For the neigh sayers: magic of Winx is all in the eye of the beholder

What motivates a champion such as Winx? One can only speculate.

Hugh Bowman on Winx returns to the mounting yard after a trackwork session at Rosehill Gardens yesterday. Picture: Getty Images

Super Saturday. A week of press conferences. Both ends of the human condition are in evidence. The sharp insights. The meaningless gibber. Bledisloe talk from Israel Folau and Michael Cheika. Sydney derby talk from every Tom, Dick and Harry Cunningham at the Swans and Giants. The only prominent figure who won’t say boo is Winx, more alluringly quiet than Nicole Kidman before the Oscars.

If only the horse could talk. The two-legged athletes come in handy. They set the scene and establish a plot with pre-match dialogue. We sit back and see how the plot unfolds. Not all of the humans do themselves a favour by opening their mouths, however, in ignorance of Mark Twain’s advice to stay silent and be thought a fool rather than speaking out and removing all doubt. There’s something to be said for the aura created by silence and a Harper Lee-style reclusiveness, and Winx benefits from forever being a mystery to all of us who swoon over the little spunk. She can’t ruin the mystique by flapping her substantial gums.

Because she may be a giggling little ditz for all we really know. She may grab the microphone after a win and say, “Like, oh my god, I can’t believe I’ve won, like, 26 in a row!” When we don’t know her personality, we can make it whatever we want it to be. When she pulls a crowd of journalists to Rosehill on a Thursday morning, she’s left completely alone while her trainer, jockey and owners do the talking. She saunters around like a bored supermodel who, like, has better things to do. And yet, and yet, what a shame she can’t take a few questions.

Do you have any understanding, at all, about what’s going on at Randwick tomorrow afternoon? You make thousands upon thousands of people dress up and go to the races. Do you know we’re there to watch you and you alone? You hit the lead and there’s a thunderous roar. Does it resonate? Do you know the extent of the adoration? When 10 other horses line up tomorrow, how do you view them? As horses to run with or against? Does something in the electrifying pre-race atmosphere make you nervous? Excited? Are you a humble sort of soul or a precious little diva? Yay? Nay? Does a racehorse even know it’s in a race?

Camie Heleski, the co-ordinator of the horse management program at Michigan State University, once told ESPN, “This is mostly conjecture on my part,” in a preface that pretty much sums up the impossibility of a definitive answer. “But I think in the same way that some horses like to be dominant in a herd, and be more dominant, say, in getting the feed when it’s given, I believe some horses also want to beat other horses in a racing scenario. The instinct is to try to win. Whether they’re on a racetrack or being let out into pasture, even in that at-liberty situation, they will often run and run fast. And there are always a few that try just a little harder to be out in front when they do a group gallop.”

Now, I’ve witnessed Winx up close and personal in a red-orange dawn at Rosehill. Hoo-ee. It felt magical. But perhaps that’s only because I’ve wanted it to feel magical. When sightings are this rare, when we don’t have to listen to the pre-race waffle, perhaps we can make race horses into whatever we want them to be. Something they’re not? We’re fortunate that human athletes reveal themselves. We know who they are and what they’re about. We’re just as fortunate that Winx does not. If we want to view her as a fighting machine or a careless free spirit who just wants her next feed and roll in the sand, there’s no evidence to the contrary. She’s a beautiful sight, but she’s gloriously oblivious. There’s more meaning in the humans.

By comparison to those involved in tomorrow’s Bledisloe Cup or Sydney derby, she gets it easy.

Kerry Thomas, the founder of Equine Athletic Psychology at THT Bloodstock, says champion racehorses have no concept of anything other than the race they are in. “He’ll look at it as the individual competition,” Thomas tells ESPN in a discussion about American Pharaoh, the Triple Crown winner. “He won’t put the body of work together but he will feel like he’s in the right place in his herd dynamics, controlling the herd, having control and influence over the other horses. After the race he’ll think, ‘I did my thing.’ And I do think horses get demoralised if they don’t win or are beaten down by another horse. But once he gets back to the barn, he just wants to have a good meal.”

Winx doesn’t have to worry about what the newspapers are saying, what the trolls on social media are up to, any of it. “We’re amazed by the people that follow her from around the world,” trainer Chris Waller says. “No longer racing people or sporting people, just the general public are wanting to know who this Winx is and what makes her so good. She’s got the respect of a lot of people. We’re very proud of the way she’s received. It’s very rare to get any criticism of her. That’s great for a horse like her. The best thing about Winx is that she can perform under pressure and sustain it for a lot longer.”

Jockey Hugh Bowman says, “She seems to be a much more mature individual now. She still gets a bit anxious, there’s no doubt about it … but everything she has shown us would suggest she’s ready for a big performance on the weekend. She feels as good as she ever has. She seems more mature mentally.’’