Connections of Australia’s darling of the turf Winx will decide this week if the history making mare will travel to England to compete at the Royal Ascot Carnival in June.
A decision will be made this week if Winx, above, travels to England for the Royal Ascot Carnival. Photo by Steve Hart.
Part owner Peter Tighe said that a decision had to be made on Winx’s future racing plan which could also include an attempt to win a fourth straight Group 1 $3m Ladbrokes Cox Plate (2040m) at The Valley during the 2018 Melbourne Spring Carnival.
Winx won her third straight Group 1 $1m The Agency George Ryder Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill last Saturday which took her undefeated winning sequence to twenty-four, her overall win record to twenty-eight and her Group 1 wins to seventeen.
“We’ve got to sit down and make the decision,” Tighe told Sky Thoroughbred Weekly.
“The pressure is getting to us now. We don’t want to disappoint anyone.
“The big decision is do we go over for one race and bring her back for the Cox Plate.
“Chris will this week be working out the timings for the quarantine.”
“We are about to get to the pointy end to make that decision.
“It’s more going to be Chris’s call and he’ll tell us what his thoughts are.
“We are trying to protect the horse more than anything else.”
Whatever the owner group decide about Winx’s overseas campaign, trainer Chris Waller said the stable flag bearer would still line up in the Group 1 $4m Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Randwick on day two of The Championships on April 14.
“You will see her in three weeks’ time in the Queen Elizabeth – that has never been a secret,” Waller said.
Winx will be trying to win back to back Queen Elizabeth Stakes after defeating Hartnell last year.
The Group 1 £600,000 The Queen Anne Stakes (1600m) at Royal Ascot in England on June 19 is the likely target for Winx if she gets the go nod to be soon on the world stage in Europe.
Winx’s George Ryder Stakes winning cheque of $580,000 took her overall prizemoney earnings to $16,563,925.
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