Winx En Route To Greatness

By John Berry

The win of Preferment (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}) in Australia's premier 2400m weight-for-age race, the G1 BMW at Rosehill, was terrific. He and his regular jockey Hugh Bowman form a great partnership. This victory ranked as their third shared G1 strike, following successes earlier this season at Flemington in the Turnbull S. and the Australian Cup. It is easy to understand why, following Saturday's triumph, Bowman described the suspension which prevented him from riding Preferment to victory in last season's Victoria Derby as “gut-wrenching”.

The bond between Preferment and Bowman is clear – and it provides a good illustration of the exceptional merit of the 4-year-old's stable-mate Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}). It almost goes without saying that, if both horses line up in the G1 Queen Elizabeth S. at Randwick in two Saturdays' time, the champion jockey will be on board Winx. In the aftermath of the BMW, Waller (who had just saddled the trifecta) had still to discuss plans with his jockey, but observed of Preferment's intended Queen Elizabeth bid; “We might have to find another rider, though I can't see Hughie getting off Winx.”

If Winx does indeed line up against her stable-mate in the Queen Elizabeth S, her presence will be an excellent vindication of the plan (as of 2014) to pump large sums of money into the Randwick Autumn Carnival, re-jig the format and re-brand the fixture as 'The Championships'. In one sense, this money is only well spent if it attracts horses who would not otherwise have been there (i.e. overseas runners). However, if it means, as seems likely, that Winx lines up two weeks running, then the boost to the Carnival's prestige will be enormous. Winx is currently on a winning run of eight, her most recent defeat having come when she finished second to Gust Of Wind (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}) in the G1 AJC Oaks over 2400m at Randwick last April. Since then, she has consistently emphasised both her class and her versatility, landing five Group 1 victories including the Cox Plate, and scoring from the 1400m of both the Apollo S. and the Theo Marks S. to the 2200m of the Queensland Oaks.

After Winx's most recent victory in the G1 George Ryder S. over 1500m at Rosehill Mar. 19, Waller outlined her plans for the near future, “We will think about the Doncaster. Obviously, the Queen Elizabeth (worth A$4 million) is the race we set her for from the start of the Carnival, but you can't ignore a A$3-million race the week before.” Such a bold approach to racing his charges has been a hallmark of Waller's success. Adopting an attacking policy reminiscent of the style of Sydney's 35-time champion trainer Tommy Smith, Waller never uses the strength of his team to make life easy for any of its members. He adopted his usual fearless stance in advance of the George Ryder S., announcing that two of the stable's other G1 stars, Kermadec (NZ) Teofilo {Ire}) and Press Statement (Aus) (Hinchinbrook {Aus}) would also be in the line-up. The upshot was a further elevation of Winx's status as she cruised home at the head of yet another Waller-trained Group 1 trifecta.

The dominance of a handful of elite racemares around the world in recent years has been a highlight of the sport. Black Caviar (Aus) (Bel Esprit {Aus}) and Zenyatta (Street Cry {Ire}), winners between them of 44 of their 45 starts, have been the two most prolific champions during the current decade, while Goldikova (Fr) (Anabaa) and Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia D'Oro) also compiled super records. The former recorded 14 of her 17 victories in G1 company, while the latter won 13 races, five of which came at the highest level. It is fair to say that Winx has now worked her way to a similar pedestal. Bred by Fairway Thoroughbreds, Winx was offered in the Coolmore draft at the Magic Millions Yearling Sale at the Gold Coast in January 2013, where she was bought for A$230,000 by Magic Bloodstock on the advice of Chris Waller and Guy Mulcaster. The latter has been a key component in Waller's success over the past decade, recruiting a stream of successful imports from Europe. However, Winx looks to be his star protégé, and that is high praise indeed.

Winx was a relatively backward yearling by the standards of the most precocious types on offer at the Magic Millions, but her quality shone through and her pedigree consolidated her appeal. Her sire, 2002 G1 Dubai World Cup winner Street Cry (Ire) (Machiavellian), had retired to stud relatively unheralded, but by 2013 he was fully established worldwide thanks to the likes of Zenyatta and Street Sense in the USA, and G1 Melbourne Cup/Australian Cup winner Shocking (Aus) and G1 Caulfield Guineas/Caulfield S. winner Whobegotyou (Aus) down under.

His lifetime progeny total of Group 1 winners currently stands (posthumously, sadly) at 19 winners of 43 Group 1 races. Furthermore, the bottom half of Winx's pedigree is very solid, having thrown up numerous good horses in New Zealand over the past 100 years including Winx's dam Vegas Showgirl (NZ) (Al Akbar {Aus}) two of whose seven wins came in stakes company.

Waller brought Winx along slowly, not sending her to the races until the closing stages of her 2-year-old season. She had two runs in June 2014, winning at Warwick Farm and Rosehill, before she took her record to three-from-three by handling the step up to stakes class on her first start as a 3-year-old when she landed the G2 Furious S. at Randwick. She then sustained four defeats until the seed really began to burst into flower in the autumn. Over the past year she has never looked back. Her record now stands at 12 wins from 18 starts, with her bankroll having reached $4,753,925. Her relaxed style of racing can be deceptive, but she seems to know where the winning post is, and she hits the line so strongly (irrespective, it appears, of the distance of the race) that she can already be regarded as a true champion. If she can win on the next two Saturdays, both her status and her bankroll will rise to even dizzier heights.

As an interesting side-show to Winx's starring role, her half-brother by Snitzel (Aus) is set to go under the hammer Apr. 5 as Lot 135 in Inglis' Australian Easter Yearling Sale in Sydney, consigned on behalf of Fairway Thoroughbreds by Segenhoe Stud. The colt was the recipient of an exciting update when his 2-year-old full-brother El Divino (Aus) became a 'TDN Rising Star' on Gosford debut Mar. 17.