Winx puts on a show to remember

- Winx brought the city of Melbourne to a standstill off the track before dazzling on it as she produced a breath-taking performance to stretch her winning sequence to 21 on her first visit to Flemington.

In front of a big crowd at Australia's premier racecourse, Winx put on a show to remember with regular rider Hugh Bowman barely moving a muscle as the brilliant Chris Waller-trained mare cruised to her 14th Group 1 victory.

With Humidor, a two-time Group 1 winner at the track, offering the sternest opposition Winx has faced since returning with a three-race winning streak, Sydney's superstar needed to be on top of her game away from her home territory and she was all that and more as she pulverised her rivals.

There was no signs of the jitters from recent races when Bowman needed to roust Winx along early on, as the 1-5 favourite settled in fifth and travelled powerfully well off a pace set by Magicool.

While many of the 20,000-plus crowd – almost double the number from last year – experienced travel problems getting to the track after issues with the trains, Winx enjoyed a smooth passage throughout the 2000m contest.

Around the final turn Bowman was stalking the field with his mount hard on the bridle and, approaching 300m from home, Winx took over the lead before bounding clear in effortless fashion to score by 6.50 lengths from last season's St Leger runner-up Ventura Storm.

An emotional Waller said: "What a great horse, she's very special. She was comfortable with the tempo today and when she's wound up and let’s go it's pretty scintillating."

All roads lead to the Cox Plate on 28 October for the world's best turf horse when she will attempt to equal Kingston Town's record of three victories at Moonee Valley.

"We're in for a hell of a race in three weeks' time," said Waller. "She's going to be very hard to beat."

Coral cut Winx into 1-3 (from 1-2) for the Cox Plate and also make her a 7-4 chance to surpass Black Caviar's record of 25 consecutive victories.

"By her own recent standards, win number 21 for Winx was so dominant the race lacked the late drama we'd seen from her lately, which suggests she could somehow be getting even better," said Coral spokesman David Stevens.

"Either way, a third Cox Plate looks hers for the taking, and Black Caviar's record of 25 consecutive wins is well within reach as well."

David Hayes, co-trainer of the former Richard Hannon inmate Ventura Storm, was looking towards the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups for the runner-up, who finished 0.75-lengths in front of third-placed Humidor.

"I just love the way he's got that tactical speed and he arches his neck and relaxes," Hayes said. "I just think he's going to be an outstanding stayer here in Australia for a couple of years." –

Melbourne