Winx goes one better than another two legends
RECORD: SUPER MARE SCORES HER 10TH CONSECUTIVE GROUP 1 VICTORY
British raider Benbatl's challenge is swept away.
Melbourne
Australian wonder mare Winx’s record fourth Cox Plate victory on Saturday had more international kudos attached to it than many realised – it was her 10th consecutive Group 1 victory, eclipsing the deeds of legendary pair Zenyatta and unbeaten Frankel.
Zenyatta was the darling of the American turf, winning her first 19 races – the final nine of them at the elite level.
Frankel was unbeaten in 14 starts, stringing together a run of nine Group 1 victories from the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket in April 2011 to his Champion Stakes victory at Ascot in October 2012.
Winx's run of 10 straight Group 1s began with the George Main Stakes win last year.
The Cox Plate win saw Winx stretch her winning sequence to 29, her tally at the highest level to 22 and her prize-money total to just shy of a record A$23 million. The Cox quadruple had never been done before, but it should never have been in doubt.
Benbatl came from Britain to provide her with fresh, and stiff, opposition. But she battered him.
It was a mark of respect to Saeed Bin Suroor’s runner that the mare’s jockey Hugh Bowman sat closer to the pace than usual. Wherever Irish rider Oisin Murphy went, Bowman followed.
At the 600m mark, just as promised, Bowman moved her out and the crowd went berserk. She quickened around the cambered bend and powered clear in the manner of a horse much too good for the opposition.
As Ryan Moore – on Rostropovich – and Murphy kicked for home, Winx was still cruising. The fact she was four wide around the tight home turn into a short straight did not matter. She inhaled the ground without coming off the bridle and motored past a horse who has won three Group 1s in as many countries.
Bowman pushed Winx out until they had put the race to bed, but then eased up to soak in the moment.
“I’m just so proud of the horse,” he said. “I am feeling emotional but the electricity that came through my body turning into the home straight just then was something I didn’t just get to feel, but hopefully everybody else watching did too.
Benbatl was a game second two lengths back, with a further 2.75 lengths to last year’s runner-up Humidor in third and another three lengths to Avilius in fourth. –