Behind the scenes of Winx’s Gold Coast trip and how it started her run of success

With the autumn sun rising over Gold Coast’s skyline, Winx began what would become her world recording breaking career. We detail the behind the scenes work done by Winx and Chris Waller’s travelling foreman at the start of her rise to fame.

WITH the autumn sun rising over Gold Coast’s skyline, Winx began what would become her world recording breaking career.

The humble Gold Coast racetrack was the scene where Winx launched herself to the greatest heights in racing.

At the centre of it all was Johanne Taylor, the then travelling foreman and trackwork rider who accompanied Winx to Queensland for trainer Chris Waller in 2015.

Winx was stabled at the Bundall stables operated by Bruce Hill at Traintech when the mare came from the back of the field to win the Sunshine Coast Guineas before backing it up shortly after to win the Queensland Oaks at Doomben.

Winx ridden by Johanne Taylor put through early morning track work at the Gold Coast Turf Club in 2015. Picture: JERAD WILLIAMS

The Guineas was the first of a 32 consecutive wins so far and the Oaks the beginning of a world record 24 Group 1 victories.

At the heart of it all was her temporary Gold Coast home, a box in a lowly facility forged by corrugated iron at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac.

She did track work with Taylor in the early hours of the morning alongside provincial level horses and in front of trainers who dream of having a runner like the mighty mare to take them to stardom.

But like the maiden runners around her, even Winx had to learn her craft.

As a youngster, she could pig root and squeal when she was fresh and full of excess energy.

But by the time she arrived on the Coast she was a lady at work. Once she got onto the track she knew her job and went about doing it.

Photo of trainer Chris Waller at Gold Coast Turf Club. Photo by Richard Gosling

She was a supreme athlete and utmost professional. It’s what the Waller camp believe set her apart from rivals.

Some questioned Winx’s ability to peak twice in the one preparation in the lead up to the Oaks in 2015 but Waller already knew he had something special.

“Peaking them once for most horses is not easy but when the horse is good enough that’s 99 per cent of it,” he said at the time.

Taylor has known Winx since she arrived as a yearling after being sold for $230,000 at the 2013 Magic Millions Yearling Sale on the Gold Coast.

She was working at Rosehill in Sydney with Waller and was one of multiple staff to ride her in the early days.

But like most involved with the horse, she could never have predicted the success to come in a career where the $24,016,674 won in prizemoney is eclipsed by the sheer prestige of what she has done on the track.

For Taylor, who was 26 at the time, he trip to the Gold Coast in 2015 was about trying to find the balance between trying to go the extra mile for a special runner while allowing it to be a horse and not annoy the athlete.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE BULLETIN FOR JUST $5 A MONTH FOR THE FIRST THREE MONTHS

Taylor flew out to England straight after Winx’s Oaks win with Brazen Beau for what would be his last races before becoming a premier stallion.

She then became an assistant trainer at Waller’s Flemington stable in Melbourne and has had Winx under her care for the last three of her four Cox Plate wins.

Winx’s racing career will come to an end in Saturday’s Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) on Saturday and those like Taylor believe the magnitude of what the mare has done won’t be felt for another decade.