Andrew Rule - Winx: The authorised biography

ABOUT ANDREW RULE

Andrew Rule has been a feature writer, investigative journalist and columnist for three daily newspapers, deputy editor of a Melbourne Sunday newspaper and roving correspondent for a national magazine. He is the author of the definitive biography of businessman Kerry Stokes, The Boy From Nowhere, and of Cuckoo, a non-fiction bestseller about murder and its detection. He is also co-author of the Underbelly book series behind the hit television drama. He has won the Gold Walkley, two Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year Awards and the Gold Quill. He is currently an associate editor of Australias biggest daily, the Herald Sun. He grew up around horses in country Victoria and claims to be the only Journalist of the Year to have ridden in a horse race.

This edition published in 2019

First published in 2018

Copyright Andrew Rule 2018

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to the Copyright Agency (Australia) under the Act.

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ISBN 978 1 76087 610 4

eISBN 978 1 76063 724 8

Cover design: Deborah Parry Graphics

Front cover photo: Calm poise and a kind eye; a portrait of a legend. Sharon Lee Chapman.

Statistics section compiled by Susan Keogh

Index by Puddingburn Publishing Services

Set by Midland Typesetters, Australia

For Les Carlyon: mentor and mate, master of writing horses and people, man of true grit and grace

And in memory of my uncle E.J. Squib Rule, who ran his hands over the young Phar Lap

Mr Riddle was far prouder of Man o War than you are of your children, and probably with more reason. But he didnt spend his time feeding sugar to the horse, or drooling over him. He remembered that even if Man o War was the most magnificent horse ever, he was still a horse, and that his interests lay in hard oats and clean hay and good grooming and a comfortable stall, and that is what he got.

Joe Palmer, This Was Racing

Like many others who love the sport, Ive lived all my life believing that to have seen the champion of champions, you had to be at Flemington in 1930.

But to be at Royal Randwick for Winxs last race was at least equal to anything the sport has had to offer, her performance the exclamation mark to a great Australian story.

Her journey into immortality has been exhilarating and poses racings toughest questions. How does she compare with Australias best-ever horses? How does she rate against the original five stallions and geldings that opened Australian racings Hall of Fame?

Those original inductees remain the benchmark of our champions. And, since then, there have been other starsMight And Power, Sunline and So You Think among them. The two greatest individual achievements have been Makybe Divas three Melbourne Cups and Black Caviars perfect record of twenty-five wins, no losses.

But the Diva, although responsible for arguably the single most impressive achievement, was beaten in twenty-one of her thirty-six starts. She became a genuine elite weight-for-age performer only in her final racing year.

Black Caviar is the difficult onebecause how can you beat a perfect score? But hers was a narrow CV in the distances she contested. There is a bias towards middle distance and distance events when it comes to assessing a thoroughbreds worth.

Heres what Winx is up against: Carbine, for a start. Like Phar Lap, he won fourteen races straightsixteen of his last seventeen. His only defeat in that period was in the All Aged Stakes in 1891, and he won another race later that same day. Things were different.

At two miles, Carbine won eight of nine starts and had a worthy excusea split heelwhen Bravo beat him in the 1889 Melbourne Cup.

Phar Lap was a headliner in the Great Depression. Over 2400 metres and beyond, Big Red won sixteen, missing only two. His two defeats were the Melbourne Cups of 1929 and 1931. He totally dominated his generation with winning streaks of eight, nine and fourteen, and won thirty-two of his last thirty-five starts. He had four wins in a week at Flemington.

His celebrated final victory overseas made his sudden death all the more outrageous and devastating and has guaranteed he has a sentimental hold over this country.

Bernborough was the whirlwind after World War II. His Newmarket HandicapDoomben double in 1946 is legendary; sixteen straight going into a Caulfield Cup, with more than 100,000 watching, then a questionable ride followed by a serious injury a start later.

Tulloch, as a three-year-old, had no peer. His Caulfield Cup win is remembered for the world record. For many, its the single most impressive victory in the sport.

But he lost so much timehis best, probably, with colic. When he came back, he ran as much on heart as on lungs.

If only he had started in that 1957 Melbourne Cup. On the Saturday, he had won the Derby by eight lengths

The only thing Tulloch needed to sit right alongside Phar Lap was the Melbourne Cup of 1960.

Kingston Town was an all-time great at Moonee Valley and unbeaten in New South Wales for nearly three years. He was certainly the best horse between Tulloch and Winx over a mile and beyond.

Could Winx have beaten them? In the end, her achievements raise her up.

Four undefeated springs. Four undefeated autumns. Four Cox Plates. A world-record twenty-five Group Ones. And thirty-three consecutive wins.

Her rise through the ranks goes something like this:

The first Cox Plate in record time, confirming her as top class.

Winning the 2016 Doncaster cemented her as Australias number one horse.

She became a genuine champion when she won her second Cox Plate by a record margin.

Hammering Chautauqua in the 2017 George Ryder preceded her third Cox Plate, and her legend status.

A unique fourth Cox Plate and another ten high-class races as well.

Add up all the Australian and world records Winx set and there is the answer: what raises her above other greats is that she was greater for longer.

There are some iconic numbers in Australian sport: 99.94Bradmans average. ThreeDawn Frasers consecutive 100-metre freestyle wins. Twelve Melbourne Cups for Bart Cummings. Rod Laver claimed two grand slams. Et cetera.

33254. These now go alongside Winx forever. Consecutive winsGroup OnesCox Plates. A trilogy of figures that sits with the finest scores. To see her last race was like watching Bradman bat for the final time.

To witness the overflow of blue and white, the tears and laughter, the unbridled joy, the roar of the crowd on any day that Winx raced is an experience never forgotten.

Theyve come from far and wide, those fans. All with different back stories but with one thing in common: their affection for this great horse. Watching her win has made them feel a whole lot better.