23 MOONEE VALLEY RACING CLUB 22 “How do you think the race will go today?” Miles asked a friend. “I think she’ll blitz them,” he replied. Even in his very last race call in a Cox Plate, Miles still had that adaptive brilliance until the end. After winning in record time in 2015, Winx won the 2016 addition by a record margin of eight lengths. Somehow, we managed to take the $1.80, but it wasn’t enough to put us in the party spirit. “The house party is off. No one is coming over tonight.” MO NE VAL EY RACING CLUB Winx was aiming for a record-equalling third Cox Plate and we were riding the wave all the way. We had witnessed Winx winning the Turnbull by a lousy six-and-a-half lengths, and we weren’t missing the Ladbrokes Cox Plate this time around. That win in the Turnbull is still the easiest Group 1 win I’ve ever seen. The applause for Winx broke out at the 500-metre mark as it became apparent that she was travelling better than her moderate opposition and up went win number 21 in the most destructive fashion. Perhaps not in the moderate camp was Darren Weir’s Humidor, who ran a distant third in the Turnbull but would go on to give Winx – and her legion of fans like us – the fright of our lives three weeks later. Ladbrokes Cox Plate Day came around, and you couldn’t have asked for a better day. The sun was shining, the track was playing fast, and 32,000 packed into The Valley to witness Winx emulate the feats of the great Kingston Town and win her third Cox Plate in a row. Surely, it was a foregone conclusion that she would simply win that day. After an SP of $4.60 in 2015 and $1.80 in 2016, she began at $1.18 here, and her nearest opposition was $19 – the three-year-old Royal Symphony. It all appeared to be going smoothly throughout the run, and Bowman was riding her with supreme confidence – possibly even too much confidence – as he hooked her threewide running line at the halfway point. He was weary of not being trapped in behind tiring horses, and he knew Winx had a superior ability to travel at top gear far longer than Gailo Chop and Folkswood, who sat one-two. What Hugh may not have realised was that Blake Shinn was stalking Winx on board Humidor. Blake was riding high, having already ridden four winners from six, including the old boy Lucky Hussler in the Crystal Mile and popular veteran Who Shot Thebarman in the Moonee Valley Gold Cup. “We’ve waited 35 years for this!” Matt Hill said as Winx took the lead. In his first Cox Plate call, I’m sure Matt Hill had been waiting his turn to deliver the punch line when Winx would surely win too. My phone went up, and I hit the record button, squeezed between patrons on the fence line as The Valley burst into hysteria. But just as Winx looked certain of victory, Blake Shinn pulled Humidor to the outside and started closing in on the champ. It was unheralded. We had never seen a horse come from behind and make ground on Winx. The heart skipped a few beats. A few expletives sounded from the crowd. The phone stopped tracking the horses, and I turned my attention to the big screen. She holds on by half a length. Phew. The blue streamers make a loud bang, and the stunned crowd performs the myoclonic jerk in unison. Humidor runs the race of his life with one of the greatest losing rides – denied by a champion. Winx doesn’t just win. She breaks her own track record, running 2:02.94 while parked three wide. Not only that, but Bowman also still has time to stand up and celebrate on the line despite a close finish. The queen joins the king in the three-time club. Freakish. 2017 – Winx 3
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