WINX OUT ON HER OWN WITH NEW WORLD RECORD

31 straight wins, 23 Gr.1 wins, A$23.4m in prize money and zero superlatives left to use. That’s the Winx (Street Cry) tallies after her fourth success in the Gr.1 Chipping Norton Stakes. Oh, and we should add two, that being the remaining number of times she is slated to see a racecourse. The victory was her 23rd at the highest level, surpassing the record she held jointly with the legendary hurdler Hurricane Fly, whose top-level triumphs included two Champion Hurdles and five successive Irish Champion Hurdles. Winx’s record haul includes an unprecedented four wins in the Gr.1 W S Cox Plate and her fourth in succession in the Gr.1 Chipping Norton, drawing her level with another of Australia’s all-time greats in Tie The Knot. She has also won more prize money than any other horse in Australian racing history, earning connections approximately $24m so far. Her unbeaten record stretches all the way back to May 2015. The seven-year-old was rated the joint best horse in the world last year, along with Cracksman, and has been crowned Australian Horse of the Year for the past three seasons.
She might have had a piece of good fortune at the start when, as she was standing awkwardly, the starter pressed his button and the gates failed to open. Having settled down after stablemate Libran (Shamardal) had to undergo a vet inspection, she jumped with the field and settled mid-pack as her only real rival, Happy Clapper (Teofilo), took up the leader’s role, something he is distinctly unaccustomed to. After 400m Blake Shinn let Happy Clapper roll and suddenly he had put eight lengths between himself and fourth-placed Winx, aboard whom Hugh Bowman was more animated than normal. Hitting the turn, “the Clapper” was still six in front and remember, he is considered the second-best miler in the country.
It seems everyone was concerned except Hugh Bowman. But we need not have been as about 300m out Happy Clapper’s warrior legs began to betray him and, as he wobbled towards the running rail, Winx pounced, drawing clear to win by a length and three quarters in race record time of 1:33.27. The usual criticisms where there for all to hear/read, particularly a lack of competition. In the field of seven, Chris Waller fielded six runners, the remaining quintet there because it suits their progress towards later targets, not that they were there to seriously challenge Winx. Conversely, there are plenty of pundits down here ready to declare her the greatest horse of all time and, interestingly, a lot are not making the distinction of the “GOAT” in Australia. Whether that is just a consistent oversight, or they truly believe she could beaten names that have gone down in international folklore is a question for them, but, good as she is, there are some that still cannot have her beating Tulloch or Phar Lap, let alone the greats from the Northern Hemisphere.