While Winx is preparing to equal Phar Lap's record of 14 straight wins, master trainer Chris Waller is preparing for the day his mare's winning run comes to an end.
![Faultless preparation: Winx and Hugh Bowman after trackwork at Rosehill Gardens.](/web/20170211140624im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/a/r/9/p/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.guap0r.png/1486788848730.jpg)
"It will come, I just hope it is not that soon," Waller said as Winx is readied to begin for her autumn campaign in the postponed Apollo Stakes on Monday. "You try not to think of it. You get a little apprehensive when she comes back but she is ticking all the boxes.
"This preparation has been the best one she has had. Everything has just been faultless. There's been no rushing to get her back.
![Looking ahead: Chris Waller talks to the media after the trackwork session on February 9.](/web/20170211140624im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/8/t/8/r/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.guap0r.png/1486788848730.jpg)
"There are a few minor, little changes. She is a bit stronger, a bit heavier, but she's come together very well and I couldn't be happier with the way the preparation has gone."
Phar Lap won his 14 races in a row in about six months, four in a week at Flemington, including the 1930 Melbourne Cup. Winx's unbeaten run extends to 21 months and she is a $1.14 favourite to match Phar Lap's streak in the Apollo Stakes.
She has won nine group 1s in her winning run, but they have been a series of memorable victories. It started with the remarkable last-to-first Sunshine Coast Guineas success, but as a rule her best performances have been when she is the focus of the sporting public.
Think Cox Plates, and last year's Doncaster Mile.
"She is now not just my horse, the owner's horse or Hugh Bowman's horse, she is the general public's," Waller said. "We are aware of that and try to keep things as simple as we can.
"She hasn't got to this status by fluking wins. Simply she is a very good horse and that gives us confidence ... and hopefully [she can] continue that winning sequence a little longer."
Hugh Bowman and Waller weren't at the Sunshine Coast as the streak began on May 15, 2015. It was left to Larry Cassidy to get Winx back on the winning track. The Sunshine Coast Guineas revealed the motor and determination Winx had.
She was last before unwinding a devastating burst of sustained speed.
"At the 1000 metres I thought 'this is not good'," Cassidy said after the win. "At the 600 metres it was even worse. I was in an impossible position.
"I just made the decision to come to the outside. If I was going to get beat, I didn't want it to be because I was on the inside behind horses. That was just breathtaking.
"It's a long time since I've been on one that lets down like that."
It was a win that hinted at what was to come.
Bowman would be in the saddle for the next dozen wins and admits it took a while for him to realise he had found his champion.
"You win big races, but it took a while to appreciate what she was – a champion," Bowman said.
Winx has ticked the boxes of a champion: domination, overcoming adversity and sheer excitement when she races.
In fact, her first Cox Plate was devastating as she won by more than four lengths in track record time.
That is the hallmark of her streak: she has never really been challenged; her superiority is obvious.
It was the Doncaster Mile where Waller relented on his stand that she was just a good horse to call her "a champion".
She got back in the field on a sticky track and had to pick her way through.
"All I could do was help her through it," Bowman said after he found runs from the home turn to get her in a winning position before she did the rest.
"I was very mindful to get those engines going and that when I did, she'd pick herself up.
"I just had a supreme horse. I could hear the roar as I poked through I just wanted to enjoy the moment."
After beating her rivals and the handicapper in the Doncaster, Winx saved her best for the Cox Plate last year. It was a supposed match race against Hartnell that became an eight-length mismatch.
"Unbelievable. Obviously, I thought she could win, but not like that," Waller said.
She will start the next chapter at Randwick on Monday with April's Queen Elizabeth Stakes her ultimate goal.
"Our aim is to plan her runs so there will be longevity and everyone can enjoy her for a few more years yet," Waller said.
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