Winx is in A1 condition for Chipping Norton Stakes

Trainer Chris Waller has reported that his champion mare Winx is in A1 condition as she prepares to chase her fifteenth straight win the Group 1 $600,000 Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on Saturday.

Winx, above, is in A1 condition as she prepares to run in the Chipping Norton Stakes at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.

Winx, above, is in A1 condition as she prepares to run in the Chipping Norton Stakes at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.

Winx kept her winning momentum going in scoring her fourteenth win in succession with an effortless first up victory in the Group 2 $250,000 The Star Apollo Stakes (1400m) at the postponed Randwick meeting last Monday.

Waller said that Winx has come through the run in great order and she has actually put on a couple of kilos since her first run back after winning her second Group 1 $3m Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley during the 2016 Melbourne Spring Carnival.

‘We weighed her and she’s put on a couple of kilos since the Apollo,” Waller AAP.

“So she is holding her racing weight and that’s important.

“She is fit and our job is to maintain that and keep her going through the preparation and she’s as good as she can be.”

Regular rider Hugh Bowman is lucky to be free to be on the glamour mare’s back in the Chipping Norton Stakes after being fine $1000 and suspended from riding from Monday February 20 until midnight February 24 for failing to ride his mount, Realise Potential, right out to the line in the in the final race on the program at Randwick last Wednesday.

Waller said that Winx has returned in the Autumn at the same level she reached when she won her second Cox Plate and he doesn’t expect any further physical improvement from her.

“She hasn’t changed physically, she is the same as she was in the Spring. This is the first time I can say that. Prior to that she has always been growing and developing. But we have a mature horse now,” Waller said.

“I think she will maintain her ratings and it will obviously take a very good horse to beat her and it will take her to start to taper off as horses do at some stage in their career but as this stage I think she will be right for the next six month at least.”

After she runs in the Chipping Norton Stakes on Saturday, Wins will head towards the the Group 1 $1m George Ryder Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill on March 18 before ending her 2017 Autumn Carnival campaign in the Group 1 $4m Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Randwick on April 8, the second day of ‘The Championships’.

Winx has started as an odds on favourite at her last nine wins and is certain to start in the red again in the Chipping Norton Stakes.

About The Author

Mark Mazzaglia

Mark is a passionate journalist with a life-time involvement in the racing industry. He spent many years as an analyst and form expert at the Courier Mail and also has hands-on experience working with some of Queensland’s top trainers.