WINX returns to racing next Saturday in the George Main Stakes at Randwick.

Some say horses get ‘Winxed’ by the great mare, meaning they struggle to perform well again after racing against her. Chris Waller had his take on that and had a warning for her rivals.

“If you try and beat her and not ride your normal race you’ll come off very sad,” he said. “But if you ride your own race and get beaten by her, I don’t think it will affect your horse. But if you want to make Winx work you’re going to come off second best.”

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IT’S well-known that Hugh Bowman likes to get back to Dunedoo whenever he can and he made a visit last week to St Michaels Primary School to show off the Melbourne Cup to the kids and they loved it.

HUGE DEMAND FOR WINX PORTRAITS
WINX is doing her part to support drought-affected farmers thanks to Racing NSW, Chris Waller, Hugh Bowman and jockey/artist Deanne Panya.

Panya’s imposing life sized portrait of Winx, which adorns the lobby of Racing NSW, is being reproduced into a small and exclusive range of prints personally signed by Waller and Bowman. The demand for Panya’s Winx prints has been extraordinary with 16 pre-orders taken in less than 12 hours on Friday night. For more details go to Deannep@live.com.au

TARKA’S LITTLE BOOST
IT would seem that a minor piece of interference helped win Tarka the Stan Fox Stakes on Saturday. The story of the race was hot favourite The Autumn Sun not being able to get clear running room. He tried to get past Tarka but was squeezed out of a run. “He felt the contact and it helped him a long a bit,” Tarka’s jockey James McDonald said. “I thought he was going to (fall out of it).”

MCEVOY A REAL PAL TO PUNTERS
GOOD on Tony McEvoy for looking after the punters who wanted to back his filly Sunlight in Saturday’s Sheraco Stakes. McEvoy’s early notification during the week that the filly wouldn’t run meant that all-in punters could bet elsewhere. This should happen a lot more in racing. Punters are responsible for all the prizemoney and information shouldn’t be held from them any longer than it has to be.

SHOALS ON TARGET FOR THE EVEREST
SHOALS looked on song for The Everest with her encouraging run in the McEwen Stakes but what do we say about the winner, Nature Strip. He still ran a track record but there’s got to be massive question marks on him at 1200m.

BRAVE BID
IS Home Of The Brave a sneaky Everest hope? He would certainly make his own luck in the race and his win over boom colts D’Argento and Trapeze Artist was fantastic. “It’s hard for a horse to run into the bridle then find again at the top grade,” said jockey Glyn Schofield.

SHINN MAKING PROGRESS
BLAKE Shinn is making good progress in his recovery from a serious neck injury sustained last month and he’s off to America for a break before seeing his specialist again on September 25 hoping he can take his neck brace off.

FORGIVE horses that were forced to make their runs up the middle of the straight at Rosehill on Saturday. “The rail was the place to be,” said James McDonald. Trainer Gary Portelli was left asking questions though: “Going to be a lot of owners, trainer and jockeys scratching their heads wondering what went wrong after today’s racing at Rosehill. Even some wet trackers not stretching out”, Portelli tweeted.

TELL HIM HE’S DREAMIN’ ...
THIS sounds a bit unbelievable but a casino executive in Las Vegas wants to build a racetrack in New Mexico that features a moving grandstand that speeds alongside the horses as they race. The ‘stand’ would be more like a train where the seats, 200 of them, all face towards the track as it guides along the outside rail. “This is the next best thing to being in the race as a jockey,” said Daniel Lee, chief executive officer of Full House Resorts.

HORSES TO FOLLOW: Dealmaker (even better over further), Graff (luckless, forgive), D’Argento (at a mile)

ONES TO SACK: Eve’s Miss (not Highway class), Foxplay (best days past her)

RIDE OF THE DAY: Tye Angland on Lean Mean Machine (gave him an easy run in the right part of the track)

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “He’s no relation to Canarchie,” said Jason Collett of Toulouse who didn’t handle the wet track.