WINX PROVES UNTOUCHABLE IN AWESOME COX PLATE WIN
One Winx, and that was it for Hartnell
FOR one fleeting stride it loomed as the match race everyone had wanted to see.
It was over in a split second of that stride as Winx powered away to an eight-length victory.
Hartnell’s trainer John O’Shea, rugged up as he fights off a flu sparked by Melbourne’s unseasonal spring, waited with Godolphin’s Australian boss Henry Plumptre as James McDonald directed Hartnell back to the No.2 stall.
There were no signs of disappointment from the trio as McDonald unsaddled the horse and then had a brief conversation with the trainer and boss before walking over to the scales to weigh in.
Unfortunately when the space between first and second is so significant, there’s not much that can be said.
This time last year Hartnell finished fifth to Winx, beaten 10 lengths. This time it was second and two lengths closer.
Asked about Hartnell, O’Shea said: “He was great. He is on track for where we are going.”
O’Shea feared going into that race that Winx could even be superior on the Moonee Valley track where before yesterday she had only raced in last year’s Cox Plate for her first runaway victory.
What he saw yesterday only reinforced what he had feared about his horse and Winx. “This is her home ground, mate,” he said. As for Hartnell, perhaps he is big track horse who likes the open spaces and plenty of galloping room.
An assessment whether Hartnell will head back to the Melbourne Cup, he finished 15th as a $31 shot after taking the same path to the big race last year, will be based on how he pulls up from yesterday’s race.
He is still the Cup favourite, drifting slightly after yesterday’s second from $4.60 to $5. Plumptre was in awe of Winx’s performance. “It was an awesome performance by the winner,” he said. “Sensational mare, she is. An elite racehorse.”
But it wasn’t all doom and gloom for Hartnell who raced up on the speed. “Our horse went well,” Plumptre said. “But James said he didn’t really handle The Valley that well – but she is a champion, she an absolute champion.”
He described it as a “Black Caviar” thing with Winx and other champion horses, who when they think are under pressure, they just keep finding and finding.
Plumptre said the plan going into the Cox Plate was the Melbourne Cup as Hartnell’s next assignment.
“But I think we will probably see how he pulls up,” he said.
“The Melbourne Cup, he still has got an entry for it but he’ll need to pull up really well. I’d love to get him back on a big galloping track like Flemington.”
And while McDonald said Hartnell was brave in defeat, he felt he wasn’t happy on the often tricky Valley track as he tried to navigate him around the home turn bend.
He said Winx got to him quickly and was under pressure a fair way from home. “It’s definitely not his track,” McDonald said. Hartnell’s second placing brought to an end his three consecutive victories. It was a Winx type of thing.