HUGH Bowman described his Cox Plate winning effort on Winx as “lonely”, but for the rest of us that watched, it was exhilarating.
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With the bat of an eye, the star mare put away any thought of a contest in the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley on Saturday.
The crowd, which had clapped her through the tunnel and roared her onto the track, was sniffing a battle at the 600-metre mark.
The moment had come for Dunedoo’s favourite son Bowman to go for the great mare.
She was outside Hartnell at that point and they had left the others in their wake.
Then Winx left him in her wake as he surged into racing folklore.
Bowman said he just thought he would win when he came to the track.
A windy day had raised doubt but the crowd helped him through that.
"[The track] has just played to horses coming around them," Bowman said.
“When I was able to secure Hartnell's hindquarters, all my worries disappeared.
"I just enjoyed the ride like everyone else.
"Not that I wanted him to fold, I knew he would take me to where I wanted to be. He couldn't take me far enough."
By the turn he was gone and the crowd roared Winx on as she galloped as if it was an exhibition.
"She is a superior racehorse," Bowman said.
"It is just a great honour to be a part of it.
"I felt [the pressure] when I came out onto the track and they clapped her under the tunnel. When they went up for her coming onto the racetrack, I became a bit emotional and had to regather myself.
"What that did was give me confidence because when I came to the track I thought we can't lose.
"It was a lonely, but great ride [in the straight].”
For trainer Chris Waller, the emotion was one of relief.
"She was just in the zone today and wherever she goes, if she is in that zone, she will win anything," he said.
Like Dulcify and Sunline, Winx opened up a big gap.
At the top of the straight it was two lengths, then three and, at the post, it was a record eight lengths.
Fittingly, Winx went past Black Caviar and So You Think in earnings, reaching $9.3 million, with her second Cox Plate win.
She joined Northerly, also a dual-Cox Plate winner, on nine group 1s, but she has many more to come.
Northerly is one of three horses above her in terms of career prizemoney.
The others are with Makybe Diva and Sunline.
Hartnell was brave in second and is the Melbourne Cup favourite, three-year-old filly Yankee Rose was third, another three-quarters of a length away, and is VRC Oaks favourite.
The quality of her humbled opposition is a mark of the victory.
"For her to win like that, it's pretty fitting," Waller said.