Winx Lands Cox Plate: a Closer Look
Updated: October 25, 2015 at 1:02 pm
by John Berry
The Spring Carnival in Melbourne was already shaping up as a good one for Australasian bloodstock. The record-breaking victory of Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) in the G1 W. S. Cox Plate has made it even better.
Bred by Fairway Thoroughbreds, Winx was sold in the Coolmore draft at the 2013 Magic Millions Yearling Sale on the Gold Coast for A$230,000 to Magic Bloodstock. Since joining the stable of expatriate Kiwi Chris Waller in Sydney she has proved to have been a bargain, doing plenty to fly the flag for Aus-breds in general and the Aus-bred offspring of the late, great Street Cry (Ire) (Machiavellian) in particular.
However, her success arguably does most for the reputation of the New Zealand thoroughbred. Her dam Vegas Showgirl (NZ) (Al Akbar {Aus}) was bred and raced in New Zealand and only came to Australia once her merit had been established in her homeland. Her family had been in New Zealand since the 19th century, and Winx is thus a first-generation Aussie from a rich Kiwi descent.
It is one of the ironies of racing in New Zealand that, while the country has the reputation of specializing in the production of later-developing stayers, the 2-year-old trials there start very early. Vegas Showgirl, one of the best horses sired by the 1993 G1 Levin Classic winner Al Akbar (Aus) (Success Express), acts as a reminder of this: she won a trial over 600m at Bay Of Plenty on Aug. 4, 2004, three days after officially ceasing to be a yearling. She didn’t then have long to wait until her racing career began. By the end of October she had finished second on debut over 800m at Hawkes Bay, won over 880m at Ellerslie and then earned black type as runner-up in the Wellesley S. over 1000m at Otaki.
In total, Vegas Showgirl, trained in partnership by Graeme Rogerson and Stephen Autridge, ran nine times as a 2-year-old. She won twice including taking a listed race over 1200m at Avondale, and finished fourth against the colts in one of New Zealand’s two juvenile Group 1 races, the Manawatu Sires Produces S. over 1400m at Awapuni. She ended the season the third top rated 2-year-old filly on the New Zealand Free Handicap.
Vegas Showgirl resumed in good form as a spring 3-year-old and recorded a second listed victory when taking the Soliloquy S. over 1400m at Ellerslie in October 2005 as a prelude to a luckless unplaced run in the G1 NZ 1,000 Guineas. She then kept running well in New Zealand as a 4-year-old, including when finishing second at weight-for-age in Group 3 company over 1400m at Egmont. Towards the end of that season she headed over to Australia for a tilt at the G1 Winter S. in Brisbane in which she ran respectably, 6 1/2 lengths off the winner Nova Star (Aus) (Iglesia {Aus}).
Vegas Showgirl remained in Australia, being transferred to Rogerson’s Sydney stable for her 5-year-old season. Having won twice as a 2-year-old, twice as a 3-year-old and thrice at the age of four, she was unable to add to her haul during her fourth season of racing, but still continued to race creditably, most notably when runner-up to Mimi Lebrock (Aus) (Show A Heart {Aus}) in the Sheraco S. over 1100m at Rosehill.
Vegas Showgirl remained in Australia to start her breeding career under the ownership of Fairdale Thoroughbreds. She was given every chance from the outset, her first three foals being a filly by Encosta De Lago (Aus) (Fairy King), a filly by Street Cry (Ire) and a colt by Fastnet Rock (Aus) (Danehill). As the Street Cry filly is Winx, Vegas Showgirl has already established herself as an even more notable a broodmare than she was a racehorse.
Vegas Showgirl’s immediate family had been relatively quiet for a while prior to her emergence, but overall it is one of the best families in the New Zealand Stud Book, a family which has been throwing out high-class horses in that country for over a century.
Winx’s ninth dam Stepdancer (NZ) was born on the South Island of New Zealand in 1899, where her sire Stepniak (NZ) (Nordenfeldt) had also been bred. She enjoyed a terrific racing career there, highlighted by her victories in the Dunedin Cup in 1906 and ’07. She then proved an exceptional broodmare, largely thanks to her several matings with Martian (NZ) (Martagon {GB}), who was New Zealand’s champion sire in seven of the eight seasons from 1913/’14 to 1920/’21 from his base at Kinloch Stud near Christchurch.
The best result of these matings was Warstep (NZ) (Martian {NZ}), winner of many features including the Auckland Cup, New Zealand Cup, Trentham Gold Cup, Dunedin Cup and Canterbury Cup and, in her day, New Zealand’s highest-earning racemare (with winnings of £10,190).
Warstep’s full-siblings included Warlove (NZ) (winner of the New Zealand Oaks in 1919), Wardancer (NZ) (winner of the Dunedin Guineas in 1916) and Stardancer (NZ), winner of the CJC Stewards’ Handicap at Riccarton in 1912. The last-named proved a terrific broodmare, producing two champions (1920 Auckland Cup winner Starland {NZ} by Nassau and 1924 New Zealand Oaks winner Starmist {NZ} by Autumnus {NZ}) and now stands as the eighth dam of Winx.
Winx may be an Aus-bred, and she may justifiably be the pride of Sydney’s racing community–but she is just as much a classic product of the proud bloodstock heritage of New Zealand.