A win by champion mare Winx in the 2018 Group 1 $600,000 Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on Saturday will see her claim her sixteenth Group 1 win and set a new history making record.
Winx, above, is chasing her 16th Group 1 win in the 2018 Chipping Norton Stakes at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.
Winx currently shares the Australian Group 1 winning record of fifteen with the undefeated Black Caviar but if she can win her third straight Chipping Norton Stakes, the Chris Waller trained mare will join American super star John Henry who holds the world record of sixteen Group 1 wins.
Winx is set to kick off her 2018 Autumn Carnival campaign on Saturday with Hugh Bowman in the saddle again and is marked at $1.08 at Ladbrokes.com.au to claim her third straight Chipping Norton Stakes and take her winning sequence to twenty-three.
“I didn’t know there was a Group 1 record,’’ Waller told The Daily Telegraph.
“That is quite unbelievable.
“You have got to respect Black Caviar, she was never beaten and will never lose that title.
“To win one Group 1 race in Australia is very tough so it is quite special so be talking about Winx having 15 Group 1 wins to her name with possibly more to come.
“She is certainly part of history and that is something we are all very proud of.’’
Winx’s Autumn Carnival campaign was scheduled to kick off in the Group 2 $250,000 The Star Apollo Stakes (1400m) at Randwick on February 17 but Waller put back her reappearance by two weeks because of Bowman’s unavailability because of a careless riding suspension.
The six year old Street Cry mare won a specially convened 1200m barrier trial against five of her stablemates in between races at Randwick on Apollo Stakes Race Day and Waller said he has her fit enough to tackle the 1600m of the Chipping Norton Stakes first up.
Winx will be having her first run back since making history during the 2017 Melbourne Spring Carnival by scoring a third consecutive win in the Group 1 $3m Ladbrokes Cox Plate (2040m) at The Valley which equalled Kingston Town’s long standing record of three straight Cox Plate wins and took her winning sequence to twenty-two.
Winx’s closest rival in the betting is the Kris Lees trained Prized Icon at $14 ahead of Stampede at $17.
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