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‘You had better come and say goodbye’: Tom Magnier, Chris Waller on Winx’s near-death experience

Heading into the race named in Winx’s honour, trainer Chris Waller reflects on the day he was told the great mare ‘wasn’t going to make it’ after her first foal was stillborn.

Ray Thomas
6 min read
August 22, 2024 - 12:53PM
Chris Waller with WInx and her Pierro filly foal, which went on to fetch $10 million at the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale in Sydney earlier this year. Picture: File
Chris Waller with WInx and her Pierro filly foal, which went on to fetch $10 million at the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale in Sydney earlier this year. Picture: File

Winx was gravely ill. Her first foal had been stillborn and the great mare’s health was deteriorating.

Coolmore Stud’s Tom Magnier feared the worst. He personally rang Winx’s trainer Chris Waller and her owners, Debbie Kepitis, Peter and Patty Tighe, and Elizabeth Treweeke, urging them to travel to his Hunter Valley property before it was too late.

“I said you had better come to the farm and say goodbye to Winx, she’s not going to make it,” Magnier said.

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• Winx filly smashes records after $10 million sale

It was the spring of 2020. Waller remembers vividly receiving Magnier’s phone call and feeling resigned to losing the champion mare.

Waller was torn. He desperately wanted to see Winx, maybe for the last time, but eventually decided against it.

“I didn’t go to the farm,” Waller said. “I felt it was best to leave it to the owners of Winx, they didn’t need me there.

“It was a very tough time, I wasn’t expecting her to come through it.”

Winx’s near-death experience is revealed for the first time in the movie-documentary, A Horse Named Winx, which is due for a nationwide cinema release on September 5.

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It’s a poignant tale given the tragic events this week of Black Caviar’s passing and the death of her newborn colt.

Fortunately, the Winx story has a happy ending. With the same courage and determination that swept her to 33 consecutive wins including a world record 25 at Group 1 level, Winx defied the odds and survived.

Miraculously, Winx regained her health and two years later fell pregnant again, eventually giving birth to a Pierro foal that was sold for $10 million at the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale earlier this year – a world record price for a filly.

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Winx is back in foal to Arrowfield Stud’s super sire Snitzel and is expected to give birth in October.

One of the all-time great racehorses, Winx was so good they not only made a movie about her – there’s a grandstand at Royal Randwick bearing her name, a statue at Rosehill Gardens and a Group 1 race honouring her.

At Royal Randwick on Saturday, the feature race is the $1 million Winx (formerly Warwick) Stakes, the first Group 1 of the new season.

Winx won the 1400m weight-for-age race when it was known as the Group 2 Warwick Stakes in 2016 and 2017.

When the Warwick Stakes was renamed the Winx Stakes and elevated to Group 1 level in 2018, Winx won it for a third successive year.

In fact, Waller has now trained the winner of the Winx Stakes seven times. He’s also won the weight-for-age race with Fangirl (2023), Verry Elleegant (2020) and Royal Descent (2015).

The Hall of Fame trainer has a particularly strong hand in Saturday’s race with defending champion Fangirl and her stablemates Via Sistina, Zougotcha, Atishu, Riff Rocket and Buckaroo.

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Waller invariably uses the Winx Stakes each year as a starting point for his elite spring carnival contenders.

“This race on Saturday is very important and I hope one of ours can win,” Waller said. “But it is also about where they end up in the spring.”

Waller pointed out that Verry Elleegant won the 2021 Melbourne Cup after resuming with a narrow loss to Mo’unga in the Winx Stakes. The great Winx won the Winx Stakes-Cox Plate double in 2016-17-18.

In fact, the Winx Stakes has proven to be a reliable guide to some of the major spring carnival races in recent years.

Godolphin’s champion Anamoe also won the Winx Stakes (2022) prior to training on and winning the Cox Plate later that spring. Fangirl was outstanding in the Winx Stakes last year before going on to win the King Charles III Stakes.

• Debbie Kepitis’ $10 million purchase of Winx filly ‘deserved’

The legendary Kingston Town won the Warwick Stakes-Cox Plate double in three successive years (1980-81-82), and mighty mare Sunline won both races in 1999.

Fangirl is the early TAB Fixed Odds favourite at $2.15 to defend her Winx Stakes title on Saturday with stablemate Via Sistina on the next line of betting at $6.50. Waller’s other runners are priced at: Zougotcha ($9), Riff Rocket ($10), Atishu ($23) and Buckaroo ($51).

“I would prefer they didn’t clash but I have to treat them as individuals,” Waller said.

“We could go to the Memsie Stakes at Caulfield next week but obviously that means they would have to travel away from Sydney and the weather is still unpredictable in Melbourne.

“In Sydney, we are starting to get some warmer weather now so we will take advantage of that.

“Whatever wins on Saturday might not necessarily be the best horse but it’s a starting point for some very important horses for our stable.”

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Waller did suggest his outstanding imported mare Via Sistana and triple Group 1 winner Riff Rocket would go to Melbourne after the Winx Stakes.

“I can almost guarantee Vis Sistina and Riff Rocket will be in Melbourne for the Makybe Diva Stakes (September 7) next start,” he said. “The better ones will be splitting up pretty quickly.”

Waller said the long weekend in October, which features the NRL Grand Final on October 6, would be a “fork in the road” for many of his elite spring carnival contenders.

“We will get them through to the grand final weekend then start to pick a path with them to the Caulfield Cup or Cox Plate, or stay in Sydney for the Hill Stakes and Craven Plate,” Waller said.

“Things can change a lot that weekend as it is the Epsom Handicap meeting in Sydney and the Turnbull Stakes in Melbourne.”

• 2024 Winx Stakes field and barrier draw

Riff Rocket had an outstanding three-year-old season winning from 1400m to 2500m and netting Group 1 wins in the Victoria Derby, Rosehill Guineas and ATC Australian Derby.

Waller said he is still unsure if Riff Rocket is more a weight-for-age middle distance horse or better suited to the staying handicaps like the Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup.

“We were in the same predicament with Preferment a few years ago,” Waller recalled.

“Hughie (Bowman, jockey) couldn’t work out who to ride in the (2015) Cox Plate, Preferment or Winx.”

Preferment had won the Victoria Derby during his classic season and as a spring four-year-old he scored successive wins in the Hill Stakes and Turnbull Stakes.

Bowman eventually decided to ride Winx in the Cox Plate and she streaked away to win by nearly five lengths in race record time with Preferment finishing ninth.

Champion jockey James McDonald is in a similar position as he rode Fangirl, Via Sistina, Riff Rocket, Zougotcha and Atishu to Group 1 wins last season but he has elected to stay with Fangirl in Saturday’s big race.

Fangirl is returning to racing after a leg wound sustained in a stable incident prematurely ended her autumn campaign after two runs – a brilliant first-up win in the Group 2 Apollo Stakes before her close second to Think It Over in the Group 1 Verry Elleegant Stakes.

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Waller admitted Fangirl’s injury was “pretty scary at the time” but he was amazed at how quickly she recovered.

“We were lucky there was no structural damage to the bones or tendons,” he said.

“She has had a good recovery period, a longer than normal spell and we can see the benefits of that.

“I think Fangirl has come back bigger and stronger, she is in for a great preparation.”

■ Hoofprint: The movie-documentary “A Horse Named Winx”, produced by renowned filmmaker Janine Hosking and written by acclaimed News Corp journalist Andrew Rule, is due for release in cinemas nationwide on September 5.

There is also a special preview screening on Father’s Day, September 1, in selected cinemas around the nation.

Originally published as ‘You had better come and say goodbye’: Tom Magnier, Chris Waller on Winx’s near-death experience

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/sport/superracing/nsw-racing/you-had-better-come-and-say-goodbye-tom-magnier-chris-waller-on-winxs-neardeath-experience/news-story/b262ae09fdcc9df87141037167ff3b52