Winx in a class of her own as Cox Plate match race with Hartnell fails to materialise

FOR one fleeting stride it loomed as the match race everyone had wanted to see between Winx and Hartnell, but it was over in a split second of that stride.

Winx blows the Cox Plate field away. Picture: George Salpigtidis

FOR one fleeting stride it loomed as the match race everyone had wanted to see.

It was over in a split second of that stride as Winx powered away to an eight-length victory.

Hartnell’s trainer John O’Shea, rugged up as he fights off a flu sparked by Melbourne’s unseasonal spring, waited with Godolphin’s Australian boss Henry Plumptre as James McDonald directed Hartnell back to the No.2 stall.

There were no signs of disappointment from the trio as McDonald unsaddled the horse and then had a brief conversation with the trainer and boss before walking over to the scales to weigh in.

Unfortunately when the space between first and second is so significant, there’s not much that can be said.

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This time last year Hartnell finished fifth to Winx beaten 10 lengths. This time it was second and two lengths closer.

Asked about Hartnell, O’Shea said: “He was great. He is on track for where we are going.”

O’Shea feared going into that race that Winx could be even be superior on the Moonee Valley track where before Saturday she’d only raced in last year’s Cox Plate for her first runaway victory.

Winx strides past Hartnell. Picture: Tony Gough

What he saw only reinforced what he’d feared about his horse and Winx.

“This is her home ground, mate,” he said.

As for Hartnell, perhaps he is big track horse who likes the open spaces and plenty of galloping room.

An assessment whether Hartnell will head back to the Melbourne Cup — he finished 15th as a $31 shot after taking the same path to the big race last year — will be based on how he pulls up from the Cox Plate race.

He is still the Cup favourite, drifting slightly after his second from $4.60 to $5.

Plumptre was in awe of Winx’s performance.

“It was an awesome performance by the winner,” he said,

“Sensational mare, she is. An elite racehorse.”

But it wasn’t all doom and gloom for Hartnell who raced up on the speed.

“Our horse went well,” Plumptre said.

“But James said he didn’t really handle The Valley that well — but she is a champion, she an absolute champion.”

Winx cruises past Hartnell and Black Heart Bart, who are unable to keep up. Picture: Tony Gough

He described it as a “Black Caviar” thing with Winx and other champion horses who when think are under pressure, they just keep finding and finding.

Plumptre said the plan going into the Cox Plate was the Melbourne Cup as Hartnell’s next assignment.

“But I think we will probably see how he pulls up,” he said.

“The Melbourne Cup, he still has got an entry for it but he’ll need to pull up really well. I’d love to get him back on a big galloping track like Flemington.”

And while McDonald said Hartnell was brave in defeat, he felt he wasn’t happy on the often tricky Valley track as tried to navigate him around the home turn bend.

He said Winx got to him quickly and was under pressure a fair way from home.

“It’s definitely not his track,” McDonald said.

Hartnell’s second placing brought to an end his three consecutive victories. It was a Winx type of thing.

Vandyke hails Yankee Rose

SURROUND remains the only filly to have won the Cox Plate, but trainer David Vandyke couldn’t have been prouder of Yankee Rose’s placing.

Yankee Rose joins the 2008 placegetter Samantha Miss as a three-year-old filly to finish third in Australia’s weight-for-age championship and it was enough to give Vandyke goosebumps.

As Winx streeted Hartnell by a record eight-length margin, Yankee Rose was three-quarters of a length away in third.

“We tracked Winx all the way and she just went bang and left us,” Vandyke said. “The way she left the rest of us in her wake, that just stamped Winx as an out-and-out champion. But our filly is just top class. She’s an amazing filly.

“She’s run second in a Golden Slipper this year, she’s run third in the Cox Plate and won two Group 1s in between.

“She had her first start less than a year ago. I couldn’t be any prouder of her. It was an amazing performance and just amazing to be here today.”

Dean Yendall, who rode Yankee Rose, said Yankee Rose was chasing too far from home.

“She was still good to the line. I was really happy with her,” Yendall said.

With AAP