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This weekend, Australian champion mare Winx, whose Longines world racehorse ranking is second only to Arrogate, will try to achieve a third-consecutive victory in the 97th edition of Melbourne’s G1 Cox Plate

By David Haslett, President & CEO of Sky Racing World

This weekend, Australian champion mare Winx, whose Longines world racehorse ranking is second only to Arrogate, will try to achieve a third-consecutive victory in the 97th edition of Melbourne’s G1 Cox Plate. She’ll be also attempting to better her 2015 track record and the historic winning margin she achieved last year in the 1¼ mile weight-for-age championship that boasts a purse of $3.05 million AUD (US$2.3 million).

On Saturday, Oct. 28th in Melbourne (Friday evening, Oct. 27th in North America) before the race dubbed ‘the best two minutes in sport’, Moonee Valley will host a range of G2 and G3 fixtures. Races include the G3 Telstra Phonewords Stakes, the G2 Drummond Gold Vase, the G2 italktravel Fillies Classic, and the G2 Schweppes Crystal Mile.

However, these races are just the appetizer before the Cox Plate runs at 5 pm Melbourne time (2 am EST, or 11pm PST on Friday Oct. 27th), when Winx has the weight of expectations on her to pull off a 22nd-straight win, with odds at 4/25. The Chris Waller-trained 6-year-old heads into the Plate with a string of spectacular victories. Her 2017 campaign includes a second successive win in the G2 Warwick Stakes, and victories in this year’s G1 George Main Stakes, G1 Turnbull Stakes, and G2 Chelmsford Stakes.

What makes this weekend’s Cox Plate the climax of Winx’s 2017 campaign will be seeing if she can achieve what 29 former contenders have failed to pull off before her – a hat-trick in the race. This hasn’t happened in 35 years, since Kingston Town won the Plate in 1982 (capping her 1980 and 1981 wins), after taking the George Main Stakes and G1 Caulfield Stakes twice in a row (1981 and 1982).

Winx will also be looking to surpass her own previous Cox Plate records. This time last year, the race loomed as an epic showdown between the mare and Hartnell. Winx was a slow-burner, settling in midfield as Hartnell surged forward. But, at the three-furlong pole, Winx moved from the pack around the turn to storm home and win with a record-setting margin of eight lengths. Winx and jockey Hugh Bowman will also be attempting to improve their 2015 Cox Plate record time of 2.02.98.

Winx will be battling more than herself this weekend. Certainly, Winx co-owner Peter Tighe considers her barrier 6 draw perfect and trainer Waller said of her Moonee training run this week that it was “exactly what we wanted to see”. That said, her victory isn’t certain, when the field includes Gailo Chop (barrier 4, 17/1 odds). The French-bred horse is an eligible candidate for a race upset, particularly as he is fresh from a victory in this year’s Caulfield Stakes, an important preparatory race for the Cox Plate.

The field also features boom 3-year-old colt Royal Symphony (with 17/1 odds). Although a wildcard, he will carry the lightest weight (109 lbs) and has a perfect barrier 7 draw, providing him with room to nicely maneuver.

The focus on Irish-bred Kaspersky, who makes his Cox Plater debut (with outsider odds of 80/1), will be more about his jockey Michelle Payne. She won the 2015 Melbourne Cup on Prince of Penzance (against 100/1 odds), and race fans will be interested to see if Payne can ride Kaspersky to equal his recent performance, placing second in a G2 race at Royal Ascot in the UK.

With the Cox Plate the last race of her 2017 campaign, what’s next for Winx? Waller is considering a European campaign next year. “Providing she is well,” said Waller last month, “she will run during The Championships in the Group One Queen Elizabeth Stakes [on April 8th] and look to target a race during the Royal Ascot carnival or be freshened up subsequent to the George Ryder Stakes and be targeted towards a European campaign containing three races over a range of distances.”

Before that, there’s the update on the Longines world rankings in January, with Winx once again vying for first place against Arrogate. The 4-year-old American colt will be defending his G1 Breeders’ Cup Classic title from Gun Runner on Nov. 4th.

How Winx herself fares in the rankings will be determined in part by her Cox Plate performance, which American race fans can live-stream and wager on via the following ADWs: TVG, TwinSpires, Xpressbet, NYRA Bets, HPIBet, WatchandWager, BetAmerica and AmWager. Punters can also pick up free past performances and race information at Sky Racing World.

A former Managing Director of Sportech Racing, David was appointed President and CEO of Sky Racing World in April 2014. The Louisville, Kentucky-based company, a subsidiary of Australian wagering firm Tabcorp, provides Australian, South African and South Korean racing content for simulcast horse-race wagering to multiple North America-facing ADW brands and race-tracks.