THERE is not a lot new to be said about the marvellous Winx, who gained her 27th straight success and 20th Group 1 victory in all in the Colgate Optic White Stakes at Randwick at the weekend. In form terms, even a four-length defeat of Le Romain at this 1600 metre trip was a good few pounds below her very best, but she can only beat what is put in front of her.

Once again, Winx showed a remarkable turn of speed to come from a few lengths back. I make her last three sections 11.40s, 10.70s and finally 11.12s, though about 0.06s needs to be added to each to bring them into line with full-furlong equivalents.

Winx seems likely to win a fourth successive Cox Plate at the end of October unless some potential party poopers emerge from abroad (and, even then…). That would be a phenomenal achievement, but she needs to run just a bit faster than she has to date to be considered the equal or even superior of Black Caviar from a few years back.

The influence of Arc Trials Day at Longchamp has waned in recent years, in no small part down to the creation of Irish Champions Weekend, but there are still some pointers to be taken from the latest edition.

Perhaps the most important is that only one of the three 2400-metre races was anything like truly-run. That was the Vermeille, in which Kitesurf made heavy weather of beating Magic Wand, with the pair rated 121 and 120 on sectionals. Kitesurf was put up as “a lively outsider for the Arc” here a few weeks ago and has since been matched at treble-figure prices for that race.

Waldgeist was more than 2.0s slower overall but about 1.2s quicker late on in winning the Foy in pleasing fashion from Talismanic and gets a 120 sectional rating to go with a 122 from earlier in the campaign.

The Niel, won by Brundtland, was nearly 3.0s slower again and amounts to little in time terms, though third-placed Neufbosc emerges best on sectionals and probably still merits his 119 figure from earlier on.

Tornibush won a well-run Prix du Pin with a 114 timefigure, but 116-rated Inns of Court – who conceded weight and was asked for his effort very late in the day – was the one who caught the eye most with future big races (such as the Foret on Arc Day) in mind.

Tantheem confirmed the big impression she had made previously by winning the Petit Couvert from City Light. The latter was set a lot to do, but Tantheem showed tremendous pace to overcome a slow start and should not be underestimated if she returns for the Abbaye in a few weeks’ time. Her Deauville win was worth 123 on sectionals and this one 120.