Winx completed her final piece of work before the 2017 Ladbrokes Cox Plate with a sparkling gallop at The Valley this morning.

Winx completed her final piece of work before the 2017 Ladbrokes Cox Plate. Photo by: Ultimate Racing Photos

There was no doubt who was the star attraction at Breakfast With The Best at The Valley this morning and a huge crowd was on hand to watch Winx and a number of other horses complete their final trackwork gallops before Ladbrokes Cox Plate Day this weekend.

Winx cruised to the line under her own steam with Hugh Bowman in the saddle and looked an absolute picture of health ahead of her chance to make history in the Ladbrokes Cox Plate this weekend.

Trainer Chris Waller was delighted with what he saw from Winx and he told a massive media pack that he could not be happier with his star mare heading into the Ladbrokes Cox Plate.

“We are into Grand Final Week and we are just making sure that the team is happy and everything is going to plan,” Waller said.

“Ahead of the Ladbrokes Cox Plate I couldn’t be any happier.

“My jockey Hugh Bowman has the exact same feeling and the entire team is happy with how her preparation has gone.

“The beauty of Winx is that she makes our job easy and she is an absolute professional.

“What you see on raceday is what you see every day of the work and it is an absolute privilege to be involved in her career.

“It is quiet humbling the turn-out.

“It was a very serious piece of work this morning and you can’t have anything go wrong at this late stage.

“We know that she can come back and repeat it now and we know that she is in great form.

“There is a little bit of confidence, but in racing you don’t want to get too far ahead of yourself.

“It has been an amazing ride.”

Winx is currently available at 2017 Ladbrokes Cox Plate odds of $1.16 and she is a dominant favourite from Folkswood ($17), Gailo Chop ($17), Happy Clapper ($17), Royal Symphony ($21) and Humidor ($26).

About The Author

Thomas Hackett

Thomas is a passionate and opinionated racing journalist and punter who has been obsessed with horse racing since he backed Saintly to win the 1996 Melbourne Cup. An international racing enthusiast, he has his finger on the pulse of racing news not just from Australia but all around the world.