Wonder mare Winx leaves early risers speechless with thundering gallop before third Cox Plate

FOR Chris Waller, it was the silence that stood out as much as anything else as his champion mare Winx rounded off her preparations for Saturday’s $3.5m Cox Plate with a gallop at Moonee Valley.

FOR Chris Waller, it was the silence that stood out as much as anything else.

As his wonder mare Winx turned for home at Moonee Valley in her last fast work before Saturday’s shot at a Cox Plate three-peat, he could sense the quiet anticipation of those early starters who only had eyes for one horse out of the almost 50 galloping at Breakfast With The Best.

He had rehearsed the moment in his mind the previous night. In the witching hour before a few hours’ sleep, the ever-cautious Waller mulled over the scenarios.

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He held a slight concern the crowd might be so enamoured with the champ they could have inadvertently stirred her up with the cheering and applause during an important track gallop.

He shouldn’t have worried. When Winx began to thunder down the straight on her own just after 6.30am yesterday — as she has so seamlessly done twice before in Cox Plates — the trainer acknowledged you could hear “a pin drop”.

Winx was the star attraction at Moonee Valley on Tuesday.

The only thing that broke the silence was Winx’s galloping hoofs bouncing off the track and her nostrils flaring as she effortlessly went past the line.

“It was quite humbling,” Waller said as the six-year-old mare headed back to stall 54, with an army of trackwatchers following her every move as if she was the Pied Piper.

“I was sort of thinking (on Monday night), ‘I wonder what people are going to do when she goes onto the track’. Are they going to upset her? Are they going to clap when she comes down the straight?’

“(But) everyone was polite, which was fantastic. It was a very serious piece of work this morning ... you can’t have anything go wrong at this late stage. As she came up the straight, you could have heard a pin drop.

“It was quite an eerie feeling and it was humbling to see so many people here this morning.”

For everyone other than Waller, jockey Hugh Bowman, two of the three owners in attendance in Peter Tighe and Debbie Kepitis, for the stable staff, and for the Moonee Valley Racing Club, it was a delight to behold. For those more intimately involved, it was nothing short of a relief.

Winx cruised around Moonee Valley on Tuesday in her final fast work before Saturday’s Cox Plate.

Bowman, who was still graciously giving interviews about the horse that has changed his life three hours after the gallop, left the track feeling more confident Winx is perfectly placed to join the legendary Kingston Town as the only horses in history to win three Cox Plates.

“I am very comfortable, (even) more so after (Tuesday) morning’s track gallop,” Bowman said.

Malcolm Johnston, who rode Kingston Town to the first of his three straight Cox Plate wins in 1980, was almost unrecognisable with his blue suit and Donald Trump-style wig. Ever the showman, even he professed to having goosebumps when he watched the mare from the lawn.

“She’s a freak, mate,” Johnston said. “She gives me goosebumps like Kingstown Town used to.”

Waller wouldn’t rule out another start in Melbourne after the Cox Plate — in the Emirates Stakes — depending on how she pulls up after Saturday’s run. The mare has had her inoculations for the Japan Cup in late November — just in case — with England an enticing option next year.

COX PLATE (2040m)

Horse (barrier)	Jockey	Weight
1. HAPPY CLAPPER (9)	D Oliver	59kg
2. GAILO CHOP (4)	M Zahra	59kg
3. HUMIDOR (8)	--	59kg
4. KASPERSKY (2)	--	59kg
5. FOLKSWOOD (5)	K McEvoy	59kg
6. SEABURGE (1)	R Bayliss	57.5kg
7. HARDHAM (3)	L Nolen	57.5kg
8. WINX (6)	H Bowman	57kg
9. ROYAL SYMPHONY (7)	D Yendall	49.5kg

“Australia is very proud of her. The rest of the world is very aware of her but the realism is that we’ve got to make sure that she comes first,” Waller said.

“We’d love to take her overseas and we will give her that opportunity but only when she’s 100 per cent and at the top of her game.”

For the moment, the only thing that matters is Saturday, where the silence of the crowd on Tuesday morning will be replaced by the maddening roar of the Moonee Valley masses.