Chris Waller‘s class mare Fangirl relished the retirement of last year’s champ Anamoe improving on her second last spring to hand her trainer his 150th career Group 1 success in Saturday’s $1 million Winx Stakes (1400m).
2023 Winx Stakes winner Fangirl improved on her second in the race last year to kick off her spring with a Group 1 win. Photo: Steve Hart.
Waller enjoyed his impressive seventh win in the race formerly known as the Warwick Stakes and renamed in honour of his classy mare Winx who herself won this event three times between 2016 and 2018.
Now 80-time Group 1 winning hoop James McDonald continued his dominance with a third Winx Stakes victory at Royal Randwick, giving Waller’s Sebring mare Fangirl ($5) a perfectly-timed ride down the outside on the Soft (6) track first-up.
Fangirl settled back early as the stable’s Rosehill Guineas winner Lindermann led the Winx Stakes field around before making her move on the straight.
She wound up out wide and finished strongly savaging the line and denying Waller’s American import, recent Hawkesbury Crown winning mare Princess Grace ($21), who finished a brave second right on the inside rail.
Annabel Neasham’s evergreen veteran Zaaki ($4.80F) was typically strong running third as the beaten top elect, while Waller also rounded out the First Four with Hinged ($12) good in fourth.
2023 Winx Stakes Results & Finishing Order
| Finish | No. | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Margin | Bar. | Weight | Penalty | Starting Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 13 | FANGIRL | Chris Waller | James McDonald | 11 | 57kg | $5 | |||
| 2 | 15 | PRINCESS GRACE (USA) | Chris Waller | Brett Prebble | 0.3L | 1 | 57kg | $21 | ||
| 3 | 2 | ZAAKI (GB) | Annabel Neasham | Ms Jamie Kah | 0.48L | 8 | 59kg | $4.80F | ||
| 4 | 16 | HINGED | Chris Waller | Kerrin McEvoy | 1.01L | 5 | 57kg | $12 | ||
| 5 | 8 | OSIPENKO (NZ) | Chris Waller | Brenton Avdulla | 1.24L | 17 | 58.5kg | $21 | ||
| 6 | 1 | THINK IT OVER | Kerry Parker | Nash Rawiller | 1.46L | 7 | 59kg | $11 | ||
| 7 | 11 | DUAIS | Edward Cummings | Jason Collett | 1.77L | 9 | 57kg | $41 | ||
| 8 | 12 | MONTEFILIA | Chris Waller | Dylan Gibbons (a) | 2.21L | 15 | 57kg | $21 | ||
| 9 | 17e | KING COLORADO | Ciaron Maher & David Eustace | Ms Louise Day | 2.39L | 3 | 50.5kg | $14 | ||
| 10 | 5 | FRANCESCO GUARDI (IRE) | Chris Waller | Jay Ford | 3.12L | 6 | 59kg | $101 | ||
| 11 | 6 | COMMUNIST | Michael Freedman | Tyler Schiller | 4.56L | 14 | 58.5kg | $26 | ||
| 12 | 9 | LINDERMANN | Chris Waller | Hugh Bowman | 4.97L | 18 | 58.5kg | $14 | ||
| 13 | 18e | NAVAJO PEAK | David Payne | Joshua Parr | 5.3L | 12 | 59kg | $71 | ||
| 14 | 10 | MAJOR BEEL (NZ) | Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott | Tim Clark | 5.67L | 10 | 58.5kg | $26 | ||
| 15 | 7 | GOLDEN MILE | James Cummings | Chad Schofield | 6.41L | 2 | 58.5kg | $12 | ||
| 16 | 3 | MO’UNGA (NZ) | Annabel Neasham | Sam Clipperton | 7.22L | 16 | 59kg | $9 | ||
| 19e | ATTRITION | Mitchell Freedman | 0 | |||||||
| 14 | GOING GLOBAL (IRE) | Chris Waller | Regan Bayliss | 0 | ||||||
| 4 | ARAPAHO (FR) | Bjorn Baker | Ms Rachel King | 0 |
Table Credit: Racing Australia.
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