Hugh Bowman on Winx at Randwick (Image: Twitter - @Ros_Scarlett
Winx made it 18 wins in a row with a breathtakingly dramatic victory in the Group 2 Warwick Stakes (1400m) at Randwick.
The world's best turf racehorse started a $1.10 chance to kick-off her six-year-old spring campaign with a win, and while she got the punters the right result, it was not in the fashion they were expecting.
Winx missed the start by about four lengths, but that didn't spook Hugh Bowman.
He helped Winx tack onto the back of the field and she let down to catch stablemate Foxplay in the final stride to preserve her winning streak by with 0.2 of a length to spare.
Trainer Chris Waller hailed Bowman's calmness in the situation.
"Hugh never panicked. When you put the reins in his hands you know you've got the right man aboard. He realised he had to make up a bit of ground and used the full length of the straight to do it," Waller said post-race.
Winx's winning time of 1:21.87 (Good 3) eclipsed her Warwick Stakes win from last year, when she beat Hartnell by 3.5 lengths to win in 1:23.83 (Good 4).
And Bowman said the track on Saturday contributed to that differential.
"I was a bit worried going past the 700m because of the way the track conditions are, they are running really slick times," Bowman said.
"I was thinking it could be mathematically impossible to catch them but there was nothing I could do about that I just had to rely on the engine that I know is in her, I couldn’t take off at the 700m to get closer or I would have run out of gas, so I just had to have confidence in her and ride her to run a race.
"I want her to win as much as anyone else but after what happened coming out of the barriers I had to renegotiate where I was obviously, and it was a concern halfway through but it was a good feeling the last 200m."
However, her sectionals were not officially clocked due to damage to the timing chip when she hit the barriers as she walked out of the gates.
The $143,750 cheque for winning the Warwick takes Winx's career earnings above the $13million mark, closing further on Makybe Diva's $14,526,690 benchmark across Australia and NZ.
Winx has now matched Ajax's 18-race winning streak that included a Cox Plate, a Newmarket Handicap, a Memsie Stakes, an All Aged Stakes and two Futurity Stakes wins back in the late 1930s.
Only seven horses have had longer winning streaks in Australian racing than Winx.
This year's Warwick had extra importance for one of Winx's prominent owners Debbie Kepitis, with the Australian Turf Club honouring her father Bob Ingham's contributions to Might And Power Day, the community raceday, with naming rights on the day's big feature.