WINX OWNER PETER TIGHE COMPARES THE MIGHTY MARE WITH MIGHT AND POWER & MAKYBE DIVA
Mighty mare Winx won 33 consecutive races and 25 Group 1 races but is she superior to legendary racehorses Might And Power and Makybe Diva?
It’s an ongoing debate amongst racings fans around Australia but the answer is a simple one according to Winx co-owner Peter Tighe.
Talking to Unibet racing expert Craig Moore, the long-time Winx owner said a hypothetical race between Winx, Might And Power and Makybe Diva over 2400m would more than likely come down to a ‘photo finish’ but Winx would eventually trump her legendary rivals at the line.
“All on a given day, it would be a photo finish,’’ Tighe told Unibet.
“People would call me a mug if I didn’t say Winx would have beaten them all because she basically just proved to be unbeatable on the racetrack as she got on in her racing life.
“I’m sure the others would have given her a good run for her money but at the end of the day, I think she would have done what she had to do to make sure she was at the winning post first.”
From her humble beginnings as a filly everyone thought wasn’t as quick as other fillies, Winx went on to become the horse that stopped the nation after being purchased for $230,000 in 2013.
The Chris Waller-trained mare raced 43 times and won an incredible 33 consecutive races over a four-year run before retiring after her final race win in the 2019 Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Her 25 Group 1 wins, which were predominantly piloted by champion jockey Hugh Bowman, is an Australasian record for most consecutive wins and most Group 1 wins.
“She was just a superior athlete, head and shoulders above the horses that were running at the time,’’ a proud Tighe said.
“Most of the races she won and kept on winning, she beat some very good opposition.
“It just went to show how far ahead she was of the rest of them and she was real golden girl of the era.
“She just defied bad luck, draws, weather, bad days, bad everything, probably even a bad ride from Hughy [jockey Hugh Bowman].
“She defied everything and just kept coming up trumps.
“In the world of reality, you wouldn’t imagine that in a million years that could keep happening.”
In addition to four Cox Plates (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018), Winx won four Chipping Norton Stakes (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019), four George Ryder Stakes (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019), three Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2017, 2018, 2019), three George Main Stakes (2016, 2017, 2018) and two Turnbull Stakes (2017, 2018), plus a Doncaster Mile (2016), Caulfield Stakes (2016), Epsom Handicap (2015), Winx Stakes (2018) and Queensland Oaks (2015).
Amongst all her memorable race victories, Tighe said the Epsom in 2015 stands out from the rest as it was a race which connections earmarked as merely a lead-up to her Queensland Oaks campaign.
“It was just unbelievable what happened,’’ Tighe recalled.
“I remember that vividly because we were gobsmacked.
“She passed 17 horses down the straight and ends up to win and winning away from a fairly good field.”
Like other champions before her like the late Might And Power, Winx showed a human awareness not commonly seen in horses and animals alike.
Tighe recalled how she had a presence around the stable and while she lapped up the attention, she knew when it was time to retreat and she did so in a well-mannered way.
“She loved the attention to a degree, but when she had enough, she just let you know,’’ he said.
“She went to stand at the back of the box when she had enough of everybody.
“She had her little traits like that, I don’t think she had a mean bone in her body.
“She just liked her own company, she liked to get things her way.
“She was never pushy or anything with the staff, I don’t think she ever did anything untoward unless she had enough and she wanted to do her thing.”
In 2018, Winx was ranked the world’s best racehorse in the World’s Best Racehorse rankings.
The Mighty Mare is also just the third horse being Black Caviar and Sunline to be inducted into the Australian racing Hall of Fame while still racing.
By the end of her career, Winx had amassed more than $26 million in prizemoney.
As typified by her unexpected and eye-catching win in the Epsom, Tighe said she just had that insatiable appetite for finding a way to win.
“I’m sure she knew she was beating the other horses, quite an intelligent young girl,’’ he said.
“She knew what she had to do to beat them and that’s about what she did every time.
“She just did what was necessary, whatever it took, she just made sure she got to the winning post first.”
A long-time racing fan, Tighe said his involvement with racing hasn’t subsided with Winx’s retirement to the Hunter Valley, where she gave birth to a foal in 2022.
The former Winx co-owner said he is constantly on the look out for the next ‘Winx’ even though he knows it is an exercise in futility.
“We know we won’t find her,” he said.
“But we know we will have a good time looking for her.’’