Global Weekly Review 26.10.15

It is amazing how expectations can be built up over weeks, and then utterly destroyed in a matter of seconds. That was the immediate impression formed after the brilliant mare Winx annihilated one of the best Cox Plate fields in recent memory.

Yes, there was undoubtedly a track bias favouring those racing hard up against the inside rail at tiny Moonee Valley on Saturday, and that is the path jockey Hugh Bowman took on Winx.

But there could be no questioning the international validity of a victory in record time, by four and three-quarter lengths over Criterion, a former G1 Australian Derby winner, who had been globetrotting successfully, and Ballydoyle visitor Highland Reel, winner of the G1 Secretariat Stakes in Chicago.

Winx, a four-year-old mare, is a daughter of the great Darley stallion Street Cry, who sadly died in September last year. Her name does not look out of place alongside those of her sire's other notable progeny, Zenyatta, Street Sense, Shocking, and more recently, Pride Of Dubai.

Street Cry was bred and raced by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed, who nurtured the young horse's talent within the Godolphin operation. The son of Machiavellian was an outstanding sire, who was only 16 when he died.

Before the G1 Cox Plate, many locals in Melbourne were fearing another European rout. But the reality is that those fears evaporated very quickly when Winx, trained by Chris Waller, loomed large on the inside.

Criterion is heading to the G1 Melbourne Cup, which is also the target for Godolphin hopeful Hartnell, who ran on with great promise to be just behind the placed horses. Criterion got stopped in his tracks before the turn, so his run had extra merit.

Arod was disappointing as he sweated badly beforehand and was running too freely for his own good in the early part of the race. Kermadec just didn't run his race and was well beaten.

On the same Cox Plate card, there were two brilliant runs turned in by Godolphin horses, namely Holler, who landed the G3 Telstra Phonewords Stakes by more than four lengths, and Bow Creek, recently arrived from the UK, who flew home from the back of the field for a close second in the G2 Crystal Mile.

In the UK, the Peter Chapple-Hyam-trained Marcel caused an upset in the G1 Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster, proving too strong for Johannes Vermeer, with the well-fancied Foundation third, and the widely-touted Deauville fifth.

The winner is by Lawman out of a daughter of Marju, and the trainer believes a crack at the French Classics will be preferable to going for a few rounds with the best in Britain in the G1 2,000 Guineas and Epsom Derby.