Another outstanding Autumn Carnival performance from super mare Winx could see her on the plane to England to take on the best horses in the world at the Royal Ascot Carnival in June.
A Royal Ascot campaign is still an option for 3 times Cox Plate winner Winx, above. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.
Trainer Chris Waller is still non-committal if Winx will travel overseas in the near future but did indicate that another resounding win in the Group 1 $4m Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Randwick during 2018 The Championships could secure a ticket.
“If she wins the George Ryder by three lengths, and the Queen Elizabeth by two lengths she’ll be on the plane,” Waller told RSN 927.
“She will go if she’s 100 per cent.”
The 2017 Queen Elizabeth Stakes was one of Winx’s twenty-two consecutive wins and the world’s best race horse is currently the $1.40 favourite at Ladbrokes.com.au to make it back to back wins in the 2000m weight for age Autumn Carnival showpiece.
Winx continues to re-write the record books and made headlines again during the 2017 Melbourne Spring Carnival when she won her third Group 1 $3m Ladbrokes Cox Plate (2040m) at The Valley to equal the long standing record of the mighty Kingston Town who claimed the weight for age title in 1980, 1981 and 1982.
Waller has stepped up Winx’s work in the past fortnight and the mare is ready to trial in preparation for her return to the racetrack in the Group 2 $250,000 Apollo Stakes (1400m) at Randwick on February 17.
Winx has won the last two runnings of the weight for age Apollo Stakes at the beginning of her 2016 and 2017 Autumn Carnival campaigns.
“She had a gallop this morning (Saturday) and I came back (from the Gold Coast) to watch it specifically, so I was pretty happy with the way she worked,” Waller said.
“She’ll have two more gallops and then trial in nine days’ time”
Winx was sent for a break after winning her third consecutive Ladbrokes Cox Plate which took her overall record to twenty-six wins from thirty-two starts and lifted her prizemoney earnings to $15,627,925.