FROM THE SHERIFF'S DESK: WINX DOES US PROUD. WE AWAIT THE NEXT CHAPTER WITH KEEN ANTICIPATION

By John Schreck | Thursday, January 26, 2017

John Schreck, a former Chief Steward in both Sydney and Hong Kong, has seen both the colourful and the dark sides of racing. His wealth of experience and his deep knowledge of racing matters across the board is unquestioned and the reputation he built as a racing ‘lawman’ remains firmly entrenched in racing’s history. Shreck’s personal blog, ‘From the Sheriff’s Desk', appears exclusively on HRO.

Having long been a proponent of the internationalisation of Australian racing it was good to see Winx doing Australia proud on the international stage (albeit not on the track) at a recent international racing awards ceremony in London.

All of us in Australia know what a really good horse she is but she has now been acknowledged internationally which is terrific. (Winx finished the third best rated racehorse (132) behind Arrogate (134) and California Chrome (133) in the Longines Best Racehorse Awards held in London).

Mr Waller has indicated he will look at an overseas assignment for Winx in 2018. I hope that plan comes to fruition and that her connections do give her a try on the world stage. There is no doubt she is entitled to it.

The money in a European campaign obviously wouldn’t be as good as it is in Australia but the prestige for the horse and for Australian racing would be enormous ... so hopefully Winx’s connections can see their way clear to take up that overseas challenge when they feel the time is right.

Understandably her prime target for 2017 is to complete a hat trick of Cox Plate wins. Mr Waller has managed the horse very well. You would think she would have three or four runs in the Autumn and then go to the paddock to get ready for the Spring ... so, barring accidents and injuries, 2018 is not such a long way away.

When you have a horse like Winx you do want to take on the world ... and rightly so!

She has done everything here so that is clearly a logical step in the future but, again it has to be well managed.

It is different with horses in the northern hemisphere. They can travel through Europe and England and Ireland and across to America very easily.

It is obviously different travelling from Australia ... not least going from the middle of our winter to their summe r... so it will not as easy, but she is a horse that should be given the chance to shine on the international stage.

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A lot of people have criticised me over the years for pushing the internationalisation of Australian racing.

When I first brought up the subject many years ago the basis of the criticism I received was that Australian racing didn’t need internationalisation. Prize money was better here than in most parts of the world and why bother about international horses coming over here or ours going overseas.

I have always thought it was terribly important to pursue international route so I am very pleased the way things have unfolded over the years.

We do sometimes tend to think we are the best at everything ... and our relative isolation as a country obviously contributes towards that ... but the only way to prove you are the best is to go out and take on all comers and do it.

That is why I look forward to Winx following in the footsteps of the likes of Choisir, Miss Andretti, Takeover Target and Black Caviar, taking up the overseas challenge and hopefully beating her international rivals in their own back yard.

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Results in the sales ring continue to confound some critics.

To be honest I can’t quite understand why the market continues to be so upbeat as exhibited by the recent highly successful Magic Millions Yearling Sales at the Gold Coast.

It is a little bit like the Melbourne Cup. Many years ago I thought it couldn’t get any better and it gets bigger and better every year. It is the same with the sales. I thought they had reached a peak and gone as far as they could go years ago, but figures continue to keep climbing.

The best reason I can come up with for that is two-fold.

The trend towards multiple ownership is helping it along. There are very few single owners these days ... except for the very wealthy people of course ... and most trainers are obviously buying horses and then finding syndicates to race them.

So, I believe, that trend ... the swing to multiple ownership ... probably does account, in part, for the positive momentum that seems to stay in play.

Secondly, trainers are probably also getting better at marketing their business. Generally speaking they buy the horses and then bring people into the ownership.

They really have had to become businessman to survive in their profession these days.

They have to be very entrepreneurial about the way they run their business ... which is very different from years ago.

In times gone it would have been very difficult for trainers to keep in touch with multiple owners but these days with internet and e-mails they can just hit a button and contact twenty people all at once.

So technology has certainly given trainers an easy and manageable way to expand their number of business clients and have effective and instant communication with any number of them.

TJ Smith was one of the first training set-ups to take on an entrepreneurial role but it is almost essential these days.

I think these two points have had an influence on maintaining a positive flow of business in the sales ring which continues to show an arguably unexpected level of growth which ultimately happily translates into a positive for the industry.