AUSTRALIA’S most famous racehorse currently, Winx did her utmost to blow Saturday’s racetrack return, missing the jump by four lengths to settle last, six lengths off the lead in the Group 2 Warwick Stakes over Randwick’s 1,400 metres. Haring around the bend, Ecuador led but rolled off the fence allowing Foxplay a clear sight of the line as Winx, last of the eight runners was also the widest.

With a nod to her dam, the Akbar mare Vegas Showgirl, Winx produced an unexpected piece of compelling theatre, winning what she was entitled to lose to stun her fans to new levels of admiration. Though having smashed her timing chip in the barriers, it’s fair to say she also broke the clock in her blistering final 600 metres. Home by a head, she defeated her stablemate the Foxwedge mare Foxplay with the High Chaparral gelding Ecuador third.

“She just defies logic,” said Hugh Bowman on his return to scale.

“There wasn’t much I could do once she missed the start but she just wants to win. I couldn’t take off at the 700 metres to get closer or I would have run out of gas, so I just had to have confidence in her and ride her to run a race.”

The win preserved her winning sequence which now stretches to 18 and lifts her earnings to just over A$13 million. The following day Winx was at the beach with trainer Chris Waller indicating that she’ll head to the Chelmsford Stakes.

“I’ll probably stay on top of her and run her in two weeks’ time,” said Waller. “I put yesterday’s (start) down to being a bit fresh. The Chelmsford’s (Group 2, 1,600 metres) on at that time, and it would seem logical to run her there, but we won’t leave the programme unturned. We want her in the Cox Plate in the best possible condition with the right outcome at the end.”