After a false start when her program changed due to a suspension handed to regular rider Hugh Bowman, it came to the 1600m Group One Chipping Norton Stakes at Randwick to be her first start for the new campaign and it was worth every minute of the wait.
A Winx race is now an event in itself and there are precious few better sights on the racetrack than this champion mare cruising to her opposition and extending her stride easily to annihilate them.
Photo Steve Hart.
It's not always that easy of course but it has been often enough and this was one of those days.
"She's getting the imagination of Australia," said winning trainer Chris Waller.
"It's a great story and a good way to portray our sport.
"To see her come back like this is pretty special."
"She has been filling me with confidence all preparation," Hugh Bowman said.
"She is at her most vulnerable early in her preparation over the shorter distances, today at the 1600m, a nice genuinely run race, I had a lovely run close to the rear of the field but she just travelled so kindly.
"Her behaviour in the barriers suggests to me that she is a happy horse. That's where I have always been a little concerned. She gets a little agitated, a little edgy, and she has shown those signs throughout her whole career really but this preparation she hasn't shown any of those signs so she might have finally matured."
Winx has her next start on Golden Slipper day, March 24 in the Group One Ryder Stakes before connections make a decision on a Royal Ascot campaign or a tilt at a fourth Cox Plate.
It was the champion mare's 27th win, her 23rd in succession, her 16th Group One and her Australian record prizemoney moved to a tick under $16 million.
Bred by John Camilleri's Fairway Thoroughbreds, Winx was a $230,000 Magic Millions purchase from the Coolmore draft for Peter Tighe's Magic Bloodstock.
Her dam Vegas Showgirl has a yearling by Snitzel, foaled to Exceed And Excel last season but missed when returned to that stallion.
