Winx is not in the 2017 Caulfield Cup field because she will run in the Ladbrokes Cox Plate at The Valley next weekend.
Winx will not run in the 2017 Caulfield Cup this afternoon. Photo by: Ultimate Racing Photos
Winning a third Ladbrokes Cox Plate has always been the main target for Winx during the 2017 Spring Racing Carnival and connections never put any thought into running her in either the Caulfield Cup or the Melbourne Cup – she wasn’t even nominated for either race.
It has been another undefeated Spring Racing Carnival campaign for Winx to date and she heads into the Ladbrokes Cox Plate in as good a form as ever.
Winx started her 2017 Spring Racing Carnival campaign in the Group 2 Warwick Stakes (1400m) and she gave punters a heart-attack when she missed the start, but she was still able to savage the line in the final stages to finish over the top of Foxplay and Ecuador.
There was more nervous moments for her fans when had to do a great deal of work to run down runaway leader Red Excitement in the Group 2 Chelmsford Stakes (1600m) at Royal Randwick on September 2 before she took a while to warm-up when she won the Group 1 George Main Stakes (1600m) at the same venue on September 16.
There were some racing experts ready to question how well Winx was going heading into the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) at Flemington on October 7 – not this one – but she showed just how well she was going when she recorded a dominant seven lengths victory.
Winx is currently a $1.20 favourite to win the 2017 Ladbrokes.com.au Cox Plate, while it is Johannes Vermeer that is on the top of Caulfield Cup betting at a quote of $4.60 from Bonneval ($7), Humidor ($8.50), Harlem ($10) and Amelie’s Star ($10).
