After winning the same race the past two years, the Warwick Stakes was renamed to the Winx Stakes and elevated to Group One status. It proved a masterstroke with the champion mare setting yet more benchmarks.
Her soft two length victory was her 26th consecutive win – a new benchmark in Australian racing history. The win was her 19th at Group One level – further extended her mark for wins at elite level in the history of world flat racing.
Winx’s cheque in today’s race pushed her earnings past $19 million, the most ever achieved by a horse in the Southern Hemisphere.
Connections were almost lost for words at what was Winx’s first start since her resounding win in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes in mid-April.
“The pressure came into the race and her and Kementari loomed large,” trainer Chris Waller reported. “What she does to horses is simply break their hearts.”
“She can maintain it and some other very good horses can’t.”
“I’ve just been looking for signs of her losing that dominance,” Waller said. “Haven’t seen one ounce of it.”
“If anything I’ve seen improvement. It’s quite staggering.”
“It shouldn’t be about me, it’s about that amazing animal. What she is doing for sport in Australia – we should all take a bow and say well done.”
Part owners Peter Tighe and an emotional Debbie Kepitis celebrated the win with connections, family and general racing fans.
“It’s the benchmark that someone else can strive for,” Tighe said of breaking Black Caviar’s 25 straight win mark. “We are just lucky we are the owners.”
“Records are made for everybody to chase. We are happy to set a few for now.”
Winning rider Hugh Bowman said the mare lifted when the large Randwick crowd roared as the runners were midway down the home straight.
“She is such a special athlete,” Bowman said. “I’m lost for words.”
“I am so proud of her,” the proud jockey added.
Winx, a daughter of former leading Darley sire Street Cry, was bred by the Camilleri family of Fairway Thoroughbreds after they purchased her dam, the stakes winning Al Akbar mare Vegas Showgirl from the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale through leading bloodstock agent Colm Santry.
Fairway Thoroughbreds offered the filly through the draft of Coolmore Stud at the 2013 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale where she sold for $230,000 to the bid of Peter Tighe’s Magic Bloodstock.
Peter shares in the ownership of Winx with his good friends Richard Treweeke and Debbie Kepitis.
While Winx was the stand out star of the day, fellow Magic Millions graduates Showtime and Sunlight sparkled in Melbourne and Egyptian Symbol won another feature at Group Three grade at Randwick.
Showtime notched a second Group Two win and his first in open company when he beat a crack field in the PB Lawrence Stakes (1400m).
The Snitzel full brother to Sweet Idea showed he was in for a lucrative spring when he beat home Hartnell and others impressively.
Showtime, who is prepared by Michael, Wayne and John Hawkes, was a $1.1 million Gold Coast Yearling Sale buy for leading Japanese owner Katsumi Yoshida by Dean Hawthorne Bloodstock from the draft of Arrowfield Stud.
Sunlight showed strong fitness improvement from her recent stakes runner-up finish to Nature Strip in Adelaide with a strong win in today’s Group Three Quezette Stakes at Caulfield.
The Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner proved too strong for her rivals in a gutsy performance under Luke Currie for trainer Tony McEvoy.
McEvoy Mitchell Racing in association with Blue Sky Bloodstock and Aquis Farm purchased Sunlight for $300,000 from Widden Stud at the 2017 Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
As it stands the daughter of Zoustar has earned her all female connections over $2.28 million.
Egyptian Symbol added another feature race win to her impressive record when she held out fellow Magic Millions graduate Zestful in a thrilling Group Three Toy Show Quality at Randwick.
The Bjorn Baker trained runner gave the team from Cressfield plenty to cheer about when she did best in a driving finish in the feature mares sprint.
Both Egyptian Symbol and Zestful were graduates of the Magic Millions National Yearling Sale.
Winner: Winx
Breeding: Street Cry-Vegas Showgirl (Al Akbar)
Race: ATC Winx Stakes G1 (1400m)
Sold for: $230,000
Sale: 2013 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale
Vendor: Coolmore Stud (As Agent)
Buyer: Magic Bloodstock
Earnings: $19,290,424
Owner(s): Magic Bloodstock Racing (Mgr: PG Tighe), RG Treweeke & Mrs DN Kepitis
Trainer: Chris Waller (Rosehill)
