Winx extends winning run to 18 in Australia

Australian superstar Winx extended her winning run to 18 in the Warwick Stakes at Randwick but not before giving her supporters a scare.

She completely missed the break and was at least four lengths detached at the rear of the field running down the back straight.

Hugh Bowman did not panic on Chris Waller’s mare, though, and swooped down the outside to just get up in time.

“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,” said Waller.

Bowman said: “I was thinking it could be mathematically impossible to catch them but there was nothing I could do about that I just had to rely on the engine that I know is in her, I couldn’t take off at the 700m to get closer or I would have run out of gas, so I just had to have confidence in her and ride her to run a race.”

It was the Australian mare’s 22nd career success and her unbeaten streak now stretches to beyond two years. She draws alongside Australian sensation Ajax, who in the 1930s also strode to 18 consecutive wins, but remains shy of Black Caviar's sequence of 25.