Australia
Australia the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area; the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea and East Timor to the north. The population of 25 million is urbanised and concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Australia's capital is Canberra, its largest city is Sydney; the country's other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians for about 60,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, it is documented. After the European exploration of the continent by Dutch explorers in 1606, who named it New Holland, Australia's eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770 and settled through penal transportation to the colony of New South Wales from 26 January 1788, a date which became Australia's national day; the population grew in subsequent decades, by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored and an additional five self-governing crown colonies established.
On 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated. Australia has since maintained a stable liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy, comprising six states and ten territories. Being the oldest and driest inhabited continent, with the least fertile soils, Australia has a landmass of 7,617,930 square kilometres. A megadiverse country, its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes, with deserts in the centre, tropical rainforests in the north-east and mountain ranges in the south-east. A gold rush began in Australia in the early 1850s, its population density, 2.8 inhabitants per square kilometre, remains among the lowest in the world. Australia generates its income from various sources including mining-related exports, telecommunications and manufacturing. Indigenous Australian rock art is the oldest and richest in the world, dating as far back as 60,000 years and spread across hundreds of thousands of sites. Australia is a developed country, with the world's 14th-largest economy.
It has a high-income economy, with the world's tenth-highest per capita income. It is a regional power, has the world's 13th-highest military expenditure. Australia has the world's ninth-largest immigrant population, with immigrants accounting for 26% of the population. Having the third-highest human development index and the eighth-highest ranked democracy globally, the country ranks in quality of life, education, economic freedom, civil liberties and political rights, with all its major cities faring well in global comparative livability surveys. Australia is a member of the United Nations, G20, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, World Trade Organization, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, Pacific Islands Forum and the ASEAN Plus Six mechanism; the name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis, a name used for a hypothetical continent in the Southern Hemisphere since ancient times. When Europeans first began visiting and mapping Australia in the 17th century, the name Terra Australis was applied to the new territories.
Until the early 19th century, Australia was best known as "New Holland", a name first applied by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1644 and subsequently anglicised. Terra Australis still saw occasional usage, such as in scientific texts; the name Australia was popularised by the explorer Matthew Flinders, who said it was "more agreeable to the ear, an assimilation to the names of the other great portions of the earth". The first time that Australia appears to have been used was in April 1817, when Governor Lachlan Macquarie acknowledged the receipt of Flinders' charts of Australia from Lord Bathurst. In December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office. In 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known by that name; the first official published use of the new name came with the publication in 1830 of The Australia Directory by the Hydrographic Office. Colloquial names for Australia include "Oz" and "the Land Down Under". Other epithets include "the Great Southern Land", "the Lucky Country", "the Sunburnt Country", "the Wide Brown Land".
The latter two both derive from Dorothea Mackellar's 1908 poem "My Country". Human habitation of the Australian continent is estimated to have begun around 65,000 to 70,000 years ago, with the migration of people by land bridges and short sea-crossings from what is now Southeast Asia; these first inhabitants were the ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. Aboriginal Australian culture is one of the oldest continual civilisations on earth. At the time of first European contact, most Indigenous Australians were hunter-gatherers with complex economies and societies. Recent archaeological finds suggest. Indigenous Australians have an oral culture with spiritual values based on reverence for the land and a belief in the Dreamtime; the Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, obtained their livelihood from seasonal horticulture and the resources of their reefs and seas. The northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited s
Super Impose
Super Impose was a New Zealand-bred Thoroughbred racehorse, inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame. In a career spanning 74 starts, he won eight Group One races and a Australasian record $5.6 million in prize money. Trained throughout his career by Lee Freedman and ridden in his Group One wins by Bruce Compton, Darren Gauci, Darren Beadman, Greg Hall, Super Impose won the AJC Epsom and Doncaster Handicaps two years in a row, in 1990 and 1991, won the Cox Plate at his penultimate start as an eight-year-old in 1992. Foaled in New Zealand, Super Impose was a son of the multiple Group One winner Imposing, out of the unraced mare Pheroz Fancy. Pheroz Jewel was a stakeswinning mare in New Zealand who defeated Grey Way, while Todman was an Australian racehorse who won the inaugural Golden Slipper in 1957. Super Impose, via Todman and Ritmar, had Star Kingdom blood on both sides of his pedigree; the imported Irish stallion was a dominant influence on Australian racing before the preponderance of Northern Dancer-line stallions, such as Danehill, in the 1990s.
Taipan, via his sire Bold Ruler introduced powerful American-bred descendants of Nearco into the pedigree. Super Impose descended from an old colonial New Zealand family, that had not produced many notable winners until the last few decades; the chestnut Super Impose was selected by trainer Lee Freedman at the 1986 Trentham yearling sales in New Zealand for a small syndicate who paid $40,000. Interviewed for ‘Super Better Best’, along with Lee Freedman, managing part-owner Chris Biggins explained that Freedman had rung him from New Zealand and said that there were three horses he had liked at the sale. Freedman predicted that the first two would make ‘too much money’, while the third was a ‘beautiful, imposing horse’; the first two were sold to Bart Cummings and became the multiple Group One winners Sky Chase and Beau Zam, while the third became Super Impose. He was unraced as a two-year-old. Super Impose entered training as a three-year-old and made a winning debut in a maiden at Seymour, on 28 December 1987.
His next five starts produced three seconds and a third before a let-up. He resumed at Benalla, in early May with a win in an improvers, his next three starts included a second in a three-year-old handicap at Flemington. Super Impose was yet to win a metropolitan race, but, in coming from last at Flemington, had shown a glimpse of his'preferred racing style', he had shown a dislike for rain-affected going. Super Impose again resumed at Seymour, in early September, finished third in a progressive, his next five starts produced as many defeats but included seconds in the Grey-Smith Stakes and the Ballarat Cup. At his next start, Super Impose broke a nine-race losing run and recorded his first Black Type win in the Eclipse Stakes, he was taken to Sydney for the first time, where he won a welter at Rosehill and backed-up nine days to win the AJC Summer Cup on Boxing Day. By this point, the Freedman stable knew that they had'a pretty smart handicap type horse' on their hands. Back in Melbourne, in the new year, Super Impose raced at weight-for-age for the first time, finishing second to Vo Rogue in the Orr Stakes, the St George Stakes, the Australian Cup, won the Carlyon Cup in course-record time.
In Sydney, wet weather forced him out of his races over the autumn carnival, including the Mercedes Classic, the'dark clouds followed his float' to Queensland, where he was unplaced in two starts before a spell. In a campaign leading to the Melbourne Cup, Super Impose resumed at Sandown in late August and, after defeats by Apollo Run, Painted Ocean, Almaarad, broke through in the Turnbull Stakes at his fifth run back, he finished in front of Vo Rogue for the first time. This was followed by midfield finishes in the Caulfield Stakes and the Caulfield Cup and a fourth behind Horlicks in the Mackinnon Stakes. Super Impose carried second-topweight of 56 kilograms in the Melbourne Cup, according to Lee Freedman, turned in one of his'greatest performances'. Freedman recalled that jockey Darren Gauci made'the best possible use of an inside barrier, got out, had the race won' and was only beaten by Tawrrific, who was'a little bit better weighted on the day' and'better equipped' for the distance. Super Impose opened the new year with a string of placings and was scratched from his main mission, the Mercedes Classic, when wet weather again closed in on Sydney's autumn carnival.
He was entered a week in the Doncaster Handicap carrying topweight of 57 kilograms, and'the weather held'. Super Impose came from the tail of the field on the home turn to defeat Shaftesbury Avenue, he was ridden in the Doncaster by Bruce Compton, who gained the ride only after higher-profile jockeys had taken other mounts, with doubts over whether Super Impose would take his place in the field. This was Compton's first and only ride on the horse, but his tactics and the horse's'amazing zip' provided a template for success in the big Randwick ‘mile’ races over the next 18 months. Super Impose resumed in the Warwick Stakes in late August and defeated Eastern Classic - coincidentally, a horse he had finished second to, as a virtual unknown two years earlier. Super Impose was runner-up to Stargazer and Shaftesbury Avenue in his next two starts before taking his place in the Epsom Handicap with topweight of 58.5 kilograms. As was the case in the Doncaster Handicap, he was near the tail of the field on the home turn but came down the outside'like a bullet' to overhaul a line of leaders over the closing stages, including Our Poverty Bay and
Melbourne Cup
The Melbourne Cup is Australia's most famous annual Thoroughbred horse race. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and over, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival, it is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, one of the richest turf races. The event starts at 3pm on the first Tuesday in November and is known locally as "the race that stops a nation"; the Melbourne Cup has a long tradition, with the first race held in 1861. It was over two miles but was shortened to 3,200 metres in 1972 when Australia adopted the metric system; this reduced the distance by 18.688 metres, Rain Lover's 1968 race record of 3:19.1 was accordingly adjusted to 3:17.9. The present record holder is the 1990 winner Kingston Rule with a time of 3:16.3. The race is a quality handicap for horses 3 years old and over, run over a distance of 3200 metres, on the first Tuesday in November at Flemington Racecourse; the minimum handicap weight is 50 kg.
There is no maximum weight. The weight allocated to each horse is declared by the VRC Handicapper in early September; the Melbourne Cup race is a handicap contest in which the weight of the jockey and riding gear is adjusted with ballast to a nominated figure. Older horses carry more weight than younger ones, weights are adjusted further according to the horse's previous results. Weights were theoretically calculated to give each horse an equal winning chance in the past, but in recent years the rules were adjusted to a "quality handicap" formula where superior horses are given less severe weight penalties than under pure handicap rules. After the declaration of weights for the Melbourne Cup, the winner of any handicap flat race of the advertised value of A$55,000 or over to the winner, or an internationally recognised Listed, Group, or Graded handicap flat race, shall carry such additional weight, for each win, as the VRC Handicapper shall determine. Entries for the Melbourne Cup close during the first week of August.
The initial entry fee is $600 per horse. Around 300 to 400 horses are nominated each year. Following the allocation of weights, the owner of each horse must on four occasions before the race in November, declare the horse as an acceptor and pay a fee. First acceptance is $960, second acceptance is $1,450 and third acceptance is $2,420; the final acceptance fee, on the Saturday prior to the race, is $45,375. Should a horse be balloted out of the final field, the final declaration fee is refunded; the race directors retain the absolute discretion to exclude any horse from the race, or exempt any horse from the ballot on the race, but in order to reduce the field to the safety limit of 24, horses are balloted out based on a number of factors which include: 1000 prize money earned in the previous two years, 9 wins or placings in certain lead-up races 3 allocated handicap weight The winner of the following races are exempt from any ballot: Lexus Stakes LKS Mackinnon Stakes Cox Plate Caulfield Cup The Bart Cummings Andrew Ramsden Stakes Doncaster Cup Irish St. Leger Tenno Sho Sankei Sho All Comers Arlington Million San Juan Capistrano Handicap Australian Stayers ChallengeThe limitation of 24 starters is stated explicitly to be for safety reasons.
However, in the past far larger numbers were allowed - the largest field raced was 39 runners in 1890. International horses that are entered for the Melbourne Cup must undergo quarantine in an approved premises in their own country for a minimum period of 14 days before travelling to Australia; the premises must meet the Australian Government Standards. The Werribee International Horse Centre at Werribee racecourse is the Victorian quarantine station for international horses competing in the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival; the facility has stabling for up to 24 horses in five separate stable complexes and is located 32 km from the Melbourne CBD. The total prize money for the 2018 race is A$7,300,000, plus trophies valued at $250,000; the first 12 past the post receive prize money, with the winner Cross Counter being paid $4 million, second $1 million, third $500,000, fourth $250,000, fifth $175,000, with sixth through to twelve place earning $150,000. Prizemoney is distributed to the connections of each horse in the ratio of 85 percent to the owner, 10 percent to the trainer and 5 percent to the jockey.
The 1985 Melbourne Cup, won by "What a Nuisance", was the first race run in Australia with prize money of $1 million. The Cup has a $500,000 bonus for the owner of the winner if it has won the group one Irish St. Leger run the previous September; the winner of the first Melbourne Cup in 1861 received a gold watch. The first Melbourne Cup trophy was awarded in 1865 and was an elaborate silver bowl on a stand, manufactured in England; the first existing and un-altered Melbourne Cup is from 1866, presented to the owners of The Barb. The silver trophy presented in 1867, now in the National Museum of Australia, was made in England but jewellers in Victoria complained to the Victorian Racing Club that the trophy should have been made locally, they believed the work of Melbournian, William Edwards, to be superior in both design and workmanship to the English made trophy. No trophy was awarded to the Melbourne Cup winner for the next eight years. In 1876 Edward Fischer, an immigrant from Austria, produced the first Australian-made trophy.
It was an Etruscan shape with two handles
Eurythmic (horse)
Eurythmic was a versatile Australian-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who had the ability to produce a brilliant finishing run in staying races and he won important sprint races, too. At four he won 12 of his 13 starts including the Caulfield Sydney Cup; when Eurythmic finished racing he was the greatest stake-winner in Australia. He was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame, he was bred by the young breeder, Noel Thompson at the Yarraman Stud, west of Scone, New South Wales. Eurythmic was by the good racehorse, his dam was the good racemare and useful broodmare, Bob Cherry by the good sire, Bobadil from Ardea by Wallace, he was inbred to St Simon in the fourth generation of his pedigree. Eurythmic was sold to E. Lee Steere of Perth, he was taken to Western Australia and trained by John Kelly for his two- and three-year-old racing in that state. His first start was in the WATC Initial Stakes, but he was unplaced to the two-year-old Eragoon, to whom he finished third at his next start. At their next meeting in the WATC Nursery Handicap Eurythmic was in receipt of two stone in weight and defeated his former victor by five lengths.
This pair met again in the Karrakatta Plate over five furlongs, at equal weights, Eurythmic won by 1½ lengths. Eurythmic was unplaced in the Claremont Handicap and concluded his first season of racing by winning the WATC Sires Produce Stakes by 3½ lengths. Eurythmic won seven of his eight starts as a three-year-old, including the WATC Grove Handicap from a big field, the WATC Derby, three days dead-heated with the outsider Rivose in the Perth Cup; the pair covered the distance in 3:25, a record for the 2 miles. He won the weight for age C B Cox Stakes, WATC Osborne Stakes and finished the season with a win in the WATC St Leger, he had finished his three-year-old season as the undisputed champion of Western Australia. He was taken east at the beginning of his four-year-old career to be trained by Jack Holt in Melbourne. Eurythmic won the VATC Memsie Stakes, starting at 20 to 1, was installed as favourite for the VRC October Stakes, in which he beat Ethiopian by 1¼ lengths. During October he won the Caulfield Stakes, the Caulfield Cup, the Melbourne Stakes, his eleventh consecutive victory.
The following week he suffered his only defeat for the season, running fourth to Poitrel in the Melbourne Cup. Eurythmic won his next eight races: the CB Fisher Plate, Essendon Stakes, VRC Governor's Plate and King's Plate, AJC Autumn Stakes, Sydney Cup and the Cumberland Stakes, he finished the season with a tally of 12 wins from 13 starts. Eurythmic won his first five-year-old race, the Memsie Stakes, a race which he would win for three consecutive years. In the October Stakes Tangalooma defeated Eurythmic by a short half-head. Next Eurythmic won Herbert Power Stakes and the VRC Melbourne Stakes. In the Melbourne Cup he was pulled up. In the VATC St George Stakes he conceded the second place-getter, Harvest King, more than 2 stone, was penalised 20-pounds for his win when the weights were issued for the VATC Futurity Stakes, which he duly won carrying 10 stone 7 pounds. Eurythmic's prize money for this race led to him overtaking Carbine as the greatest Australian stake winner to that time, he was unplaced in the Newmarket Handicap field, won the C. M. Lloyd Stakes at, ran third in the AJC Autumn Stakes and in the Cumberland Stakes.
In his last season of racing Eurythmic won both the Memsie Stakes and Caulfield Stakes for the third year in succession, ran second in the Herbert Power Stakes, third in the Melbourne Stakes. In his final four starts he finished second in the VATC St George Stakes, VATC Futurity Stakes, VRC Essendon Stakes, C. M. Lloyd Stakes. By the time he had finished racing as a six-year-old he was the greatest stake-winner in Australia, with winnings of more than £36,000. Eurythmic stood his first season in Victoria and was relocated to Western Australia, he died there before the end of the spring in 1925, after spending less than two full seasons at stud. It was discovered that he had an enlarged heart, attributed to heart strain caused from exertion during his racing, his skeleton was displayed in the Western Australian Museum. Eurythmic was an indifferent sire. Two of his daughters were successful broodmares though: Eumilia, 1924, by or Eurythmic was the dam of two stakes-winners, King's Knave and Tapestry Soaring, 1924, was the dam of Ethyia and The Darter Eurythmic was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2005.
He was inducted into the West Australian Racing Industry Hall of Fame. List of leading Thoroughbred racehorses Repeat winners of horse races Australian Racing Museum and Hall of Fame
Wakeful (horse)
Wakeful was one of the great Thoroughbred mares of the Australian turf. She had shown her versatility by defeating top racehorses at distances from 5½ furlongs to 3 miles, she was unplaced in only three races. This bay filly was foaled in 1896, was by the outstanding racehorse and sire, Trenton from Insomnia by Robinson Crusoe, her pedigree contained good old colonial bloodlines that had proved their worth in Australian racing and breeding. She was offered at the St Aubins stud dispersal sale in 1900 and purchased by Leslie Macdonald for the bargain price of 310 guineas. Wakeful did not commence racing. At her third start she won the VATC Oakleigh Plate, followed that by winning the VRC Newmarket Handicap and the AJC Doncaster Handicap in a race record time of 1:39.75. Taken to Sydney in 1902, she won all her four starts including the Sydney Cup carrying the impost of 9 stone 7 pounds, ran a race record. Wakeful went on to win races such as the AJC Plate and VRC Champion Stakes at three miles. At her last start she ran second in the 1903 VRC Melbourne Cup carrying the huge impost for a mare of 10 stone, 13 pounds over weight for age and conceded the winner Lord Cardigan 3 st 6 lb.
No mare had carried more than 9 st 7 lb and none of them finished in the first six. In all she had 44 starts, winning 25 races, was second 12 times and third 4 times. After finishing racing and going to stud, Wakeful produced ten foals including the 1918 Melbourne Cup winner Night Watch; some of her other colts were Baverstock. The Wakeful Stakes is a Group 2 race named in her honour, in which 13 fillies have gone on to win the Oaks. In 2002 Wakeful was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame. Repeat winners of horse races Wakeful's Australian Racing Hall of Fame Page
Flemington Racecourse
Flemington Racecourse is a major horse racing venue located in Melbourne, Australia. It is most notable for hosting the Melbourne Cup, the world's richest handicap and the world's richest 3200 metre horse race; the racecourse is situated on low alluvial flats, next to the Maribyrnong River. The area was first used for horse racing in March 1840; the Flemington Racecourse site comprises 1.27 square kilometres of Crown land. The course was leased to the Victoria Turf Club in 1848, which merged with the Victoria Jockey Club in 1864 to form the Victoria Racing Club; the first Melbourne Cup was run in 1861. In 1871 the Victoria Racing Club Act was passed, giving the VRC legal control over Flemington Racecourse; the racecourse is shaped not unlike a pear, boasts a six-furlong straight known as'the Straight Six.' The track has a circumference of 2.312 kilometres and a final straight of 450 metres for race distances over 1.2 kilometres. Races are run in an anti-clockwise direction; the course contains three grandstands.
The biggest attendance was on Victoria Derby Day in 2006 when 129,069 people saw Efficient win the Victoria Derby. The racecourse has undergone a facelift in recent years, with the opening of a new $45 million grandstand in 2000 and the opening of a new members' grandstand in 2018, it contains a bronze statue of the famous racehorse Phar Lap, donated to the Club as part of Australia's bicentenary celebrations in 1988. The Hill Stand, built in 1977, houses the artist Harold Freedman's seven panel mural which traces the History of Racing; the work was commissioned to mark the Australian bicentenary in 1988. Flemington Racecourse was added to the Australian National Heritage List on 7 November 2006, announced during the 2006 Melbourne Cup; the site is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. Flemington Racecourse today hosts many of Australia's top races, including the Melbourne Cup, Victoria Derby, VRC Oaks, Mackinnon Stakes, Newmarket Handicap, Australian Cup and Lightning Stakes; the site has its own railway branch line, which operates on race days, bringing visitors to the adjacent railway station.
It was serviced by Salt Water River station, before, demolished in the 1860s and replaced with a station on the present site. Trains depart from platforms 8 and 9 at Flinders Street Station; the No. 57 tram from the City stops at the Epsom Road entrance. Car spaces for the disabled are available and taxi ranks are located adjacent to the main entrances. Shuttle buses run from Epsom Road to the main turnstiles of the racecourse. Lift access is available to the first floor of the Members Stand; the following is a list of Group races. Hcp - handicap qlty - quality handicap sw - set weights sw+p - set weights with penalties wfa - Weight for Age Australian horse-racing Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival Victoria Racing Club - official website Flemington Racecourse at Austadiums Horse racing results at Flemington Racecourse
Winx (horse)
Winx is a champion Australian Thoroughbred racehorse. Starting in May 2015, she has won 32 consecutive stakes races including 24 Group 1s, at distances ranging from 1300 metres to 2200 metres. In the World's Best Racehorse Rankings, she was the second-ranked filly or mare in 2015, improving in 2016 to become both the world's top-ranked filly or mare and the world's top-ranked turf horse, she retained this ranking in 2017 and in 2018 was co-ranked with Cracksman as the best horse in the world. In 2017 she was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame, only the third horse to earn this honour while still in training, she is the leading Australasian money-earner in history. Winx began her racing career with three straight wins but won only one race in her next seven starts. Towards the end of her three-year-old campaign, she rebounded to win two races in May 2015, including the Group 1 Queensland Oaks, to start her winning streak; as a four-year-old, she was named the 2015/6 Australian Horse of the Year and middle distance champion after a seven race campaign that included wins in the W.
S. Cox Plate and Doncaster Mile. In the 2016/7 season, she defended her 2015 Cox Plate win with a commanding eight length victory over rival Hartnell, she completed the season with a win in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes and was again named Horse of the Year. For the 2017/8 season, she earned her third Horse of the Year honour after recording seven straight wins, including her third victories in the Cox Plate, Chipping Norton and George Ryder and her second win in the Queen Elizabeth. In the 2018/19 season, Winx began her seven-year-old campaign on 18 August in a race renamed in her honour and in doing so extended her winning streak to an Australasian record of 26, since extended to 32. Winx became the first horse in history to win the prestigious Cox Plate four times, she won the 2018 Secretariat Vox Populi Award, the top choice among race fans in a record 60 countries. Winx is a bay mare bred in Australia by John Camilleri's Fairway Thoroughbreds, she was foaled on 14 September 2011 at Coolmore Stud, Jerrys Plains in the Hunter Region of New South Wales.
She was sired by the Irish-bred Street Cry, who won the Dubai World Cup in 2002 before becoming a successful breeding stallion in North America and Australasia. His other progeny included Zenyatta, Street Sense and Whobegotyou. Winx's dam, Vegas Showgirl, was a stakes winner in New Zealand, bought by Fairway Thoroughbreds in 2008 as a broodmare prospect for A$455,000. Winx stood and nursed soon after foaling and stood out as "a leggy Elle Macpherson type", she was sold as a yearling for $230,000 at the 2013 Magic Millions Gold Coast sale. She was part of a draft of horses from Coolmore Stud and was selected by Mulcaster Bloodstock to be purchased "to a budget" by a partnership of Magic Bloodstock Racing, Richard Treweeke and Debbie Kepitis; as her dam is named Vegas Showgirl, the partners named the filly for a Las Vegas burlesque show from the 1970s and 1980s. She races in Magic Bloodstock's silks: dark blue with white epaulettes and a large white "M", she is trained by Chris Waller. Unlike many elite racehorses, Winx does not have a long stride – her stride was measured at 6.76 metres compared to nearly 8.5 metres for Black Caviar and Phar Lap.
Rather, her success has been attributed to a "freakish" cadence that allows her to take 14 strides every 5 seconds, compared to 12 for her rivals. "This means she can settle or accelerate at any time during a race," said Dr. Graeme Putt, who has studied the science of racehorse success. "I think this makes her unique." After two racecourse trials, Winx made her competitive debut on 4 June 2014 in a maiden race and won over 1100 metres at Warwick Farm Racecourse. That month, on her second and final race of the season, she won over 1400 metres at Rosehill Racecourse in Sydney. Winx suffered the only losses of her racing career as a three-year-old, a fact that connections attributed to her need to grow into herself. "For her first two years in training, she was just catching up with herself," said bloodstock manager Peter O'Brien. "Chris managed her beautifully — he never overtaxed her." In ten starts that year, she finished second three times. Winx recorded her first major success when she won the Group 2 Furious Stakes over 1200 metres at Randwick Racecourse in Sydney on 6 September 2014.
She finished second to First Seal in both the Tea Rose Stakes and the Flight Stakes before being given a summer break. She finished unplaced twice in February 2015 before winning the Group 2 Phar Lap Stakes against male opponents over 1500 metres at Rosehill on 14 March. Two weeks at the same track, she was stepped up in distance for the Vinery Stud Stakes against other fillies but finished unplaced behind Fenway, she started 9/5 favourite for the Australian Oaks over 2400 metres at Randwick on 11 April but was beaten by the 16/1 outsider Gust of Wind, the last race before her winning streak began. After having earned only one win in her last seven starts, Winx was dropped in class for the Group 3 Sunshine Coast Guineas on 16 May, she trailed the large field as they turned for home but found racing room and drew off to win by one and three quarter lengths from the colt Ulmann. "At the 1000m I thought'This is not good.' At the 600m it was worse. I was in an impossible position," said jockey Larry Cassidy.
"I just made the decision to come to the outside. If I was going to get beat, I didn't want it to be; that was just breathtaking."On her final appearance of the sea
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