Sectionals expert rates Winx's Warwick Stakes finale

Tom Baddock - Monday August 21

Winx's Warwick Stakes win at Randwick on Saturday was simply mind-blowing but how does it compare to past champions of the turf?

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Hugh Bowman salutes to the crowd aboard champion mare Winx. Photo: Darryl Sherer

The champion mare produced an outstanding performance to run down her Group I stablemate Foxplay in the shadows of the post after hopelessly missing the start by four lengths.

The stunning display even had some claiming her performance put her on par with that of the great Black Caviar.

Sectional analyst Vince Accardi has declared that Winx ran one of the fastest, if not the fastest, last 600m sectionals on record at Randwick for the 1400m, stopping the clock in a sizzling 31.98.

However, he also noted that the wind played a significant factor in the times being run on the day, which is clear considering three track records were broken.

"The visualisation of Winx's win in the Warwick Stakes was just phenomenal," Accardi said.

"But I did a bit of research this morning and utilised all my wind tools and basically the wind assistance in the home straight was about three to four lengths.

"They have gone three to four lengths faster than what they normally would.

"She's run a fast time off a slow speed. The bottom line is they were going about three lengths quicker than a standard barrier trial early and then you had the wind assistance in the home straight.

"Of course, you still have to be unbelievable to do it, but the reality is if it was athletics it would probably be a time that would be downgraded.

"In athletics they downgrade the time based on a tail wind.

"Visually the performance is amazing but when we break it all down and take the wind factors into consideration, if we directly compare it to last year it was a half-a-length performance below."

So how does Winx's best performance compare to the likes of undefeated champion Black Caviar?

"It is difficult to compare the pair because they never really raced at the same distances but if I took a holistic approach, because I use what's called an IVR benchmark, Black Caviar's best ever performance was the 2011 Newmarket Handicap and Winx's best ever run was the 2015 Cox Plate," Accardi said.

"Off their best performances, I've got Black Caviar 1.2 lengths ahead of Winx."

"At this stage Winx appears more versatile than Black Caviar but if we are just looking purely at what their best performances were, then Black Caviar still holds a length overall superior performance."

"Makybe Diva, oddly seems to be a bit of a forgotten horse and shouldn't be, I have Makybe Diva's best ever performance being just behind Black Caviar based on her 2005 Australian Cup win.

"Winx against Makybe Diva can be lined up at 2000m and there's not much between them.

"A length separates three great horses."

Regardless of facts, figures and hypotheticals Winx is no doubt in elite company and nothing can detract from what this great mare has already achieved as she goes forward in an attempt to cement her immortality by winning a third consecutive Cox Plate.

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