WONDERFUL WINX. ACKNOWLEDGING BLACK CAVIAR. CELEBRATING AUSTRALIAN RACING AT ITS FINEST
By Graham Potter | Monday, August 20, 2018
It was Black Caviar’s birthday but it was a Winx party celebration.
Chris Waller would call it a privilege to be part of … not just the record-breaking win but Winx’s whole incredible journey to the top of the world … and we are all as one with that description.
We also all believe Waller when he says that Winx is as good as she has ever been, if not better.
Saturday’s performance and Waller’s assessment must have doused the fire on any hopeful, future ambitions of those who were waiting for Winx to show a dent in her armoury.
There wasn’t even a scratch.
Looking ahead, you can imagine that some of those hopefuls might even have turned around and put their horse back in the stable and closed the door.
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Winx’s now well-established racing pattern is almost a tease to both her opposition and her racing fans.
She jumps and settles in her own time, generally taking up a position towards the rear of the field. In fact, Winx gets back to such a degree that her supporters, as much as they know they should know better, can’t help having a tinge of concern approaching the home turn.
She’s teasing.
Winx will swing wide to take any traffic congestion problems out of the equation. Those ahead will try to kick on with a hope and a prayer. Again, from the grandstand, you quickly scan the amount of lengths Winx has to make up on the leaders. Again, there is a moment when you hold your breath as you wait for Winx to surge.
Again, she is teasing!
Then, seemingly in an instant, Winx has her race won.
It is almost as if … if you blinked, you missed it … her quickening tempo coming with the minimum of fuss as she quickly converts her opposition from rivals into also-rans in the dominant manner of a champion that she truly is.
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The moment of pure pleasure for me is not in those electric strides when she breaks their hearts (that is where the excitement and wonderment of her ability rises to the fore) but rather it is in those closing fifty metres where High Bowman eases the great mare down … showing her all of the care and respect in the world.
That is a very special moment shared on the track between two professionals.
It was equally special to see just how much Winx means to Chris Waller.
The emotion, the humbleness, the intent to divert all praise to the horse underlined the class of the trainer on both a professional and personal level, but rest assured both Waller’s superb management of Winx’s career and the understanding of the horse that Hugh Bowman brings to the table every time he is legged aboard her are all intricate factors firmly entwined in the Winx success story.
And in the end, while everybody was saying and writing the obvious … that people had run out of superlatives to describe Winx … I think a quote from Chris Waller, not related to Winx directly, summed up a perfect day.
“We’ll never take away Black Caviar’s record of being unbeaten. She will always have that.”
From one champion to another. Australian racing at its finest!
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**Winx’s win on Saturday extended her unbeaten sequence to twenty-six, surpassing Black Caviar’s previous record of twenty-five. Her unbeaten run began on May 16, 2015.
**Winx’s win on Saturday was her thirtieth win from thirty-six starts. Winx has now earned $19.25 million dollars in prize-money.
**Winx’s win on Saturday was her nineteenth Group 1 victory. Hugh Bowman has ridden Winx in all of her Group 1 wins.
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