“I’m so thankful, obviously, to Chris Waller and the connections of the horse…”
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Horse Racing: Hear from Cox Plate winning trainer Chris Waller after mare Winx took out the major for the first time.
She didn’t get quite as far back in the Oaks and won by twice as much.
The win now qualifies him for the big race at Flemington on November 3, although depending on the severity of the penalty chief handicapper Greg Carpenter hands out for the success – if any – he may need to win again to secure a spot in final 24 for the Melbourne Cup.
Criterion finished just ahead in second place but Winx ran a commanding race to claim the Cox Plate.
The physical element was taken care of by brilliant mare Winx who won Australia’s premier weight-for-age event on Saturday by a widening 4-3/4 lengths.
“She’s a group one mare, she’s a serious racehorse”.
A superb performance on the eye was backed up by the clock, with Winx setting a new track record of 2 minutes 02.98 seconds, eclipsing the previous best set by Might And Power in 1998.
It was also Bowman’s first Cox Plate win and one to savour.
But it would be her lead-up run in the Sunshine Coast Guineas that proved the watershed moment in her career.
Dubbed “the race of the century”, the 1986 Cox Plate will forever be remembered as the battle between Kiwi gallopers Bonecrusher and Our Waverley Star. “The George Ryder and the Queen Elizabeth are targets”, Waller said.
“But when The Cleaner ran off I made an instinctive move”. He could not have been ridden better by Bowman, who had the horse three back on the fence off the back of a solid tempo set by Prince Of Penzance, who did fire up a bit with the blinkers on, but jockey Michelle Payne tried something different and it nearly paid off. In winning the Cox Plate she becomes the first horse since 1959-when Australian Horse of the Year Noholme II (who eventually stood stud in Arkansas and Florida)-to complete the double, and is the first distaffer to achieve the feat.
“If it came off she wins, if it doesn’t then I’ve gone too soon”.
As for the fillies, I thought they were both strong, and I’d be leaning towards Pasadena Girl as the one I want to be with. “I’ve said all along she’ll have three runs and that is what she will have”.
“There wasn’t really an option from that gate and we turned it into a positive”.
“There’s nothing more exciting than to have a mare do what she just did”, Kepitis said.
“But I relied on her and she delivered”.
Bowman conceded he was trying to come to terms with the extraordinary win of Winx in the Cox Plate.
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The Cox Plate was the fourth Group One win this season for the Waller-Bowman combination, a pairing the trainer said was maturing.
