2017 Turnbull Stakes Results: Winx Beats Ventura Storm by 6.5 Lengths

Chris Waller’s Hall of Fame mare Winx has continued the fairy tale saluting in her Flemington race debut to make it 21 wins on the trot absolutely dominating Saturday’s Turnbull Stakes 2017 results.

Winx became a 14-time Group 1 winner dominating the 2017 Turnbull Stakes results. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.

The six-year-old daughter of Street Cry finally answered the doubters who said she couldn’t win at Headquarters, producing her typically freakish ability in her 14^th Group 1 career success by a runaway margin of over six lengths on the Lindsay Park-trained runner-up Ventura Storm.

The horse many thought might give Winx something to chase in the race was Darren Weir’s dual Flemington Group 1 winner Humidor.

In the end though he only just scratched through for third in the Turnbull Stakes trifecta, with Winx never in doubt scoring one of the easiest and most impressive Flemington Group 1 wins punters are ever likely to witness.

“What a great horse,” a typically emotional Waller said post-win.

“She’s very special.”

Winx had eased out to $1.20 in markets at Ladbrokes.com.au for the Group 1 $500,000 Turnbull Stakes (2000m), which was just her fourth run in Melbourne and her first since going back-to-back in the Ladbrokes Cox Plate at Moonee Valley last October.

She is now on track to join Kingston Town with a trio of wins in the $3 million Australasian weight-for-age championship returning to The Valley on October 28.

“There’s no training manual for horses like Winx,” Waller said discussing Cox Plate preparations.

“She’s got heavier every preparation….she keeps changing and keeps delivering.

“This preparation she’s 10 kilos heavier than last time, and once she starts racing she holds her weight the whole prep.

“She’s going as well as ever and we’re in for a hell for a race in three weeks’ time”

Success in the Ladbrokes Cox Plate will see Winx surpass Makybe Diva on the top of Australia’s all-time prize money list.

A $230,000 purchase from the 2013 Magic Millions Yearling Sales on the Gold Coast, Winx’s current earnings sit at $13,775,425.

Jockey Hugh Bowman continued his incredible association with the mare who dons the blue Magic Bloodstock silks, which are fast becoming as well-known as the salmon-and-black polka dots of Black Caviar.

“She’s just a dream to be a part of,” Bowman said.

“She’s just so uncomplicated and a dream to ride in a race.

“There’s obviously a lot of nervous energy that surrounds the mare now that she reaches the stage of history.

“She’s rewriting the history books and to be involved in that is a great honour.

“It really is a dream.”

Black Caviar bowed out of racing undefeated with 25 straight wins, and with 21 behind her and a 22^nd calling in the Cox Plate, Winx is quickly chasing down the ‘Black Flash’.

Winx has to date had 31 starts for 25 wins, 14 in elite grade, and remains undefeated in Victoria, Bowman always suggesting she was more comfortable on her Melbourne leg despite her dominance on the Sydney race tracks.

“She certainly enjoyed it [Flemington],” Bowman said.

“I got a clean break from the barriers and it was all pretty much smooth sailing from there.

“She’s settled into Melbourne very comfortably.

“Judging on today, she’s ready to go [in the Cox Plate].”

Bowman has ridden Winx 21 times for 20 wins and will also be aboard for the Cox Plate 2017, the latest odds for which at race sponsor Ladbrokes.com.au have the dual defending champion at $1.50.

“Nothing has quite prepared me for the ride this girl is taking me on,” Bowman added.

“She does make it easy for me.

“It’s hard to put into words, it’s a real feeling thing as it is with every horse, but this horse is taking all of our lives to a new level.”

It was a good line out in the Turnbull Stakes and Bowman settled Winx into fifth on the inside as the roughie Magicool led the field around.

The seven runners were really strung out, suggesting a pretty hot pace in the race, which suited Winx to a tee.

She started to move closer stalking the leaders around the turn for home before ambling up and easily going past her rivals.

Showing an affinity for the ‘straight six’ at Flemington, Winx won running away putting six and a half lengths on next past the post in an effort that was so simple it was scary.

Bowman had an absolute picnic in the saddle, barley having to ask Winx for anything thanks to getting a gun run with no traffic around her, before she absorbed the pressure and gobbled them up in the end.

“When she gets wound up and she lets go it’s pretty scintillating,” Waller said.

“She’s gonna be very hard to beat [in the Cox Plate].

“It’s haard to quantify, all of her wins have been so special, and yes we’ve got the utmost respect for Flemington, but wherever she goes she fails to disappoint.”

To back Winx next race in the Cox Plate at the right price, head to Ladbrokes.com.au and get aboard the Winx express!

2017 Turnbull Stakes Results & Finishing Order

Flemington Race 5 – 07/10/2017