Super mare Winx claimed her twenty-sixth straight win and surpassed Black Caviar’s record in scoring first up in the Group 1 $500,000 Winx Stakes (1400m) at Randwick today.
Winx, above, claims her 26th straight win in taking out the 2018 Winx Stakes at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.
Winx ($1.24 favourite) looked better that ever as she streaked away in the run to the line to dominate her rivals which included the runner up Invictus Prince ($151) and third placegetter and stablemate D’Argento ($17).
The fourth placegetter Kementari ($6) had been touted as the main danger to Winx in the build up to the Winx Stakes but when the champion mare loomed up to his outside, the James Cummings trained stallion had nothing to offer.
As she has done first up in the past, Winx was a little slow to leave the barriers but jockey Hugh Bowman wasn’t worried and settled the great mare midfield on the heels of Kementari well away from the fence.
Bowman started the engine up coming to the home turn and Glyn Schofield on Kementaari pushed her even wider on the point of the turn but that didn’t make any different.
Winx skimmed past Kementari out in the middle on the track and is now well on her way to claim a fourth win in the Group 1 $5m Ladbrokes Cox Plate (2040m) at The Valley on October 27.
Winning trainer Chris Waller reiterated what he said earlier in the week that he thought that Winx was better than she has been in the past even though he did hold some concerns when the mare was tracking five and six wide on the home turn.
“I have just been looking for the signs of her losing her dominance but I haven’t seen one ounce of it and if anything I have seen improvement as we said on Thursday morning it is quite staggering,” Waller said.
“She never looks like she is dominant, I guess some of the races she jogs into it. You are also hoping to see that pressure come into the race and that is when Kementari loomed large and what she does to the other horses is simply breaks their heart.”
“She can maintain it and some really good horses can’t.”
Winx Stakes Results
| Finish | No. | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Margin | Bar. | Weight | Starting Price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | WINX | Chris Waller | Hugh Bowman | 5 | 57kg | $1.24F | |||
| 2 | 5 | INVICTUS PRINCE (GB) | Matthew Smith | Jason Collett | 2L | 4 | 59kg | $151 | ||
| 3 | 9 | D’ARGENTO | Chris Waller | James McDonald | 3L | 9 | 58.5kg | $17 | ||
| 4 | 7 | KEMENTARI | James Cummings | Glyn Schofield | 3.2L | 7 | 58.5kg | $6 | ||
| 5 | 4 | CABEZA DE VACA | Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott | Tim Clark | 3.4L | 2 | 59kg | $71 | ||
| 6 | 11 | UNFORGOTTEN | Chris Waller | Kerrin McEvoy | 3.8L | 6 | 56.5kg | $51 | ||
| 7 | 2 | RELIGIFY | Chris Waller | Jay Ford | 4.1L | 1 | 59kg | $101 | ||
| 8 | 3 | LIBRAN (IRE) | Chris Waller | Tommy Berry | 4.9L | 11 | 59kg | $151 | ||
| 9 | 6 | ORIENTAL RUNNER | Garry Neale | Bobby El-Issa | 5.4L | 3 | 59kg | $101 | ||
| 10 | 1 | CLASSIC UNIFORM | Gary Moore | Andrew Adkins | 6.7L | 8 | 59kg | $201 | ||
| 11 | 8 | ACE HIGH | David Payne | Tye Angland | 8L | 10 | 58.5kg | $51 |
