Winx Goes For 23 Straight in Chipping Norton
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Photo: Mark Gatt
Winx after winning her third straight Cox Plate
With her jockey back from suspension and the prospect of a foreign tour in her future, Australia's mighty mare Winx seeks her 23rd straight win in the TAB Chipping Norton Stakes (G1) March 3 at Royal Randwick.
It would be an understatement to say the 6-year-old Street Cry mare is a prohibitive favorite. But even odds as low as $1.06 to $1 on the TAB fixed-odds market have not prevented Winx's legion of fans from backing her—for luck, if not for a short but quick ROI.
There's nothing wrong with the rest of the nine-horse field set to go 1,600 meters (about one mile). But Winx is the No. 1 turf runner on the Longines World's Best Racehorse list. And there is that little matter of 22 consecutive victories—and counting.
Trainer Chris Waller is confident Winx remains in top form despite being absent from formal competition since she won her third straight Ladbrokes Cox Plate (G1) Oct. 28. He is so happy with her, in fact, that when jockey Hugh Bowman was slapped with two suspensions, Waller canceled Winx's originally planned seasonal debut rather than name a substitute rider.
She was fit enough, Waller reckoned, that she could go to the Chipping Norton with just one more trial. Winx won that trial Feb. 17, posting a faster time than the winners of two stakes races at the distance that day. And for her, wins in trials are about as rare as defeats in actual races. She now is 2-for-19 in the formalized workouts.
"The trial has brought her on, and she is ready for the Chipping Norton," Waller told Australian Associated Press. "She has had a very good week since then, and we couldn't be happier."
Waller also has Libran (IRE) and Who Shot Thebarman (NZ) in the Chipping Norton.
Waller and the ownership team of Magic Bloodstock Racing have danced around the idea of sending Winx to England later in the year—perhaps for Royal Ascot, perhaps for a multi-race campaign. She also is nominated to the Dubai Turf Sponsored by DP World (G1) March 31 at Meydan, which is unlikely at best.
No timetable has been set for a decision on travel.