Champion mare Winx is back in pre-training as she begins her Spring campaign that will be aiming towards a third consecutive win in the Group 1 $3m Ladbrokes Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley on October 28.
Winx, above, is back in training aiming towards a third Cox Plate win at Moonee Valley. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.
A win in this year’s Cox Plate will see Winx equal the feat of the great Kingston Town who completed a hat trick of wins the Australasian Weight For Age Championship in 1980, 1981 and 1982.
Winx has been dominant in her two Cox Plate wins with a four and three quarter lengths victory over Criterion in 2015 followed by an eight lengths trouncing of runner up Hartnell last October
and joined modern two times Cox Plate winners Sunline (1999, 2000), Northerly (2001, 2002), Fields Of Omagh (2003, 2006) and So You Think (2009, 2010).
Trainer Chris Waller said that reports from the pre-training farm are all positive and he is very excited about getting Winx back into full swing at his Rosehill stables in preparation for her Spring Carnival assignments.
“All reports are good,” Waller told racing.com.
“She’s having a working holiday at the pre-training farm and they are very happy with the progress she’s made.
“Roll on the spring and we’re looking forward to it, she’ll have four or five races and there’s no reason to say she can’t get back to that same form she was in over the autumn.”
Winx was sent for a spell at the end of her 2017 Sydney Autumn Carnival after she won her seventeenth consecutive race and twelfth Group 1 trophy with her victory in the Group 1 $4m Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Randwick on April 8.
Winx has been undefeated since winning the Group 3 $125,000 XXXX Sunshine Coast Guineas (1600m) at the Sunshine Coast during the 2015 Queensland Winter Carnival and over the last two years has gained celebrity status on and off the race track.
The five year old mare’s performances during the Sydney Autumn Carnival were simply outstanding with three Group 1 wins on testing tracks and prior to winning the Queen Elizabeth Stakes won the $600,000 Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on a heavy 9 track and then played with her opposition when she ploughed through a heavy 10 rated track to record a seven and a quarter lengths win in the $1m George Ryder Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill.
In early markets for the 2017 Ladbrokes Cox Plate at Ladbrokes.com.au, Winx is a dominant $1.60 favourite.
Winx has won twenty-one of her twenty-seven race starts and has earned in excess of $12.8 million in prizemoney.
