A WORLD AWAY FROM Randwick and Moonee Valley, at Claridge’s Hotel in London, Chris Waller, Hugh Bowman, Debbie Kepitis and Peter and Patty Tighe huddled together, weighing up options and discussing plans. But this time, at last, there was no stress, no nerves. Rather than churning stomachs, the discourse was about what to put in them.
It was January 2017 and Team Winx were in London to attend the World Horse of the Year awards. It was time to kick back and accept some laurels earned by their globally phenomenal mare.
Winx was again the fastest thing on turf. Her extraordinary Cox Plate triumph had helped her to a superb World Thoroughbred Rankings rating of 132, matching Black Caviar’s highest, while eight points below the record 140 earned by Frankel, the English champion who was unbeaten through fourteen career starts from 2010 to 2012.
Winx still wasn’t officially the best in the world, though. Ahead of her were the Americans Arrogate and California Chrome on 134 and 133. Four days after the Melbourne Cup, Arrogate had edged out California Chrome after a thrilling duel down the straight at Santa Anita, Los Angeles, in the race rated number one in the world: the Breeders’ Cup Classic. California Chrome’s retirement in early 2017, however, would boost Winx to overall number two.
Meanwhile, on the Timeform chart Winx’s Cox Plate demolition had boosted her to a lofty 133, level with France’s Almanzor and again behind only Arrogate (139) and California Chrome (138). Winx’s was the second-highest mark for a mare in Timeform’s 68-year history, behind the 136 shared by Black Caviar and the European queens of the 1970s and ’80s, Allez France and Habibti. At their best, Makybe Diva and Sunline had hit 129, as had America’s Zenyatta.
By now, international racing bodies had so much data at their disposal that, like children with new toys, they could devise systems to rank all sorts of things. Waller was ranked the number-four trainer in the world, with Arrogate’s Bob Baffert number three, on a list based on three-year rolling performances in leading races, compiled by international website Thoroughbred Racing Commentary. Ireland’s Aidan O’Brien was in the top spot. TRC rated Bowman second among the world’s jockeys, behind England’s Ryan Moore. There was even a category for owners, which listed Winx’s connections — ‘Magic Bloodstock et al.’ — as number twelve on the planet.
That was all nice enough for the five-year-old’s inner sanctum, but there was more serious business afoot. The night at Claridge’s was another opportunity for the rest of the world, or at least the trans-Atlantic section, to call for the chance to see Winx.
Accepting Winx’s award for best turf horse, Waller joked he might take her abroad to run her on dirt tracks to prove once and for all she should have the number-one billing. Baffert didn’t find the idea so outlandish. He’d watched replays of Winx’s wins and judged her good enough to transfer her form across surfaces, especially since her sire had fathered many dirt champions, such as Zenyatta.
‘Bob Baffert said to me her racing style looks like a dirt horse, and, being by Street Cry he’d be surprised if she wasn’t,’ Waller said.1
A more realistic possibility than racing on unfamiliar dirt was Winx racing on turf in Europe, chiefly at the Royal Ascot meeting in June. But Waller, who had the faith of her ownership team in such decisions, would not be rushed. When asked about the prospect earlier, he’d noted how Black Caviar had gone to Ascot and, plagued by troubles and not at her best, had almost been beaten. It was no small thing to take a finely tuned thoroughbred, with all its delicately balanced moving parts, to the other side of the world.
Waller had taken his dual Group 1–winning sprinter Brazen Beau to meet the Queen in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes in 2015. After a half-length second in the race Black Caviar had won three years earlier, the stallion looked flat in a second English run, when seventh in Newmarket’s July Cup. Without further risk to reputation, he was retired to stud.
‘What people don’t understand is that the world stage isn’t a problem,’ Waller said at Claridge’s. ‘It’s the travelling and the acclimatising that comes with it. The control the hemisphere has over the horse is amazing. To put it in human terms, it’s jet lag for six months plus.
‘We’re very mindful of that but we are very respectful of the horse. She should be seen racing at her best and, if that happens, we’ll be ready to come over here.’
It was testament to Winx’s skill, her intelligence and her professionalism — not to mention that her sound, average-sized body made her easy to manage and not prone to injury — that Waller could speak matter-of-factly about a major race still ten months away, as he enchanted the English with talk of a potential 2018 visit.
‘I don’t see any more to achieve if she wins a third Cox Plate, which is a big assignment in itself. After that, I’m sure the owners would agree to a world experience,’ he said.
Waller enthralled some more by saying that, rather than go all that way for one race, Winx would stay for ‘four or five’.2
For now, as the entourage boarded a plane in chilly London to go back to the scorching Sydney summer, there were more familiar targets at hand.
***
After the previous spring’s Cox Plate, Waller had resisted the temptation for one more start to end Winx’s campaign in Flemington’s Emirates Stakes. Instead, she would set out to match Phar Lap’s fourteen straight wins with a second tilt at the Group 2 Apollo Stakes, at Randwick, in February 2017.
Racing.com journalist Andrew Eddy humorously noted Winx would head into the event having just recorded fourteen straight defeats — in barrier trials — with two third-placings under Bowman at Rosehill. To be fair, that was not bad for her.3
Waller had planned a four-race autumn — the 1400-metre Apollo Stakes, the 1600-metre Chipping Norton Stakes, the 1500-metre Ryder Stakes and the 2000-metre Queen Elizabeth Stakes — which he hoped would end with seventeen successive wins and twelve Group 1s.
Extending the streak in that way would not only take her past Phar Lap’s fourteen straight, but the fifteen in succession of Bernborough and Carbine. Twelve Group 1s would, apart from bettering the ten of the Inghams’ Octagonal, leave Winx behind only Sunline and Tie The Knot, on thirteen apiece, Kingston Town with fourteen, and Black Caviar’s Australian record of fifteen. Winx was heading towards some dizzying statistical history indeed. Should she match Black Caviar’s record, only the world record of sixteen Group 1s, held by American 1970s and ’80s champion John Henry, would lie ahead.
As an aside, it’s worth noting the Australian list can cause debate. Australia’s grouping system only arrived in the 1978–79 season. Before then, what are now known as the top four bands of black-type races were simply all called Principal Races, with the highest prizemoney going to what could be thought of as the old Group 1s. Some estimate Phar Lap and Tulloch would have each won twenty-seven Group 1s by today’s standards, and nineteenth-century champion Carbine twenty-five. The great sprinter Manikato, who raced either side of 1978–79, might have had twenty-one. But there are grey areas. Many races won by the past champions might now be Group 1s due to being upgraded to that status in more recent years. At the time those past champions won them, they were perhaps only the equivalent of a Group 2 or 3, so would not have attracted top-level fields.
Furthermore, status amendments cut both ways. Many races have been downgraded from top tier, meaning today’s horses can’t compete for possibly ‘soft’ Group 1s like their predecessors. Some other once-important races have even ceased to exist. (Mind you, as an aside to the aside, now is a good time to pay homage to the fact Phar Lap’s fourteen-win streak was recorded in just six months, and included his purely ridiculous four wins in eight days at the 1930 Flemington spring carnival — over 2000 metres, the 3200 metres of the Melbourne Cup with a massive 62.5 kilograms, back to 1600 metres and then 2400 metres. It’s fair to say he’d still run amok somewhat if he were around today.)
In any case, no one was out to split hairs as the expectations grew, greater again this time, for what had become one of the most compelling attractions in sport — another Winx campaign. Like those who witnessed Carbine, Phar Lap or Tulloch before them, modern fans knew they were seeing as close to equine perfection as possible.
Winx was now in another sphere. She brought her new World Thoroughbred Rankings mark of 132 to Randwick for the Apollo Stakes, which drew a classy field of twelve. Hartnell was there again, now firmly cast as the Hay List to Black Caviar. ‘Poor old’ Hartnell, who was about to be ranked the third-best horse in the world. Australia’s Mr Second-Best was second-favourite at $12.
Winx would start at $1.14. She’d now also become low-hanging fruit for big punters, the same types who’d splashed in on Black Caviar under the rationale that there was such a thing as a certainty, and it was paying better than bank interest. The NSW TAB reported one $12,000 bet on Winx for the Apollo, and several others of $8000. Hartnell was the next most supported, and he’d drawn two per cent of the money Winx had.
Winx had also inspired new forms of betting. Having possibly given up on her ever being beaten, the TAB offered prices on how far her streak could go by the end of 2017. There was a juicy $10 on offer for her to reach twenty-two straight wins, which all going well was set to happen on Cox Plate day.
The Street Cry galloper now had marketing types calling on people to go to the races just to see her. With Sydney beset by extreme temperatures, the world’s hottest mare had to wait two extra days for her comeback, as the Apollo Stakes meeting was postponed from the Saturday to the hopefully cooler Monday. The ATC also moved the Apollo back an hour to 5.40 pm and dubbed it ‘Winx After Work Day’. With free admission, the club hoped for a workday crowd of 3000 which, while still well down on a Saturday figure, would have been strong. Winx pulled double their targeted number. Arrangements were also made to have her race shown not only on Sky Racing but also free-to-air on Channel 7.
Special times demand special measures, and on top of everything else Winx now had her own personalised set of colours. Shane Hyland, of Melbourne-based Hyland Sportswear, had received a call that Winx needed a new set of silks for the autumn. Unbeknownst to Peter and Patty Tighe, Hyland decided to honour the mare with a unique tribute. Added to the Tighes’ Magic Bloodstock silks came a new flourish in white: the word ‘Winx’, in small letters, high on the back. It was a good thing, for his mental health, that Hartnell couldn’t read.
With the order arriving late, the colours were rushed through and specially couriered to Waller’s stables to arrive on the Friday before the Apollo. Much to Hyland’s chagrin, they didn’t make it, but the meeting’s postponement provided another opportunity. The silks arrived at the stables around lunchtime Monday and were rushed to Randwick and onto Bowman’s back.
It was another touching reminder to Peter Tighe, who’d had the colours for seventeen years, that he’d been blessed by incredible fortune.
‘It’s amazing that they would do that for her. An honour really,’ he said. ‘It’s these little things with her you really appreciate, and how she is touching people’s lives. You see the flags and hats and think, “This is amazing.” She is pretty special.’4
Despite the buzz, and the new form of reverence for the Cox Plate smasher, Waller wasn’t predicting fireworks.
‘She may not win by big margins at the start of her preparation,’ he said, ‘but when you put her under a bit of pressure at the business end in those big Group 1s like the Queen Elizabeth . . . that’s when we’d really expect her to show her dominance.’
It was a different sort of vibe at Randwick for Winx’s workday return to business. Along the northern side of the course, peak-hour traffic clogged Alison Road. Many pedestrians paused their walk home to peer through the fence, waiting to catch a glimpse of Winx when she pulled up after the race. The fact it was a workday at least meant that of those who did hurry down to the course from their jobs in the city a few kilometres away, most were serious racing fans there to pay homage to Australia’s horse.
‘This is it — the return of Winx,’ said caller Darren Flindell expectantly, as the field waited to jump. He then said something that gave a glimpse of some worrying future: ‘She wasn’t great out of the gates, Winx.’
From barrier two, the mare was almost two lengths back after a few strides, and was second-last after 50 metres. Any concern this day was short-lived, however. After 200 metres, Bowman had moved her to sixth, one off the fence. As casual as a Sunday stroll, he took her four wide around the turn, let her ease to the front at the 250, past tiring stablemate Endless Drama, and she skipped away to win by almost three lengths, with you-know-who enduring the here-we-go-agains in second. Hartnell would’ve won by four lengths if she wasn’t there.
It was as simple a win as you’d see. Even the press were running short of things to say, like reporting that night follows day.
Still, Waller had seen too much of racing to take anything for granted. Or perhaps he’d read Voltaire, not known as a turf scholar but relevant nonetheless: ‘Doubt isn’t pleasant, but certainty is absurd.’
‘We know the day will come when she is not quite there and she is beaten,’ he said of Australasia’s new third-highest stakes-winner. ‘There might be another champion that comes along and takes her mantle. We are prepared for that but we are enjoying it while it lasts.’
Any mantle theft looked a universe away. Winx had risen into the stratosphere, and it now seemed she wasn’t racing against the horses of today so much as the ghosts of the past.
She’d matched Phar Lap’s fourteen straight. Now for Carbine and Bernborough’s fifteen.
***
While Sydney’s heatwave had caused a disruption that had disrupted Winx little, two days after the Apollo came a more serious scare — one that would remarkably be echoed amid the same races of Winx’s next autumn.
Riding at the Wednesday meeting, also at Randwick, Hugh Bowman struck a rare snag when, after a momentary lapse of judgement, he was charged by stewards with failing to ride one of his mounts out to the line, a trap jockeys sometimes fall into when they relax too much near the winning post, thinking the job has been done. Stewards found he’d been lacklustre at the finish of the last race aboard the Joe Pride–trained Realise Potential, who weakened in the last few strides to dead-heat for second.
Found guilty, Bowman sweated on the sentence. Winx was due to race ten days later in the Chipping Norton. A suspension of six meetings — highly feasible — would mean someone else taking his ride. That happens to jockeys all the time, but this was different. Bowman knew he was on the ride of his lifetime.
Steward Ray Livingstone read out his verdict: Bowman was suspended for five meetings. He could resume on Saturday, 25 February, the day of the Chipping Norton, free to ride Winx that afternoon. His relief was palpable.
Again, the build-up to another edition of The Winx Show was feverish. And, again, the Winx factor was in full effect. The Chipping Norton Stakes would have been another oddball Group 1, with a field of five as rival stables steered clear, had Chris Waller not entered five other horses. There was prizemoney to tenth place — $6000 for coming last — so why not?
Five days out from the race, she was listed at $1.10, and was threatening to eclipse her own modern record for a short price in a Sydney Group 1 of $1.09 in the previous spring’s George Main Stakes. Still, after Winx rounded off her build-up on the Thursday morning before the race — with a light gallop typical of a mare who never required a large amount of work to reach and maintain fitness — Waller was ignoring talk that the race was a foregone conclusion.
‘I take no notice whatsoever. With horse racing, you just never really know where the next superstar’s coming from,’ said Waller, insisting he was still concerned about Hartnell, who deserved respect as a Cox Plate placegetter. ‘It’s always easy to go in as the underdog, and maybe they’re just trying to catch us off our guard.’
Ever mindful of the capricious nature of racing, Waller also paid some homage to the sport’s gods.
‘As long as she’s maintaining her presence and being dominant, we’re certainly very grateful and proud of that,’ he said. ‘I’m not sure how long it will last but like all sporting people and all horses, it has a life span. We’re wary of that.’5
Just as the media were running out of things to say about Winx, so too bookmakers with reasons to take her on in the Chipping Norton. Again, they got creative, with Sportsbet offering a range of exotics. You could bet as if Winx wasn’t there, with Hartnell heading that market at $1.45, and Endless Drama $3.60. You could back her to break the Randwick 1600-metre track record. You could bet on a Waller trifecta. Stretching creativity a touch, Sportsbet was even offering $2.50 on Bowman giving his ‘She’s apples’ salute before the winning post.
In the more standard department, the weather would give bookies a shred of hope, keep some punters away, and ensure Winx would not break her Sydney ‘record’ price. After the heat had come the rain, and Randwick was a boggy heavy 9. Though she’d won her only prior start on heavy ground, in the Furious Stakes of 2014, Winx opened at $1.10 and, by her standards, ‘blew out the back door’, to start at $1.22. Hartnell firmed half a point to $6.50, having been proven in heavy going. Endless Drama was next, way out at $26, while Waller’s other runners — Who Shot Thebarman, Libran, Grand Marshal and Preferment — were at $101 or longer.
There was, in fact, a serious chance Winx’s assault on her nine ‘rivals’ — and on Carbine and Bernborough — might be stalled. Despite the weight of expectation, as the rain continued through the day, Waller contemplated scratching the mare. He asked to inspect the track mid-meeting, adamant he wouldn’t risk her if the turf felt dangerous. But the trainer’s walk, and a talk with Bowman, produced the ‘all clear’.
While the weather kept some fans away, a strong crowd braved the rain to witness Winx. Children and adults alike were bedecked in Winx caps, and waved flags handed out by the ATC bearing her colours of royal blue with a large white ‘M’ and epaulettes. One veteran devotee, Lloyd Menz, had begun to be a regular sight on course in his whimsical ‘coat of many Winxes’ — a grey suit jacket to which he’d affix a cartoon caricature of the winking mare each time she won. He was starting to run out of room.
As Menz, who was also aptly topped by a blue cap and white pom-pom, and Winx’s huge band of followers on course and around the country tuned in for their next dose of the champion, few would have had cause for any doubts.
When the gates opened, Bowman settled just worse than midfield from barrier four, five lengths behind bolter Lasqueti Spirit, who led from Endless Drama. Hartnell sat in fifth spot under Brenton Avdulla, while Bowman and Winx stalked that pair as the field kept their order through the middle sections of the race. Passing the 800, Avdulla made his move, edging Hartnell to third as Endless Drama moved up to Lasqueti Spirit’s girth.
Hartnell was only two lengths off the pace by the 600. Still, he must have been wondering when Winx would come for him. It happened entering the straight. He’d been moving threateningly towards the leaders to that point, but he never would get past third place. On the turn, Winx cruised past him. Though proven in the wet, the hulking gelding gave up to eventually finish eighth, beaten by nine lengths.
It was his worst run in seventeen Australian outings. Three weeks later, on a heavy 10 but with his great nemesis absent, he would run a meritorious second in the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes.
With Hartnell vanquished, Winx set after Lasqueti Spirit and Endless Drama, and hit the lead at the 300. The scene provided some telling theatre — the background all flailing whips, desperate jockeys and tiring horses; the foreground held by the silky Winx and a motionless Bowman, sitting as he might to read the paper. He didn’t loosen his hold until the 150 and then, shaken up, Winx pulled away for a two-length victory.
Winx had done what she always did, laying fears and doubts to waste with another dominant run. Mr Menz would be drawing that night.
Once more breathing easier, Waller had again felt the unique pressure of making the decisions over a mega-popular superstar. Any horse could’ve been scratched that afternoon without an eyelid batted. This wasn’t any horse.
‘That was different, completely different,’ Waller said, adding he’d felt more pressure than he’d felt since the early days of his training career, knowing so many racegoers had paid money to see Winx. ‘There was so much expectation to run her — I didn’t want to see tomorrow’s newspaper if I didn’t run her. I didn’t want to let the public down, but I didn’t want to let the horse down. I was so close to scratching her, but we made the right decision.’
Waller added that though Winx had won in the wet two years earlier, it was ‘good to know she handles a heavy track as a more mature horse because they can change as they get older’. The forecast was for a wet autumn.
All had gone smoothly during the run, with Bowman reporting Winx’s only minor sign of discomfort in the going was the way she’d powered down more quickly than usual once he eased up near the line. Any punters who had the first four would have found a rare pot of gold for a bet involving Winx, with Lasqueti Spirit and Who Shot Thebarman filling the minor placings at $151 each, and Magic Hurricane fourth at $101.
It was an especially big day for Peter and Patty Tighe. Two races earlier, the five-year-old gelding McCreery had carried Bowman and the Magic Bloodstock colours — minus the ‘Winx’ on the back — to victory in the Group 3 Liverpool City Cup. (Not so good was their and Debbie Kepitis’ other horse Preferment running a distant last to Winx. He’d be retired to stud after two more unplaced runs.
Winx had matched the fifteen straight wins of the immortals Carbine and Bernborough, plus the ten Group 1s of Kepitis’ father’s champion Octagonal from more recent history.
She was led away for another rainy day and more entries in turf’s history book in three weeks’ time.