"This isn't good, I don't want to be here" is how Hugh Bowman felt after Winx missed the start badly before the champion mare produced a most memorable performance to win the $250,000 Group II Bob Ingham Warwick Stakes (1400m) at Randwick on Saturday.
Winx reared as the barriers opened, giving her seven rivals a five length start, settling at the back at the tail of the field.
"I want to win as much as anyone else but after what happened out of the barriers my plans went out the window," Bowman said.
"I was a bit worried going past the 700 because the way track conditions are, they're running very slick times, thinking it could be mathematically impossible to catch them but there was nothing I could do.
"All I could do was rely on the engine in her. I couldn't take off at the 700 to get closer or I would have run out of gas.
"I just had to have confidence in her and ride her to run a race."
Bowman eased the Chris Waller-trained mare to the outside at the top of the straight while Kerrin McEvoy sent the stablemate Foxplay to the front and she sprinted quickly, looking the winner until Winx started to claw back the margin, hitting the front in the final few strides to the cheers of the crowd.
"I couldn't take off, I was stuck back there and thinking 'this isn't good. I don't want to be here' and like I said it was an amazing feeling the last 200 and what can I say – she's a freak," Bowman said.
"She's just so much better than them and I had to rely on that to win the race."
Winx ($1.10 fav) defeated Foxplay ($20) by a half-neck with a long back to the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Ecuador ($26) in third.
The victory was Winx's 18th in a row and Waller said this one "really got the heart pumping".
"I just didn't have a feeling really," Waller said of Winx's poor start. "That happens in racing.
"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.
"She gave them a fair head start and it's very special to know you've got a horse that everybody appreciates so much.
"Thank God she got the job done."
Waller indicated Winx would return to Randwick on September 2 for her next start in the Group II Chelmsford Stakes (1600m). Her main target this spring will be a third Cox Plate at Moonee Valley on October 28.
"She has come back that bit bigger," he said. "I'd say she will be back here in two weeks."
Stewards held an inquiry into Winx's barrier manners after the race but placed a warning on the mare rather than ordering her back to the trials.
How did she win that?! 😲😲😲
— Sky Racing (@SkyRacingAU) August 19, 2017
Winx pulls out something special to extend her winning streak to 18 in the Warwick Stakes!#GoWinxpic.twitter.com/e4Oyispbbg
