Winx wins Horse Of The Year

MELBOURNE - There might have been some anxious moments on the track last Saturday, but the competition was nowhere near as fierce for Winx on Sunday night.

The champion mare was a dominant winner of the Victorian Racehorse Of The Year award, which was announced at the Scobie Breasley Medal ceremony.

The Chris Waller-trained six-year-old polled 130 votes, which are awarded on a 3-2-1 basis by members of the media and Racing Victoria administrators, to comfortably defeat Black Heart Bart, who collected 64 votes.

Although trained in Sydney where two of her owners reside with another based in Brisbane, Winx was eligible for the award as it is for performances on Victorian racetracks.

Winx’s two races in Melbourne last season were both at Group 1 level; a two-length win in the Caulfield Stakes (2000m), in which she defeated Black Heart Bart, and an eightlength romp in the Cox Plate.

“For a New South Wales horse to be awarded this, it’s hard to describe,” part-owner Debbie Kepitis said. “It really makes me feel special. The horse is special, the team behind her is special and to win an accolade like this, thank you,”

Winx stretched her winning run to 19 with a hard-fought win in Saturday’s Group 2 Chelmsford Stakes at Randwick with her campaign being geared around attempting a third-straight Cox Plate win at Moonee Valley on 29 October. –