Wonder mare Winx continued on her winning way to make it thirty-one in a row with her fourth successive win in the 2019 Group 1 $600,000 Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m) at Randwick today.

Winx. above, wins her fourth Chipping Norton Stakes at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.

Winx ($1.08 favourite) was anxious to get the job done and was a bit restless in the barriers but jumped with the field and settled nicely for Hugh Bowman in fourth position.

Blake Shinn on Happy Clapper ($9.50) put plenty of excitement into the race when he let the Pat Webster trained eight year old skip to a four lengths lead at the 800m and held a handy break on the home turn.

Bowman knew what he had underneath him and had Winx starting to work through her gears on the point of the corner.

Winx was cruising as she topped the rise and with little urging from Bowman, the mighty mare gathered in Happy Clapper to record another history making win.

Winx recorded a winning margin of one and three quarter lengths over a brave Happy Clapper with Unforgotten ($31) almost four lengths away in third place.

Waller admits that he was getting nervous in the lead up to the start but was happy that Winx has prevailed again and claimed her twenty-third Group 1 win.

“It was certainly no easy feat. I thought Winx would either beat him if they go too slow or they go too fast. I’d say they almost got it right. Under pressure she is very good,” Waller said.

“It was a good test for her and will bring her on nicely for the next couple of runs because they need stimulating. They need to do it under race conditions to get that. It’s looking good for three weeks time then three weeks after that.”

“I thought it (standing in the barriers) would do her the world of good to tell you the truth. She can be like that at the start of the prep and doesn’t take much for a horse to kick out.”

“It did her good to stand there afterwards. No cotton wool treatment – we wouldn’t expect any. To stand there and wait will help. An all around perfect display.”

Winx’s next assignment will be in the Group 1 $1m George Ryder Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill on March 23 before her last racetrack appearance before retirement in the Group 1 $4m Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Randwick on Day Two of The Championships on April 13.