Co-owner Debbie Kepitis hoping Queen Elizabeth jinx won’t strike Winx in grand finale
The eyes of the world will be on a sold-out Royal Randwick on Saturday with almost everyone wishing for a 33rd consecutive win and a fairytale ending to Winx’s record-breaking career. But there could be a jinx.
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When the eyes of the world turn to Royal Randwick on Saturday with almost everyone wishing for a 33rd consecutive win and a fairytale ending to Winx’s world-beating career.
But there are, niggling in the darkest recesses of racegoers’ imaginations, fears she could succumb to a final race Winx jinx and blow it.
Co-owner Debbie Kepitis admits she is superstitious. “I wear the same purple suit, the same earrings and the same necklace every time,” she said.
And there are unsettling precedents for an upset close to home. Winx will be running as hot favourite in the $4m Queen Elizabeth Stakes, the same race in which legendary racehorses Octagonal and his son Lonhro started as favourites for their last hurrah only to finish second.
Both those horses were part owned by Kepitis’s father Bob Ingham and she clearly remembers the disappointment.
“She has done way better than the other two that jinxed that race. Winx has already won it twice,” she said. “I am confident that … she will go and do what she always does, which is more than any other horse has done.”
Victory would give the mighty mare her 33rd consecutive win in front of what was confirmed on Thursday as a sell-out crowd of more than 40,000 at Royal Randwick and a TV audience of millions.
There is one rider who knows what jockey Hugh Bowman will be feeling as he goes through his warm-up routines before Winx jumps from the barriers for the final time.
Darren Beadman was riding Lonhro in the same race in 2004 when Grand Armee stole his thunder. “I would have liked the fairytale to come off, that’s one race I really regret not winning,” Beadman said.
He is now an assistant trainer at Godolphin, which has stable star Hartnell running as second favourite against Winx.
“I would like to see him win but as a racing fan I have to say that I would love Winx to have that fairytale finish,” Beadman said.