Australia’s favourite race horse Winx stretched her winning sequence to twenty-seven with her third straight win in the Group 1 $500,000 Colgate Optic White (George Main) Stakes (1600m) at Randwick today.
Winx, above, wins her third straight George Main Stakes at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.
The Chris Waller trained Winx put on her usual dominant display and gave the leaders a start before powering home in the straight to record another win with day light second.
Winx was sent out as the unbeatable $1.10 favourite and won accordingly while the second and third placegetters Le Romain ($15) and Egg Tart ($26) were in another race.
Winx’s official winning margin was four lengths with a nose separating Le Romain and the champion mare’s stablemate Egg Tart.
The Waller trained Religify set a solid pace up front while Hugh Bowman settled Winx near the tail of the seven horse field after the mare jumped cleanly with the other runners.
Bowman let Winx start to stride forward from the 600m and the record breaking mare was ready to pounce on the leaders at the top of the Randwick rise.
James McDonald on Le Romain thought that he would sneak a winning break at the 300m but no sooner Bowman released the brakes and the race all but over and Winx was on the way to claiming her twentieth Group 1 winning trophy.
“Le Romain is a very good horse and had every right to take us all the way to the 200m and she had every right to get on top of them over the last 200m and that is how it panned out,” Waller said.
“If you expect to win races at the 300m everytime you will probably come off second best but it was a well judged ride by Hughie (Bowman), he knew he had the extra ten percent that you see with her every start and it gets her out of trouble and is why this winning sequence continues.”
It is quite unbelievable and she has some gears and I hope we don’t need to find anymore gears but it is very special not just here at Randwick but around Australia and wherever she races, most importantly on the TV .
“It keeps going to a new level every time and she is a superstar.”
Waller will see how Winx pulled up after the George Main Stakes before cementing in her next outing which will probably be in Melbourne before she attempts to make it four consecutive wins in the Group 1 $5m Ladbrokes Cox Plate (2040m) at The Valley on October 27.
We will see how she pulls up and we said we would take it one run at a time, we are thinking about a Cox Plate obviously and the best way is to take it one run at a time.”
“I would say it will be in Melbourne but we will enjoy today and talk about it next week, it will be no great surprise I am sure but if we do change it will be for a reason and that reason is the horse comes first.”
Winx is now marked at $1.33 with Ladbrokes.com.au to win her fourth straight Cox Plate.
