WITH the wattle and almond trees revealing blossoms this past week, the racetrack return of Winx heralded the imminent arrival of spring racing. The five-year-old Street Cry mare went to Randwick on Saturday to contest the Group 2 Warwick Stakes over 1,400 metres. With two trials under her belt trainer Chris Waller declared Winx “ready to go”, despite it being revealed she had undergone arthroscopic surgery on her near-fore fetlock in April.

Any doubt was quickly erased as Winx sat outside of Rebel Dane near the front of the race before motoring away to run her final 600 metres in 32.89 seconds, landing a three and a half-length margin over the British-bred Authorized gelding Hartnell, with the California Dane entire Rebel Dane third. The result prompted the latter’s trainer Gary Portelli to quip to Chris Waller: “I don’t think even you know how good she is.”

The win was Winx’s 10th straight in a 20-start career that has netted 14 wins, six of those Group 1s, and coincided with her dam, Vegas Showgirl, foaling down a Snitzel filly at Segenhoe Stud that same evening.

“That is the heats of the Olympics over and done with and we just have the semi-final and final to come,” said Waller after the race. “You never really know where horses are the way I train. That’s just our system and we take them along quietly and just gradually build. Her track work has been great, trials have been adequate and she has been brilliant the last week or so.”

Winx’s next assignment now is a step up to 1,600 metres in the Chelmsford Stakes followed by the Group 1 George Main Stakes on September 17th before heading to Melbourne to prepare for the Cox Plate.