign earlier this year. Victorious on debut in the G2 Apollo S. Feb. 13, she was 1 1/2 lengths the best in the G1 Chipping Norton S. going a mile two weeks later and won the Mar. 19 G1 George Ryder S. by the same margin, with Group 1 winners Kermadec (NZ) (Teofilo {Ire}), Press Statement (Aus) (Hinchinbrook {Aus}) and First Seal (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) trailing her home. She posted one of the more memorable performances of her career when coming from the clouds to score by two lengths in the G1 Doncaster Mile at The Championships Apr. 2, and while connections briefly considered a back-up in the A$4-million G1 Queen Elizabeth S. a week later, she was subsequently shelved for the winter.

Making her 5-year-old debut in Randwick's G2 Warwick S. over 1400 metres Aug. 20, Winx served Hartnell with a 3 1/2 length beating. She was expected to progress to the G2 Chelmsford S. Sept. 3, but was withdrawn due to the heavy going, and connections watched from the sidelines as Hartnell sauntered away with that contest, and then put in a similarly dominating performance in the G2 Hill S. on the undercard of Winx's next start, the G1 Colgate Optic White (George Main) S. Winx, of course, won that contest too in dominating fashion, and set herself up for her Cox Plate defense with a two-length score over Black Heart Bart (Aus) (Blackfriars {Aus}) and just one other overmatched rival in the G1 Caulfield S. Oct. 8.

Sent off the A$1.80 favourite as Hartnell drifted up to A$5.00 by post time, Winx broke smoothly from the three hole and was eased back to stalk the pace off the fence in fifth by Hugh Bowman heading into the first turn while Black Heart Bart took up the running with Hartnell breathing down his neck. French shipper Vadamos (Fr) (Monsun {Ger}) proved a little too rank on the fence, however, and slipped through to take up the running down the backstretch, bolting away by about six lengths as Winx and Bowman bided their time in fifth. The bay began to steadily make progress passing the 100 metre mark, ranging up to Hartnell's flank passing the 800 metre mark. Vadamos threw in the towel at the 600 metre pole and with Black Heart Bart also struggling, Hartnell was left to take up the running with the daunting presence of Winx on his outside. The mare drew even with the 5-year-old gelding coming off the wide Moonee Valley turn and it briefly appeared as if the stage was set for the great battle the racegoers were craving. That hope was short-lived, however, as Winx blew past her archrival out in the middle of the track. Bowman gave the mare two slaps with his stick at the top of the lane and one in midstretch, but the mare hardly needed a reminder of what she was supposed to do, and she won eased down by eight lengths to best the previous record margin of seven lengths held by Sunline (NZ) and Dulcify (NZ).

Winx becomes the 12th horse to win multiple runnings of the Cox Plate, Australia's greatest weight-for-age race, and just the fourth mare to accomplish the feat, joining Hall of Famers Sunline, Tranquil Star (Aus) and Flight (Aus). Saturday's win saw Winx move up to third on the list of Australasia's all-time highest earners; she currently sits behind Makybe Diva (GB) (A$14,526,690) and Sunline (A$11,351,610) with A$9,348,175 in the bank. She has surpassed Northerly (Aus) and more recent greats So You Think (NZ)–another dual Cox Plate winner–and Black Caviar (Aus).

Trainer Chris Waller described Saturday's performance as “quite unbelievable.”

“Obviously I thought she could win, but never like that,” Waller said. “You never expect to win like that. I'm very proud and it's just fantastic for racing. It's such a great sport–everyone can compete in it, no matter who you are–everyone is the same on a racetrack.”

There could be many big days still to come for Winx, with Waller noting he'd like to win a third Cox Plate as well as compete again at The Championships and possibly overseas at Royal Ascot, but more immediately, Winx could attempt to push her earnings over A$10-million in the G1 Emirates S. at Flemington in two weeks' time.

“I'd love to win a third one [Cox Plate],” Waller said. “She'll be back again next year–that will be right at the top of the pecking order.”

Bowman was full of superlatives for the great mare, saying, “She's just a superior racehorse and it's an honour to be a part of it. Honestly, she's just given us all the most amazing ride. To come out onto the track before the race and to have the crowd cheer like that, I was really moved by that. I just can't believe it, it's such an amazing experience.”

Part-owner Debbie Kepitis has been exposed to some of Australia's greatest racehorses, with her father being legendary owner/breeder Bob Ingham formerly of Woodlands Stud, but Kepitis was near speechless after the Cox Plate.

“My Dad once said, to win a Cox Plate is an enormous thrill, to win two Cox Plates is an absolute dream,” she said. “This has been phenomenal. There's so many people to thank I wouldn't know how to start.”

So Kepitis reserved her gratitude for the key member of the team.

“The most important is Winx, the horse–without her we have nothing,” she said.

Pedigree Notes…

Winx is the second foal out of Vegas Showgirl, a two-time stakes winner and Group 3-placed in New Zealand. Bred by John Camilleri of Fairway Thoroughbreds, Winx was sold for A$230,000 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in 2013. Winx was followed by an unraced half-brother by Fastnet Rock (Aus) named Win Win Leader (Aus), and her 3-year-old half-brother, El Divino (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}), retained to race by Camilleri, earned 'TDN Rising Star' status on debut for trainer Gai Waterhouse before dead-heating for the win in last term's G3 Kindergarten S. Winx's 2-year-old brother, also by Snitzel, will join El Divino in the Waterhouse yard after being bought by the trainer on behalf of Emirates Park Stud for A$2.3-million to top this year's Inglis Easter Yearling Sale. Vegas Showgirl foaled a filly by Snitzel this season at Segenhoe Stud. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

 

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