Magic Millions officials working behind scenes to bring Winx back to Gold Coast for $10m race day

MAGIC Millions officials are working feverishly in an attempt to bring champion mare Winx to the Gold Coast for January’s $10 million race day.

Magic Millions bosses are working to bring mighty mare Winx to the Gold Coast’s $10m race day in the future. Picture: Colleen Petch.

MAGIC Millions officials are working feverishly behind the scenes to bring champion mare Winx back to the Gold Coast for the $10 million race day in January.

Managing director Vin Cox confirmed his team was working to bring the dual Cox Plate winner back to the Magic Millions where she was sold at the yearling sales for just $230,000 in 2013.

Cox said while it was likely the horse’s connections had other races on their agenda, his team continued to work on trying to lure the dual Cox Plate winner to the Coast.

“It’s up to the connections whether they will or not, who knows,’’ Cox said.

But with Winx likely to go down in history as one of Australia’s greatest racehorses, having her return to the Coast to race would be “phenomenal’’, Cox said.

“It’d be beyond your wildest dreams,’’ he said.

“She’s probably got different things on her agenda than the $10 million race day for us – not least races like Royal Ascot and Group 1 races around the country.

“But having said that, there are $1 million races on offer for her (at the Magic Millions carnival) and it’s not an insignificant amount of prizemoney.’’

And until the Chris Waller-trained five-year-old mare’s connections absolutely rule it out, Magic Millions officials will continue attempts to entice her to the Coast.

“It’s in our interests, the Gold Coast’s interest, everyone’s interests (for that to go on),’’ Cox said.

“There’s a lot of work to be done.

“They’ve got to consider the horse first and foremost rather than our needs and wants.’’

Hugh Bowman celebrates after riding Winx to the line to win the William Hill Cox Plate. Cox Plate Race Day 2016 at Moonee Valley Racecourse. Picture: Nicole Garmston

Winx will not race again this spring, with her connections ruling out a tilt at the $2 million Emirates Stakes at Flemington tomorrow week after her stunning Cox Plate victory last week.

Regardless of whether she continues to collect silverware, Cox said Winx had already sealed her place in Australian racing history.

“I think she’s right up there, certainly in the last generation of horses, as probably the best we’ve seen,’’ he said.

“Everyone talks about Black Caviar being outstanding and she was. She was unbeaten.

“However, she was fairly one-dimensional in that she basically only won up to 1200m, whereas this mare has won Group 1 races from a mile (1600m) right through to a mile-and-a-half (2400m) competing against the elite horses not against a band of horses that are fairly limited.’’

Her success has been a boon not only for her connections and fans but the Magic Millions sales.

“From a Magic Millions point of view it gives us the opportunity to promote our sale as a source of out-and-out superstars – and that’s what she is,’’ Cox said.

“We can go to the world and say you can buy this kind of horse here at our Magic Millions sale.

“That alone is great leverage for us. For the Gold Coast, there’s a knock-on effect of international people, significant horse players the world over turn up to attend our sales.’’

Winx in sale ring as Lot 329 at the 2013 MM Gold Coast Yearling Sale. Photo: MAGIC MILLIONS

Cox said Winx’s sale – as Lot 329 in the 2013 yearling sales, a bay filly by Street Cry out of Vegas Showgirl – showed the dream of snaring an affordable Group 1 winner was alive and well.

“She was $230,000. Basically the sale average these days is about $200,000, so she was just a little bit above sale average,’’ Cox said.

“But I think the key message is that if you get in and get involved, you can get a horse of that calibre.’’

West Australian-based auctioneer Grant Burns sold the filly under the hammer and remembers “a taller, leggier filly that had a lot of scope to her’’.

“The interesting thing with her was her reserve was a low one, she could have been purchased for under $100,000,’’ Burns said.

“She was a horse that was on the market early on in the piece and it was a very genuine sale.

“In this case, the vendors were there to meet the market and there was a lot of genuine bidding on her and she could have been purchased for $100,000 but she made $230,000.

“She had a great pedigree whether she was good on the racetrack or not – that was the interesting thing.

“She was a really good buy because her pedigree alone would have held her in good stead had she not been that good on the racetrack.’’

Two-time Cox Plate champion Winx checks out her latest silverware with strapper Umut Odemislioglu at her Flemington stable. Picture: AAP Image

Having won more than $9 million in prizemoney, with nine Group 1 victories including two Cox Plates, Winx’s success is a boon for the Magic Millions sales.

“I think the fact that we are selling horses of this calibre gives us the opportunity to attract even better horses to the sale,’’ Cox said. “And that’s certainly the case.

“We’re just about to press the button and send the 2017 edition to the printer and we know that we’ve got some outstanding horses and horses that can be potential Winxs.

“In the last few years we’ve sold the most stakes winners in the country, the most Group 1 winners, the last two horses of the year.

“So we’re selling a very high-profile horse.’’