Last season's G1 Cox Plate winner Winx moved one step closer to a sweep of Australia's most important weight-for-age contests with a resounding score in Saturday's G1 Chipping Norton S. The victory confirmed the 4-year-old is firmly on target for the A$4 million G1 Queen Elizabeth S. at The Championships Apr. 9. A reasonably priced A$230,000 yearling buy from the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling sale in 2013, Winx showed immediate promise, notching two wins as a 2-year-old in 2014 before winning the G2 Furious S. in her third start over the likes of G1 Blue Diamond S. winner Earthquake (Aus) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) the following spring. She came up short to the supremely talented First Seal (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) in the G2 Tea Rose S. and G1 Flight S. later that season, and finished off-the-board in her first two outings last autumn. Those losses looked firmly behind her when she won the G2 Phar Lap S. last March, and she continued to show promise with respectable efforts when fifth in the G1 Vinery Stud S. and runner-up in the G1 Australian Oaks. Heading to Queensland for a two-race campaign in May, Winx won the G3 Sunshine Coast Guineas and the G1 Queensland Oaks before being put away for a winter holiday. The brilliant bay has not lost since, taking the G2 Theo Marks S. and the G1 Epsom H. on her way to a near five-length demolition of the Cox Plate over last year's Queen Elizabeth winner Criterion (NZ) (Sebring {Aus}) and subsequent G1 Hong Kong Vase scorer Highland Reel (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in October. Winx was a cosy first-up winner of the G2 Apollo S. over 1400 metres Feb. 13, and continued her progression towards longer trips with this comfortable mile score. Winx and jockey Hugh Bowman were content to bide their time in midpack, about six lengths off the lead, through the opening stages while Godolphin's Magic Hurricane (Ire) (Hurricane Run {Ire}) rushed forward to take over the early lead of Dibayani. The resuming G1 Australian Derby and G1 Caulfield Cup winner Mongolian Khan (Aus) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) took over third from Magic Hurricane's stablemate Hartnell (GB) (Authorized {Ire}) rounding the turn as Winx began to make her move three-wide and her stablemate Storm The Stars (Sea The Stars {Ire})–making his Australian debut–traveled to her inside. Making strides under a motionless Bowman in the lane, Winx took the lead from a brave Dibayani when her pilot shook the reins passing the 200-metre mark and was never in danger as Hauraki closed from the pack late. Storm The Stars came up flat in the lane but didn't disgrace himself off a five-month layoff, while Mongolian Khan faded when coming under pressure.
Champion Sydney trainer Chris Waller is far from a stranger to Group 1 success, but the conditioner struggled to find words following his stable star's facile score.
“You get used to having favourites on Saturdays or favourites in a Group 1 race but you don't have $1.30 favourites in Group 1 races,” he said. “We just dream of horses like her. It's great for Australian racing.”
Waller said Winx would next take in either the 1500-metre G1 George Ryder S. Mar. 19 or the G2 Emancipation S. over the same distance a week later.
“She went three weeks into a Cox Plate,” he said. “She only had three runs into a Cox Plate. Anything's possible with a horse like her.”
Bowman was also full of praise for Winx.
“It is a pleasure to say the least,” he said. “She got herself into gear, I didn't ask her to go. She is a dream to ride. She is the perfect woman.”
Winx is the first runner for the stakes-winning Vegas Showgirl, who has a 2-year-old as-yet unraced but twice-trialled Snitzel (Aus) colt named El Divino (Aus) who was retained by Winx's breeder, John Camilleri's Fairway Thoroughbreds, and is in training with Gai Waterhouse. Vegas Showgirl has another Snitzel colt catalogued as lot 135 at Inglis's Easter sale in April.
Saturday, Randwick, Australia
CHIPPING NORTON S.-G1, A$605,000, ATC, 2-27, 3yo/up, Open WFA, 1600mT, 1:33.92, Gd.
1–WINX, 57.0, m, 4, by Street Cry (Ire)
1st Dam: Vegas Showgirl (NZ) (MSW & GSP-NZ, $216,216), 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$365,000. Lifetime Record: 17-11-3-0, A$4,146,925. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Dibayani (IRE), 59.0, g, 6, Shamardal (USA)–Dibiya (IRE), by Caerleon (USA). O-Lucky Racing Syndicate (Mgr: R C S Ng); B-His Highness The Aga Khan's Studs S, FR; T-David Hayes & Tom Dabernig; J-B Shinn; A$120,000.[bullet ad=”irt-shell”]3–Hauraki, 59.0, g, 4, Reset–Youthful Presence, by Dehere (USA). O-Godolphin; B-Darley NSW; T-J A O'Shea; J-S Clipperton; A$60,000.
Margins: 1.5 len, 2.5 len, 4.1 len. Odds: 0.35, 14.00, 25.00.
Also Ran: Preferment (NZ), Hartnell (GB), Centre Pivot, Storm the Stars (USA), Grand Marshal (GB), Magic Hurricane (IRE), Who Shot Thebarman (NZ), Mongolian Khan, Gust of Wind (NZ).
Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO.
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