Hugh Bowman says knowing Winx boosts his faith in her Cox Plate defence

WONDER mare Winx is set to return to work later this month as she builds towards a Cox Plate defence in October.

Winx is on her way back and conenctions are eyeing a Cox Plate tilt.

WONDER mare Winx is set to return to work later this month as she builds towards a Cox Plate defence in October.

Part-owner Peter Tighe hosted a Winx celebration in Brisbane last week, with trainer Chris Waller and jockey Hugh Bowman the special guests, along with Guy Mulcaster, the man who chose her from the Magic Millions sales.

Bowman revealed it wasn’t Winx’s off the canvas Epsom win or even the runaway Cox Plate victory that stood out as the moment he realised she was a little bit special.

It was at the end of a regulation track gallop during her unbeaten autumn campaign.

Bowman said he was on such good terms with himself given the brilliant way Winx was working, that he neglected to navigate a witches hat positioned on the course.

“I was riding her work at Rosehill, we had permission to work her inside the cones so she had fresh ground and as I was gliding past the winning post, I was ‘having a moment’ and forgot to steer her around the corner,” Bowman said.

“I was approaching the cone and I was going too fast to steer her in, so I just thought I would go around it, but as I went to veer out, she veered in, so therefore inevitably we headed straight at it. Most horses, 95 per cent, would just jump over them. They would shorten stride and just pop over them, a little bunny hop.

Winx co-owners Debbie Kepitis and Peter Tighe. Picture: John Appleyard

“But she just lifted her foot over it. Incredible. She didn’t miss a beat. It was amazing.

“I’ve never seen a horse better on their feet than she is.

“Even in the Epsom when she got into that awkward spot, it hardly stopped her momentum.”

Waller made the conscious decision to turn his back on an international campaign for the Horse of the Year elect this year to concentrate wholly on the Cox Plate again.

Following Winx’s defeat in last year’s ATC Oaks, Waller felt he had almost run out of time to win a Group 1 with her.

“After The Oaks in Sydney, we looked at her and thought the only chance she would have to win a Group 1 would be the Queensland Oaks,” he said.

Originally published as Hugh Bowman says knowing Winx boosts his faith in her Cox Plate defence