Australian champion thoroughbred Winx yesterday claimed a Group 1 race named in her honor at Royal Randwick to notch a 26th successive win, overhauling the great Black Caviar’s record.
The seven-year-old mare trained by Chris Waller eased into her work in the Winx Stakes before thundering down the straight to win the 1,400m weight-for-age race by a length over Invictus Prince.
Hailed as the world’s top sprinter, Winx moved past Black Caviar’s record streak of 25 wins, while extending her national record to 19 Group 1 victories.
Photo: AFP
Four months after winning the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at the same racecourse, the bay mare’s triumphant return to the track left Waller choking back tears.
“[I am] just looking for signs of her losing her dominance,” Waller said yesterday, the same day Black Caviar turned 12. “I haven’t seen one, one ounce of it. If anything, I’ve seen improvement.”
“It’s quite scary. It shouldn’t be about me. It’s about that amazing animal behind us,” he added. “What she’s doing for sport and Australian racing, we should all take a bow and say: ‘Well done, Winx.’”
Unlike the Peter Moody-trained Black Caviar, who won the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2012, Winx has never been tested overseas and hopes that she would run in the Queen Anne Stakes in England in June came to nothing.
Her connections have now set Winx the task of claiming a record fourth consecutive win in the Cox Plate, one of the nation’s most prestigious races held in the Australian spring.
For a fleeting moment, Winx’s record-setting attempt appeared in doubt, with Godolphin’s Kementari forcing her wide as she rounded into the straight, but after dealing with Kementari, the Hugh Bowman-ridden mare swept home to the roars of a packed crowd.
“When she balanced up and saw the winning post... What can I say? She’s just incredible,” Bowman said.
MOTHER KNOWS BEST: Warriors’ coach Kerr said his 91-year-old mother criticized him for his attitude toward officials that led to his ejection from Monday’s game Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Wednesday rescued the Oklahoma City Thunder with a game-tying buzzer-beater before finishing with 46 points in a 129-125 overtime victory against the Utah Jazz. The reigning NBA champions looked to be heading for a third straight loss after the Jazz inched into a 114-112 lead following Lauri Markkanen’s layup with just three seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. However, NBA Most Valuable Player Gilgeous-Alexander drained a superb 13-foot jump shot to tie it up at 114-114 as the buzzer sounded to send the game into overtime. Gilgeous-Alexander then took over in the extra period with nine points as the Western
Manchester City have confirmed defender Josko Gvardiol suffered a broken leg in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium. Gvardiol was one of two City centerbacks who went off injured in the second half, along with Ruben Dias, before Enzo Fernandez scored a stoppage-time equalizer for the visitors. The draw left second-placed City six points behind English Premier League leaders Arsenal. City, announcing Gvardiol sustained a tibial fracture to his right leg, added in a statement issued on Monday: “The defender will have surgery later this week and assessment remains ongoing to ascertain the full extent of the
AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURE: Sabalenka aims to follow up with a third Australian Open win, while Taiwanese Joanna Garland claimed a WTA 125 title in Canberra Aryna Sabalenka beat Karolina Muchova in straight sets to reach her third Brisbane International final in a row yesterday, a week ahead of the Australian Open. Sabalenka looked in great touch against the tricky Czech, who had won their last three meetings and went into the match as one of the few players with a winning record over the world No. 1. However, Sabalenka showed her class and power as she broke Muchova once in each set to take the semi-final 6-3, 6-4 in 89 minutes to face Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in the final. “I struggled against her a couple of times [in
His team were knocked out of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in agonizing fashion on Tuesday, but the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DR Congo) human statue Michel Kuka Mboladinga would be remembered as the tournament’s most remarkable supporter. The colorfully dressed Kuka has earned fame as the fan who stands completely immobile throughout his team’s games, looking toward the sky with his right arm raised and palm open. He has become a media star and on Tuesday was accompanied by a delegation of several hundred Congolese supporters whose trip to Morocco was paid for by the country’s government. They took their
RSS