October
AprilJust admit it
I see the narks and naysayers are out in force, on Twitter and elsewhere, after yet another magnificent performance to cap Winx’s storied career.
The idea that Winx’s connections “dodged” tough assignments is ridiculous. She beat the best Australasia had to offer in four Cox Plates, a feat never before achieved.
In three of those four Cox Plates she donkey-licked her opposition. In the other she held out a Weir runner with a 4¼-length gap to third.
As well as Australasia’s best, her victims in those races included future international star Highland Reel and several other northern-hemisphere Group 1 winners.
Admittedly, back in Tulloch’s day the Cox Plate was nowhere near Australia’s best race. But it is now.
If that was all she’d done, Winx would still have claims to be Australia’s greatest horse of the modern era. But then there are the other 29 wins of her streak, including 21 Group 1s to give her an all-time world record of 25.
By comparison, Makybe Diva won seven Group 1s. Yes, she won three Melbourne Cups but she was very generously handicapped in the third of those.
And they never had to doctor the track for Winx — she was even more dominant in the slop than on top of the ground.
Black Caviar was never beaten but she won “only” 15 Group 1s and never raced beyond 1400 metres.
Kingston Town was an absolute star but his record doesn’t stack up to Winx’s either.
We can talk till we’re blue in the face about Carbine, Phar Lap and Tulloch but very few of us these days were around for any of those.
If you can’t agree that Winx is the best Australian horse of the period from 1970 on, you have got the blinkers on.
Campbells Creek (Vic)