A wink to the world: baby Winx and her dam Vegas Showgirl, soon after the filly’s birth on 14 September 2011. While most foals take a good half hour to get to their feet, Winx gave a promising sign by standing up within just ten minutes. (AAP Image)
At her eighth start, Winx wins her second Group 2 race in the Phar Lap Stakes on 14 March 2015 at Rosehill under Tommy Berry, seemingly getting her career back on track after a muddled beginning to that autumn of 2015. (Getty Images/Anthony Johnson)
Two runs after the Phar Lap, however, Winx and Joao Moreira struggle into second place behind Gust of Wind and Tye Angland in the Australian Oaks at Randwick. The two-and-a-half length defeat of the hot favourite led many, including trainer Chris Waller, to reassess their earlier high hopes for the Street Cry filly. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)
One start after her Australian Oaks failure, on 16 May 2015, Winx stunned Australian racing by coming from last of 18 in the home straight to win the Group 3 Sunshine Coast Guineas, and by almost two lengths. Jockey Larry Cassidy quickly dubbed his one-off mount as the best horse he had ridden, among a list including the great Sunline. (Newspix/Tara Croser)
A magical partnership begins: Hugh Bowman guides Winx to her first Group 1 success, a three-and-a-half length romp in the Queensland Oaks at Doomben on 30 May 2015. Apart from one suspension-enforced lay-off, the Winx–Bowman double act was now locked in. (AAP Image/Glenn Hunt)
Eat my dust: Winx skips away from a high class field in the 2015 Cox Plate at Moonee Valley, winning by almost five lengths and in track record time what was billed the most open Plate in years. (Newspix/Colleen Petch)
Winx fairly flies to the line in that first Cox Plate triumph, trouncing such illustrious performers as four-time Group 1 winner Criterion (yellow colours); Highland Reel (purple and white), a six-time Group 1 winner on three continents; and Hartnell (blue, third from left), who’d become a regular sparring partner. (Getty Images/Michael Dodge)
Chris Waller and Hugh Bowman celebrate after the Cox Plate, a first success for both in one of Australia’s ‘Big Four’ races. (AAP Image/Julian Smith)
Winx in all her glory, with strapper Eddie Fanning at Flemington the day after her first Cox Plate. While nothing extraordinary to look at, the beautifully-coloured bay mare packs into her average-sized frame a fierce will to win and incredible powers of acceleration. (Newspix/Colleen Petch)
The man who made Winx: breeder John Camilleri, seen here with his filly Fireworks. (Newspix/Brett Costello)
Two days after her Turnbull Stakes triumph on her first visit to Flemington, Winx takes to the water at Melbourne’s Altona Beach with work rider Ben Cadden in the saddle. Three weeks later she’d be back amongst the mayhem of raceday, attempting to become only the second horse, alongside the great Kingston Town, to win three Cox Plates. (Getty Images/Vince Caligiuri)
They’re off in the event dubbed ‘the match race of the century’, the 2016 Cox Plate. Hugh Bowman has Winx well away, third from left, while key rival Hartnell is also out strongly under James McDonald, four from right. (Getty Images/Brett Holburt)
As the field passes the winning post the first time, McDonald, in the all-blue on the white-faced Hartnell, takes a look to see where Winx is, under Bowman’s blue and white silks. McDonald knew his best chance to beat the mare was to build a lead and make her chase him. (AAP Image/Julian Smith)
The match-race that wasn’t: After rounding up Hartnell with ease on the home turn, Winx powers away to win her second Cox Plate, by a record eight lengths. (Getty Images/Vince Caligiuri)
Lapping up a second plate: From left – Patty Tighe, Debbie Kepitis (with husband Paul behind), Hugh Bowman, Peter Tighe and Rick Treweeke, son of octogenarian part-owner Richard. (Getty Images/Mike Keating)
Winx with her second Cox Plate and her near-constant companion, Turkish strapper Umut Odemislioglu. (Getty Images/Brett Holburt)
Bowman revelling in that second Cox Plate with Irish-born wife Christine, who tossed a coin to choose between moving to America or Australia, and ended up entwined with the best horse and jockey on the planet. (Getty Images/Vince Caligiuri)
Winx hits the showers after the 2016 Cox Plate. While not the most affectionate of horses – she’s described as all about business on the track – she is known to have a weakness for green apples. (Getty Images/John Donegan)
Hugh Bowman gives his trademark ‘She’s Apples’ salute after Winx resumed in the autumn of 2017 by winning the Apollo Stakes at Randwick.
Winx, so often a blur of legs as she flies past rivals in the home straight, seen here in a track gallop with Kerrin McEvoy aboard between races at Rosehill, a week before her stunning second Ryder Stakes victory of March 2017. (Getty Images/Jason McCawley)
All conditions. All distances. All challengers. Winx ploughs through the mud to humble the highly rated Le Romain (centre) and Chautauqua (far right) for her second George Ryder Stakes at Rosehill. The win was one of her very finest, earning career-high marks from major ratings agencies. (Getty Images/Jason McCawley)
Meet the press. Rarely does a horse command so much attention as to warrant their own media call, such as this one at Rosehill at the start of Winx’s spring 2017 campaign. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)
On 8 April 2017, before a bumper crowd sporting caps and flags in her honour, Winx strolls to successive win No. 17 in Sydney’s then-richest race, the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, with Hartnell again a distant second. (Newspix/Sam Ruttyn)
Part-owner Richard Treweeke, who waited five decades to see a horse of his win in person, leads Winx in after the Queen Elizabeth. (AAP Image/Craig Golding)
On a low-key day at Randwick in August 2017, Winx is led onto the track by strappers Umut Odemislioglu and Candice Persijn for the Group 2 Warwick Stakes. (Getty Images/Jason McCawley)
To her fans’ horror, Winx bungled the start of the Warwick Stakes and was left three lengths last when the field of sprinters jumped. With Winx (second from right) so far behind leader Foxplay with just 170 metres left, many believed her winning streak was as good as over . . . (Newspix/Tim Hunter)
. . . but as she proved time and again, Winx was no ordinary horse. Under desperate riding from Bowman, she grabs Foxplay on the line to score by half a neck. (Newspix/Tim Hunter)
Far from the buzz of raceday, Winx, with trackwork and recovery rider Ben Cadden aboard in the white cap, takes in the soothing salt water of Botany Bay with a stablemate. (Newspix/Dave Swift)
So soon after her Warwick Stakes scare, Winx experienced another one at her next start when Josh Parr on Red Excitement boldly took a long lead midway through the Chelmsford Stakes, on 2 September 2017. Shown here inside the last 100 metres, Winx not only erased the deficit, but won by a length. (AAP Image/Brendan Esposito)
In a ‘fashion statement’ some might call unbefitting for a queen, Winx raced in noise-reducing ear muffs after the Warwick Stakes, a move by trainer Chris Waller to sharpen her focus after her poor start in that event. They were removed again two races later, with Waller satisfied her mind was back on the job. (Getty Images/Jason McCawley)
Hugh Bowman has not just risen to the top by being blessed with natural riding talent, he’s a jockey who works hard in every aspect of the profession, including maintaining a gruelling fitness regimen. (Getty Images/Vince Caligiuri)
Chris Waller, like Bowman, is a man known for his zealous work ethic. While even he describes himself as intense, he’s also known as one of racing’s good guys, and has a reputation for being a wicked practical joker among his stable staff. (Getty Images/Alice Laidlaw)
Part-owner Peter Tighe, the Brisbane fruit and veg executive who’d raced horses for twenty years before owning his first Group 1 winner, exits the stage after selecting Winx’s barrier for her attempt at Cox Plate number three.
The 2017 Cox Plate drew one of its smallest fields in years, but was one of the most gripping sporting events in Australia, as Winx (gate 5) set out to emulate the great Kingston Town by scoring a third straight win in the famous race. (Getty Images/Michael Dodge)
It was no easy stroll this time, but Winx repelled the strong challenge of Humidor in the straight to take her third Cox Plate by a long neck. (Getty Images/Brett Holburt)
Christine Bowman (left), Debbie Kepitis and Chris Waller’s wife Stephanie show a range of emotions after Winx’s Cox Plate hat-trick, which sent the mare to the top of the Australasian all-time money-earners’ list. (Getty Images/Vince Caligiuri)
Bowman with two young Winx fans as the celebrations begin after Cox Plate No. 3. (AAP Image/Julian Smith)
Two of Winx’s most devoted fans – Lloyd Menz, in his ‘Coat of Many Winxes’, which gained an extra picture for each win of her streak; and his daughter Angela, in a new dress and cap for the mare’s debut appearance at Flemington, for the Turnbull Stakes in October 2017. (Getty Images/Graham Denholm)
With emotions high at a sold-out Moonee Valley, a triumphant Hugh Bowman tosses his cap, helmet and goggles into the vibrant crowd during Winx’s victory lap after her third Cox Plate. (Getty Images/Pat Scala)
Back as good as ever. In a familiar image it’s Winx first and daylight second, this time in her first-up run of the 2018 autumn in the Chipping Norton Stakes at Randwick, which gave her more Group 1 wins than any horse in Australasian history. (Getty Images/Jason McCawley)
Winx, with Hugh Bowman up, striding out in trackwork at her home base of Rosehill. (Getty Images/Mark Evans)
Winx gets a congratulatory pat after the Chipping Norton from Hugh Bowman, as Peter Tighe (right) watches on. (Getty Images/Mark Evans)
Bowman receives a hug after the Chipping Norton from a jubilant Debbie Kepitis, the superstitious part-owner who wore her lucky black, blue and purple dress like a shield of armour, topped off by a dash of purple dye in her hair. (Getty Images/Mark Evans)
Winx sets a new world record for most Group 1 wins, defeating another of her regular rivals, Happy Clapper, to win a third George Ryder Stakes in March 2018. (Getty Images/Jason McCawley)
Winx steams to the line in the Ryder ahead of Happy Clapper. The gelding’s trainer, Peter Webster, said after he had raced against Winx it was ‘like he had been fifteen rounds with Ali’. (Getty Images/Mark Evans)
Wondrous Winx. How Sydney’s Daily Telegraph put a historical context on Winx’s bid to match Black Caviar’s 25-win streak. (News Ltd/Newspix)
Chris Waller, all smiles on Queen Elizabeth Stakes day, 14 April 2018. The softly spoken trainer’s emotional responses to Winx’s wins were a touching part of the mare’s rise to fame. (AAP Image/David Moir)
She’s done it! Winx claims successive win No. 25 with a second Queen Elizabeth Stakes win, another imperious performance which would finally make her the outright No.1 horse in the world. (Getty Images/Mark Evans)
A sight many jockeys and horses have come to know: Winx from behind. (Getty Images/Vince Caligiuri)