Winx Still Number One

[Wandering Eyes]

With a rating of 130, Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) continues to occupy the top spot on the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, the latest edition of which was released on Thursday. She is one point clear of reigning American Horse of the Year Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}), whose lone start this year before going to stud was a win in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational.

Cracksman (GB) (Frankel {GB}) is the highest-rated European-trained horse on 125, while last weekend’s American Triple Crown winner Justify (Scat Daddy) and his Bob Baffert stablemate West Coast (Flatter), the Pegasus runner-up, are joint fourth at 124.

Winx, last seen winning her 25th straight race when defending her G1 Queen Elizabeth S. title at The Championships on Apr. 14, recently returned to trainer Chris Waller’s stable after a spell. Waller told Racing.com, “We will be aiming to have her ready to race in mid-August, she will have a couple of trials before then but we haven’t locked in any specific dates just yet. Without locking in an exact schedule, I wouldn’t imagine there would be too many surprises.”

“She looks great and that takes a lot of pressure off, it is good to have her back,” Waller added. “She had three-and-a-half weeks pre-training, which gives her a steady base for us to work with. She has come back the same as she has done for the past 12 months, she lets down well but doesn’t get too gross. She went to the paddock sound with no issues, she went out a happy horse and she has come back looking great.”

“One of the most pleasing things is the condition of her feet, not that we’ve ever had too many issues with them but when she is in work, we are constantly putting nails in the walls of her feet for her shoes. She has had the shoes off in the paddock and it has allowed her feet to grow out. Our farrier has said it is the best her feet have looked, he’s happy, which makes me happy.”

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