By Brad Gray
Winx cut an imposing figure as she strode out in her final gallop early this morning before tackling Saturday’s Group One TAB Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m) at Randwick.
“I think she has certainly come on from her first-up run,” warned Hugh Bowman.
“She is a bit stronger in her work and a bit more relaxed in her demeanour so that suggests to me she is where she needs to be.
“I was quite vocal in my thoughts that she was quite away from where she was leading into the Cox Plate (ahead of) her first-up run but I feel like she has really progressed since the Apollo Stakes.”
“This morning was nothing more than stretching the legs and have all the cameras watching her to show that she is on track and I think she is.”
#WinxWatch https://t.co/k9ajwmiz2L
— Racing NSW (@racing_nsw) February 22, 2017
Winx's final piece of work this morning head of the weekend
Winx has drawn nicely in barrier 4 for her second-up assignment and Bowman is well aware that he’ll be the hunted whenever he rides Winx.
“It looks like it is going to set up quite well for her,” said Bowman.
“I can pop out and keep myself away from the rail. The biggest thing for me is avoiding bad luck.
“The likely leader has drawn inside of me and a couple from out wide might press on but she has shown in the past that she is very versatile and that’s what makes her so good. If there is no pace I can be up leading or outside the leader.”
Chris Waller echoed many of Bowman’s thoughts but won’t buy into his rival trainers waving the white flag in surrender before the gates even open.
“It’s always easy going in as the underdog and maybe they are just trying to catch us off our guard,” Waller said with a smile.
“Physically I couldn’t be happier with her.”
“She has maintained her weight and… has probably muscled up and strengthened up a little bit more.”
“She is going as well as ever. It’s hard to quantify how well she is going though. Obviously we saw her win well first-up. You can’t really go better than breaking a track record in a Cox Plate which was almost 18 months ago and then winning another Cox Plate by such a big margin.”
Maybe not. However, you get the impression that we could be in for something very special come 4:30pm on Saturday afternoon.
Good morning Winx! #WinxWatch pic.twitter.com/ocej8G8TJv
— Racing NSW (@racing_nsw) February 22, 2017