SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) - Superstar mare Winx easily won her 30th consecutive race Saturday as she began what is expected to be a farewell autumn campaign before drawing a close on her incredible career.
The Chris Waller-trained champion galloper was odds on favourite at the 1400m Apollo Stakes at Sydney's Royal Randwick Racecourse and she didn't disappoint in her first outing of the year.
With long-time jockey Hugh Bowman in the saddle, the seven-year-old bided her time before taking the lead with 200m to go and effortlessly romped to victory by two lengths ahead of Happy Clapper and Egg Tart.
"She was in pure control from the 600m mark," said Bowman after Winx won the race for a third time.
"As the race unfolded we settled into a lovely rhythm. It was a pretty comfortable race for me and for Winx."
It extended the world's top-rated turf horse's win streak to 30, stretching back almost four years.
She smashed legendary sprinter Black Caviar's Australian win record last August when making it 26 in a row and subsequently cemented her place in horse racing history by winning a record fourth Cox Plate in Melbourne.
It made her the only horse to claim Australia's most prestigious weight-for-age race four times.
But the clock is inevitably ticking for Winx, the 2018 Horse of the Year alongside England's Cracksman.
This is widely expected to be her last season, with the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick in April tipped as her likely swansong.
"It's a massive relief. It's quite unbelievable," said an emotional Waller after seeing his horse win yet again.
"She can't tell us when she's had enough and we made the decision to push on further (with an autumn season) for the better of racing."
