No sign of age catching up with wonder mare Winx

Sports pages of Australian newspapers summed it up best this week when they described the task awaiting the nation’s best loved racehorse as ‘Winx, a sit and steer.’

Jockey Hugh Bowman might argue otherwise — there is always pressure riding champions — but everything points to Winx being on course to register her 23rd win in succession and her 16th Group 1 victory in Saturday’s G1 Chipping Norton Stakes at Randwick.

Winx, a daughter of the former Darley stallion Street Cry, has not run since her record-equalling third triumph in the G1 Cox Plate at Moonee Valley last October.

She missed a scheduled comeback run last month because Bowman was suspended. Instead, she had some friendly match practice in a barrier trial, which has left her primed and ready to extend her winning sequence.

If she takes her third Chipping Norton, she will be vying with the one-time great American ‘warrior’ John Henry, winner of the inaugural Arlington Million, for the record number of G1 victories.

Trainer Chris Waller is confident Winx will continue on the winning trail. Waller, whose handling of the mare has been exemplary, said: “To win one G1 race in Australia is very tough, so it is quite special to be talking about Winx having 15 Group 1 wins to her name, with possibly more to come.”

Winx is now a seven-year-old (Australian time) but Waller sees no hint of age catching up with her.

“There are no signs of her training off or any suggestion she doesn’t want to be a racehorse,” Waller stressed. “We are happy with what she did on the (training) track this week,” he added.

Winx looks head and shoulders above her eight rivals, especially over the 1,600m trip. 

There are three G1 races in Australia on Saturday, including Randwick’s Surround Stakes, which celebrates the career of an outstanding filly in the 1970s.

Godolphin’s Alizee, a Sepoy half-sister to Darley stallion Astern, looks the one they all have to beat in this 1,400m contest.

In Melbourne, a strong field of three-year-olds line up for the G1 Australian Guineas, in which Peaceful State, a son of shuttle stallion Animal Kingdom, has a solid chance based on his second in the G2 Sandown Guineas in November.

In Europe, and particularly in the UK, racing and training has been put on hold in many centres due to heavy snow and ice freezing racecourses and gallops. Even a host of jumps fixtures have been abandoned because of the adverse weather conditions.