High Steaks: As death stalked, Winx the loner let us hug her, part-owner Debbie Kepitis reveals
Winx was gravely ill and not expected to survive. Debbie Kepitis was prepared for the worst but then the champion mare – a noted loner – did something totally out of character. Watch the video.
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Debbie Kepitis reveals an extraordinary moment as her champion fought death
Winx, the greatest racehorse of them all, wasn’t expected to live. Her first foal had been stillborn and the mare was gravely ill.
Tom Magnier, who manages the Coolmore Stud property in the Hunter Valley where Winx was being cared for, feared the worst and felt compelled to contact the mare’s ownership group.
Debbie Kepitis, one of Winx’s part-owners, was in her Sydney office when she received Magnier’s call.
“I remember every detail of it (phone call),’’ Mrs Kepitis said.
“It was in the morning and Tom said ‘Look, I really think you need to be here as soon as you can to say goodbye to Winx’.’’
• Winx’s near-death experience detailed in A Horse Called Winx documentary
Kepitis, her husband Paul, and two of their daughters, Lara and Talia, then drove from Sydney to Coolmore Stud in the Hunter Valley.
The journey takes nearly four hours but the family barely spoke.
“There was no conversation,’’ Kepitis said. “We couldn’t talk, really we were just hoping. All I thought on the way up was ‘please get her through’.’’
When the family arrived at Coolmore, they became acutely aware of Winx’s desperate situation.
“We got there and it was pretty awful, she wasn’t good,’’ Kepitis said.
But Winx, often described as a bit of a loner, then did something totally out of character. She noticed the family and walked over to greet them.
“She doesn’t like pats or hugs but she allowed us to hug her,’’ Kepitis said.
“It was a beautiful moment.
“We stayed for a couple of days. She was picking up slightly then she went backwards again. It was a rollercoaster, same as her racing career.’’
Winx, showing all the courage and determination that was the hallmark of her celebrated racing career, defied expert veterinarian opinion and slowly started to recover.
• Waller: Why resisting temptation to race Winx overseas was the correct decision
Kepitis maintains, “Winx got through what most horses wouldn’t get through”, just as the champion mare did during her famous 33-race winning streak that culminated with her win in the 2019 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Randwick.
“She has come out of it on the other side, she’s healthy and still gets dapples (on her coat),’’ Kepitis said.
We dined at the stylish Biviano’s Restaurant in Dural for this interview where Kepitis savoured a veal parmigiana while this writer enjoyed beef tenderloin.
Biviano’s is an institution in Sydney’s northwest, renowned as much for the quality of food as it is for the service from restaurant manager Raj and his attentive staff.
Winx has been retired for five years now but barely a day goes by without someone recognising Kepitis and asking after her great mare.
It’s easier these days but how did Kepitis cope with the suffocating pressure and weight of expectation every time Winx raced?
Kepitis revealed that most Sundays after Winx raced, she would find a quiet place to sit in the sun and reflect, almost decompressing.
Kepitis races another outstanding mare these days by the name of Fangirl, who on Saturday finished sixth behind Joe Pride’s new star of the turf Ceolwulf and Horse of the Year Pride Of Jenni in the Group 1 $5m King Charles III Stakes at Royal Randwick’s Everest meeting.
Kepitis was also a slot-holder in the The TAB Everest with Joliestar, who finished seventh behind Bella Nipotina in the $20 million feature.
49,117 people singing Sweet Caroline.
— Australian Turf Club (@aus_turf_club) October 19, 2024
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There were more than 40,000 race fans at The Everest meeting, a race day that has proven to be a resounding success and has changed the Australian racing landscape.
Kepitis has been a supporter of The Everest since it was championed by Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys in 2017.
“I was a bit of a sceptic of The Everest at first but that is my nature,’’ she said.
“Once it was explained to me, I was a believer. It is a fabulous concept.’’
The dinner conversation inevitably returned to Winx and I asked Kepitis what has happened to “that dress” – the black outfit with blue and purple motifs that she wore virtually every time Winx raced.
“I am very superstitious,’’ she explained.
“I wore the outfit when she won the Queensland Oaks but I wore something different when she won the Epsom.
“Winx nearly got knocked over that day but she still won the Epsom.
“I know it is me and my silly superstitions but I decided after that race to wear the same outfit every time she raced.
“It was a genius move by me as I didn’t have to buy a new outfit.’’
Kepitis still has the dress but it stays in her wardrobe these days.
“I’ve had it dry cleaned and it’s safely wrapped up,’’ she said.
“It was getting pretty threadbare and I didn’t want it to fall apart.
“But I’m going to take a piece off the hem and put it in new outfits I get made so I always have a bit of Winx with me.’’
• Debbie Kepitis’ $10 million purchase of Winx filly ‘deserved’
I then asked about Winx’s first foal to go through the sale ring, her yearling filly by Pierro that the mare’s ownership group had agreed to sell at the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale last April.
But in the weeks leading up to the much-anticipated auction, Kepitis had a change of heart.
“We were at our weekly family meeting, which we do every Wednesday to go through our business, and I just said to the girls ‘I can’t do this, would you allow me to look at buying her back’,’’ Kepitis said.
“It’s a business decision and it has to be across the board. At the end of the day, they said ‘Mum we don’t want to sell her either’.’’
• ‘I’m done’: The man who bid $9 million for Winx’s filly and still missed out
Then in a hectic bidding duel with an American billionaire, Kepitis had to go to an extraordinary $10m – a world record price for a yearling filly – to keep Winx’s daughter.
Kepitis wept uncontrollably when the gavel came down, realising the filly she had come to adore was staying with her family.
Winx is back in foal to super sire Snitzel and is about a month away from giving birth.
“I would say the ownership group will decide it will go to the market,” Kepitis said.
“I can’t afford a second one!’’
Kepitis and her family visit Winx regularly at the Hunter Valley property the champion mare calls home these days which prompted the question: “Does she remember you?”
“I think she does, that’s a bit of ego as well but I think she does,” Kepitis said.
“She certainly knows Paul because he buys her beautiful, sweet carrots from Woolworths and she goes straight to him.
“Once she finishes them, she looks at us, turns her head and walks away.
“But that’s her, it doesn’t matter what she does, she is wonderful.’’
■ ■ ■ ■ ■
HIGH STEAKS – THE VENUE
Biviano’s Restaurant, 628 Old Northern Rd, Dural.
THE MEAL
● Hokkaido scallops with lemon, garlic and basil butter, rocket leaves.
● Crumbed fried camembert, cranberry sauce, crispy lavosh
● 280g Black Angus Beef Tenderloin, heirloom carrots, Jerusalem artichoke puree, roasted fennel, onion cream, lotus root crisp
● Veal parmigiana Napolitano Sauce, mozzarella and parmesan, mash, green beans
Originally published as High Steaks: As death stalked, Winx the loner let us hug her, part-owner Debbie Kepitis reveals
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