UNLESS you are online before 6.05am, by the time you read this you will likely know the result of the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Randwick in Sydney, Australia. Winx, the queen of modern day racing, will have run for the final time, and hopefully won.

She made a winning start to her racing career on June 4th five years ago, and when she made her 10th start, and suffered defeat for the final time four years and two days ago, she had established herself as a very good racemare, a Group 2 winner and twice runner-up at Group 1 level.

After that she has never been beaten in 32 starts and earned an incredible £13 million plus for her owners. She is a once-in-a-lifetime horse whose first two winning starts were the only times she did not run in group races. If she has detractors, and they are very few, they will point to the fact that she never travelled outside her home territory to race. Do European champions have to race down under to be properly recognised as great?

The only downside, from my perspective, of her failure to travel extensively is that I feel she has not always engendered the same affection here as she so obviously enjoys in Australia. The nation there will be on tenterhooks ahead of her final run, though her place in the annals of racing history is already guaranteed. I just pray that she goes out on a high.

She has 24 Group 1 victories under her belt as I write – making it a quarter of a century would be neat and tidy. Either way, she is the record holder. She is the darling of Australian racing. Today she could, should, cement her place for the final time among the true greats of world racing.

Let’s not forget two men in this story. Chris Waller has trained her impeccably, while Hugh Bowman’s nerves of steel have been evident in the way he has guided her to her successes. Keeping her sound and race fit for five years is, in itself, a remarkable achievement.

HATS OFF

This week I was honoured to be invited to the annual conference of the Riding for the Disabled Association Ireland, who this year are celebrating 50 years. I want to pay tribute to the 127 woman and men listed in the programme who have given 10 or more years of volunteer service to RDAI.

Amazingly, 40 of this number have given 30 or more years dedicated service. In an age when volunteerism is under pressure, this speaks volumes.

If you feel you could contribute in any way to their great work, please contact rdaisecretary@gmail.com You will never regret it.