Chirs Waller is upbeat about Winx racking up her 16th straight win
Deja vu, all over again.
That’s the scenario Chris Waller has prepared super mare Winx for at Rosehill, as her George Ryder Stakes rivals again contemplate the race for second place.
The world’s greatest horse on turf wrapped up her trackwork for the defence of one of her multiple Group One crowns on Saturday in typically damp conditions in Sydney on Thursday, with intermittent showers so far water off a duck’s back for Waller and jockey Hugh Bowman.
Winx breezed over a heavy 9 at Randwick for her second Chipping Norton Stakes victory on February 25, and three weeks later the five-year-old is odds-on to handle similar conditions on home ground.
“She’s feeling stronger than ever,” Bowman said
Waller was also upbeat about Winx racking up her 16th straight win on Golden Slipper Day when she faces eight rivals in the $1 million Group One weight-for-age feature over 1500m.
“It was great to hear Hugh’s comments after he dismounted saying ‘she’s as good as we can get her,'” he said.
“Her condition is exactly where we want it to be. It’s her third-up run from a spell. We’re in similar territory to where we were last year when she won the Chipping Norton prior to running in the George Ryder.
“She’s simply replicating what’s she’s done last year.”
Since she won the Sunshine Coast Guineas in May 2015, Winx has seemingly only been under real pressure once, in the Group Two Theo Marks Stakes at Rosehill in September, 2015, although Waller noted there were extenuating circumstances.
She was hampered at the start and checked with about 600m to travel and still giving the leaders about five lengths at the 100m mark, yet still got up to score on the line.
“With her racing style, she seems to get there quite effortlessly. She seems to get the better of her rivals at the two or three hundred metre mark,” Waller warned.
Winx is at $1.15 with Luxbet with star sprinter Chautauqua at ($8) as he attempts the distance for the first time.
Le Romain, who beat Chautauqua in the Group One Canterbury Stakes at Randwick on March 4, is at $11.
