The Championships: Winx to be rested from Sydney showpiece

POLL/FIELD: CHAMPION mare Winx will not run in the $4 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Randwick on Saturday.

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CHAMPION mare Winx will not run in the $4 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Randwick on Saturday.

Winx’s trainer Chris Waller and the mare’s owners discussed options last night before the decision was made soon after trackwork this morning that the mare would not race again this season.

Waller said it was a joint decision by connections to send Winx to the spelling paddock.

Ben Cadden takes Winx out through the tunnel for a light workout at sunrise. Picture: Adam Taylor

“We are a little concerned that the winning run in the Doncaster Handicap (last Saturday) did require a lot of effort which is hard to quantify but visibly looking at her this morning I as the trainer can see a horse that although she is at 90% we don’t feel she is 100% of her normal self,’’ Waller said in a statement to the media this morning.

“She is a horse that has exceptional talent but I feel she only has this talent due to the amount of effort she puts into her races and expecting her to back up after a tough run in the Doncaster in a seven day period and running against a 2000m weight for age field would just be expecting too much of a horse that puts so much determination into her races.

“I am very mindful that the public do want to see her race on Saturday, but it is more important that the public get to see her race next preparation and beyond.

“She has already had a heavy workload over the past 12 months and it was only 12 months ago that she was beaten in the Oaks and since then her winning sequence begun including a campaign in Brisbane for winter, then was she afforded a short break to be back racing in Sydney during spring and on to Melbourne for the Cox Plate and now an Autumn campaign in Sydney.

“Through this time Winx has been racing at an elite level taking on the best in the Country.

“I fully realise there will be disappointed parties but everything was taken into consideration by the owners, who are fantastic people to work with, but our final decision was made easier when we kept coming back to the longevity of our pride and joy and a horse that has been so well received over the past year by the racing public.

Trainer Chris Waller embraces his mighty mare Winx.

Jockey Hugh Bowman Winx gestures to the crowd after winning The Star Doncaster Mile on Winx.

“She will therefore head for a spell and be aimed toward races in the spring. I would like to start her off in Sydney and also include Melbourne and Sydney in autumn is also extremely important to us.

“Beyond that we can look abroad should we feel the need to take on her to the world stage.’’

Part-owner Debbie Kepitis said this morning that Winx is still a four-year-old and connections “did not want to bottom her out” this campaign.

“We didn’t want to go to the well once too often,’’ Kepitis said.

“She has done an amazing job already this season. Her Doncaster Mile win last Saturday was fantastic and we thought long and hard about the Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Debbie Kepitis embraces Hugh Bowman after Winx’s victory in the Doncaster. Picture: Jenny Evans

“In the end, we care for the horse, it is not about the prizemoney.

“We want Winx to have a good spell and race on next season. We can look forward to her running again in the spring on the way to the Cox Plate.’’

Winx has been unbeaten in seven starts this season, five at Group 1 level — Epsom Handicap, Cox Plate, Chipping Norton Stakes, George Ryder Stakes and Doncaster Mile — and she is already assured of Horse of the Year honours.

Hugh Bowman celebrates the Doncaster win on-board Winx during Day 1 of the Championships at Royal Randwick. Picture: Jenny Evans

$4m QUEEN ELIZABETH STAKES

Randwick, Saturday

1 CRITERION D Hayes & T Dabernig T Berry (2) 59kg

2 PREFERMENT C Waller H Bowman (5) 59kg

3 MONGOLIAN KHAN M Baker & A Forsman O Bosson (9) 59kg

4 OUR IVANHOWE L & A Freedman B Prebble (4) 59kg

5 THE UNITED STATES R Hickmott K McEvoy (8) 59kg

6 HAPPY TRAILS P Beshara D Dunn (3) 59kg

7 IT’S SOMEWHAT J O’Shea S Clipperton (11) 59kg

8 DIBAYANI D Hayes & T Dabernig N Hall (13) 59kg

9 HAPPY CLAPPER P Webster B Avdulla (1) 59kg

10 HAURAKI J O’Shea J McDonald (14) 59kg

11 LEEBAZ M, W & J Hawkes C Reith (10) 59kg

12 LUCIA VALENTINA K Lees D Oliver (12) 57kg

13 RISING ROMANCE D Hayes & T Dabernig D Lane (7) 57kg

14 FENWAY L & S Hope B Shinn (16) 57kg

15e AWESOME ROCK L & T Corstens S Baster (15) 59kg

16e WEARY C Waller C Williams (6) 59kg

BETTING: TAB FIXED ODDS

RANDWICK: FEATURE FIELDS

Winx’s half brother fetches $2.3 million

THE power of Winx has been felt at the Easter Yearling sale in Sydney where the champion mare’s younger half-brother has fetched $2.3 million during the first session.

After spirited bidding on Monday from three parties, Gai Waterhouse got in with the final bid on behalf of Hussain Lootah, the son of Emirates Park boss, Dubai businessman His Excellency Nasser Lootah.

His sale price is 10 times that of six-time Group One winner Winx who is being sent for a well-earned rest after winning the Doncaster Mile on Saturday.

On the same day, her two-year-old brother El Divino claimed his first stakes win in a dead-heat to the Kindergarten Stakes.

Worth every penny, #Lot 135 Snitzel/Vegas Showgirl purchased for $2.3mill w. @EmiratesPark, bred by John Camilleri 😍 pic.twitter.com/YuLLe3rPt1

— Gai Waterhouse (@GaiWaterhouse1) April 5, 2016

“There was much discussion after El Divino won and Hussain said we must have him,” Waterhouse said. “The moment his brother hit the line he said `let’s buy it’.

“My job now is to get him to the Slipper next year.”

For his breeder John Camilleri, the result was well beyond expectations.

“I was hopeful he might get to $1.5 million,” Camilleri said. “He had a reserve of $1 million but to get to the price he did is much more than I thought. The mare is in foal to Snitzel again and I think I might hold onto it.”

Camilleri sold Winx, who is by Street Cry, at the Magic Million sale for $230,000 but retained El Divino, the only other of her five foals to race.

AAP