Superstar mare Winx pulled off what looked to be the impossible once again to win the 2017 Chelmsford Stakes at Royal Randwick this afternoon.
Winx (pictured winning the Warwick Stakes) produced another huge effort to take out the Chelmsford Stakes. Photo by: Steve Hart
Winx had no repeat of her barrier issues that we saw in the Warwick Stakes and she jumped with the rest of the field, while Red Excitement took up the running.
Red Excitement kept on extending her lead and he had six lengths on the rest of the field at the top of the straight, which forced Hugh Bowman to get going on Winx a long way from home.
Bowman dropped the whip halfway up the straight and Red Excitement was not stopping, but Winx proved one again that she is capable of anything and ran down the gallant leader in the shadows of the post.
Bowman was quick to pay credit to the tactics of Josh Parr on Red Excitement and he admitted after the race that he was more worried in the Chelmsford Stakes than he was in the Warwick Stakes.
“He (Josh Parr, Red Excitement) left no stone unturned,” Bowman said after the race.
“I was comfortable in the first quarter of the race, but I could see what was happening and so I started to make my way a bit closer from the 900m mark, but I still had to stay within myself.
“At the top of the straight, I wasn’t worried last start but today I really was and what she did today was just incredible.
“Everything she does is incredible, but I’m just lost for words.
“When she hit the afterburners at the 150m mark today, I can’t explain the feeling.”
Trainer Chris Waller echoed the thoughts of Bowman and said that he was far more concerned in the Chelmsford Stakes than he ever was in the Warwick Stakes.
Waller said that Winx has now had two tough runs this preparation, but at this stage will head to the Group 1 George Main Stakes (1600m) at Royal Randwick in a fortnight.
“It was very exciting,” Waller said.
“They turned the race on and tried to break us up.
“It is is never what you like to see when you have a horse like her chasing like that, but fair play to them.
“It just proved that she is at her best.
“I was more concerned today than I was first-up, I thought she was going to get there quiet easily first-up with her momentum.
“It is hard to gauge when you have a horse free-rolling like that.
“She pulled it back pretty well at the finish.
“We might skip a race somewhere along the way, but I doubt that it will be the George Main.”
Red Excitement was gallant in defeat and the leading duo put a very big gap in the rest of the field.
