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A win in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes this preparation will seal Winx’s legacy as Australia’s best mare of the last decade.
That might seem a bit bold when we’ve seen superstars like Atlantic Jewel, More Joyous and the unbeaten Black Caviar, but such is the raw ability of Winx, she will surpass them all to become the best mare since Makybe Diva.
Her return win in the Apollo Stakes on Saturday was simply breathtaking. Second favourite Solicit had a run under her belt and an uncontested lead entering the straight before Hugh Bowman gave her clear running and she zoomed past to win by a length.
Contrary to what some suggest, Solicit is no slouch. This is the mare that defeated Suavito over 1400 metres earlier in her career. This is the same Suavito which triumphed in one of the hottest Group 1 CF Orr (1400m) fields in recent history on Saturday.
Winx’s runs in Queensland as a filly made people take notice. Her dominant wins in the Epsom Mile and Cox Plate showed us that she was the real deal. When she is spelled after her runs in The Championships in autumn, we will realise that she has surpassed Black Caviar.
Winx has the explosive nature to be successful over the sprint trips (look at her Theo Marks Stakes win for a guide), as well as the stamina to be dominant over middle distance journeys, evidenced by her emphatic four-and-a-half length victory in a star-studded 2015 Cox Plate.
Atlantic Jewel suffered just the one defeat in her career, a nose defeat to It’s A Dundeel. Had she kept racing she would have contested heavily for the title as best mare since the Diva, but her owners were more concerned with her life after racing.
More Joyous won an incredible 20 black-type races, including her dominant preparation during the autumn of 2012 when she won the Canterbury Stakes, Queen of the Turf, Doncaster Mile and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. The only thing missing from her resume was a major Group 1 win in Melbourne.
Black Caviar’s record speaks for itself, with an incredible 25 wins from 25 starts, including 16 at Group 1 level. There is no doubt that she is the best sprinter Australia has witnessed and the best mare we have seen since Makybe Diva, with some of the belief that she has eclipsed the three-time Melbourne Cup champion.
You’re probably wondering how Winx could be in the conversation with some of Australia’s great mares, let alone being considered a preparation away from surpassing three superstars of the track.
It’s pretty simple; a win in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes during the Championships at Randwick gives her the combination of having stretched her range, inviting all comers to try and beat her and showing her invincibility in both New South Wales and Victoria.
Nobody knows her better than Chris Waller, who declares that she is a miler, yet that doesn’t stop him from pushing her out beyond her comfort zone and seeing just how good she is over unsuitable trips. This approach paid dividends in the Cox Plate, resulting in her winning Australia’s richest weight-for-age race in track record time.
The notion of pushing a mare past distances she knows is foreign to Peter Moody, who seemed more concerned with picking and choosing races to maintain a perfect record as opposed to seeing just how good she could be. Black Caviar only stepped out at 1400 metres once, resulting in an easy win over a field of returning stayers in the 2012 CF Orr Stakes.
This is no knock on the great mare, as she could only do what she was asked, but that cloud will always hang over her head of just how far she could’ve gone. There is no such query with Winx, a wonderful mare that has won black-type races from 1200-2200 metres, and has defeated some superstars in the process.
Black Caviar may be Australia’s best mare since Makybe Diva for the moment, but it is a title that will be relinquished in two months’ time when Winx takes all before her, finishing her prep with a win in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Randwick.
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