Just when you think Winx is all out of party tricks she again defies what you think a thoroughbred is capable of.
The Chris Waller-trained mare needed to call on all of her reserves to overhaul Gerald Ryan's tearaway leader Red Excitement to extend her winning streak to 19 in Saturday's $250,000 Group II Chelmsford Stakes (1600m) at Randwick.
"I didn't think she was going to get there today to be honest. I was more confident the other day at the 300m," Waller said.
Winx was set the task by a pre-race plan set by Ryan and Red Excitement's jockey Josh Parr but Ryan admitted to being surprised by the big mid-race lead his eight-year-old had established.
"I told Josh to be aggressive, lead because none of the others are quick enough," Ryan said. "I just told Josh once he got there let him get into a rhythm and he'll tow you around."
Tow Parr around he did, Red Excitement was 10 lengths clear of Winx passing the 600m, and held a six length break over his closest adversity, Kiwi gelding Chocante.
Watching the race you sensed Winx's jockey Hugh Bowman was getting nervous in the middle stages. With nothing taking him into the race, he asked her to improve quickly nearing the 700m and she was under riding on the turn, still at least six lengths from the leader.
"At the 300m I thought she'd pick us up then from the 200m to the 100m I dared to dream and then at the 100m mark I was looking at his legs and realised he was on empty and she was going to get him," Ryan said.
Bowman dropped his whip aboard Winx inside the final 300m but the mare kept coming, hitting the front inside the final 50m and forging away with Bowman high in the irons, fist pumping, emotion not shown before by the champion rider in a Group II win aboard the mare.
"I would have hated to have been the one to beat her," Ryan said.
"I see her every morning and like any racing lover I'm a fan but I'm also a trainer and when you race against her it's your job to do the best you can for your horse and owners.
"I told the owners at the start of the prep he's going better than he was 12-months ago and that was a career best today. He gapped the rest of them.
"He's come up enormous this prep and we'll have another go at her in a fortnight."
Winx ($1.09 fav) defeated Red Excitement ($26) by a length with 3-3/4 lengths back to Chocante ($81).
"At the top of the straight I wasn't worried last start but today I really was," Bowman said. "What she did today was incredible.
"I mean everything she does in incredible, but I'm lost for words."
The closing sectional times for the race confirmed Bowman's description of the daughter of Street Cry. She ran her last 600m in 33.10 seconds which was .85 seconds superior to Antonio Giuseppe, the closest closing sectional of her 11 rivals.
That was brilliant!
— Sky Racing (@SkyRacingAU) September 2, 2017
Winx comes with a barnstorming finish to record her 19th successive win in the G2 Chelmsford Stakes!#GoWinxpic.twitter.com/eiNQ1xHrag
Chris Waller said Winx would now chase back-to-back wins in the Group I George Main Stakes over the same trip at Randwick in a fortnight before he decides the mare's next run. Her main spring aim is the Cox Plate on October 28 where she will try to emulate the great Kingstown Town with a third win in the weight-for-age championship of Australia.
"They turned the race on, tried to break us up," Waller said.
"It's never what you like to see when you've got a horse like her chasing like that but fair play to them, it did run second and not fall out and run last.
"It just proves she's at her best and pretty hard to beat.
"We'll go to the George Main now and then reassess. I want to skip a race somewhere."
Winx's Chelmsford Stakes victory took her into equal second place with Desert Gold and Gloaming holding a winning streak of 19 straight and in doing so she moved above Ajax on 18 with Black Caviar still leading the way in Australasia with 25 wins.
