THIS is most likely the last Cox Plate Winx contests but it won’t be the last race start for the great mare.

Owner Peter Tighe has dismissed suggestions Winx will be retired if she wins her fourth consecutive $5 million Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley on Saturday.

“We haven’t even discussed it,’’ Tighe said when pressed on the retirement talk.

“Of course, we realise she can’t race forever, it would be stupid to think she would go on for a few more years. But all we are concentrating on is the Cox Plate and then Winx can go for a spell and we will have a good look at it after Christmas.

“It will be Winx’s call. If she has a yearning to race again, we will give her an autumn preparation next year.

“We will then sit down and have a good, hard look at our options. I would say probably one more preparation (next autumn) and then we will have to think about what we are doing with breeding from her and things like that.’’

Winx is the $1.22 favourite with TAB Fixed Odds to claim an unprecedented fourth Cox Plate.

The champion seven-year-old mare seems to be racing as well as ever and it poised to score her 29th successive win, her 22nd at Group 1 level and to take her overall career earnings to more than $22 million.

Trainer Chris Waller, who said this week he believes Winx is at the peak of her powers, also confirmed there has been no talk of retiring the champion mare.

“We haven’t spoken about it (retirement) which gives you a pretty good guide that I don’t think there will be any decisions made (Saturday),’’ Waller said on Melbourne radio on Friday.

“While she’s fit and racing well, in our minds, she’s missed the breeding season because you are going to get a late foal and it’s not giving her a good start sending her straight to a stallion, so therefore there’s no rush.

“The only thing I ever consider is safety. Like every racehorse, when they go out to the races, there’s that element of risk and that’s why our horses are checked by the vets every day.

“I really I think it comes down to the horse and her form and the feedback from what I am getting from my key staff, what Hugh’s (Bowman) telling me, what the owner wants.

“I am a coach, I am manager of fitness and making sure the horse is running well so I’ll probably leave that decision to the feedback I am getting and the (wishes of the) owners.”

TAB WAITING FOR WINX PUNTER TO POUNCE
WINX, racing’s relentless winning machine, has left TAB with a $100 million payout during the great mare’s famous winning streak.

And the racehorse that stops a nation will again carry the hopes – and cash — of professional gamblers and once-a-year punters when she attempts to claim her fourth consecutive Cox Plate at Moonee Valley on Saturday.

Sydney’s super mare is the $1.22 favourite with TAB Fixed Odds and is monopolising betting the same way she dominates her racetrack rivals. The second favourite for the Cox Plate is international raider Benbatl at $9.50 then it is $18 or longer the rest of the field.

The popular theory punters just watch and cheer for Winx rather than back the champion because her odds are too short is a misconception.

Winx has won 28 races in succession and TAB estimates it has already paid out $100 million through its Fixed Odds markets and tote betting.

She is again dominating pre-post betting on Saturday’s Cox Plate.

“Winx holds 86 per cent of all win bets placed on the Cox Plate since we opened betting on the race,’’ a TAB spokesman said. “If you look at all the win bets we have taken (Friday) on the race, Winx holds 90 per cent of them.’’

There are estimates TAB will accept around $3 million in total bets on Winx to win today’s big race. This is before the nation’s biggest Winx punter has backed the champion mare to win a fourth Cox Plate.

The unidentified punter, who usually waits until an hour or so before Winx races to back the mare, has already placed over $1.2 million on the champion throughout her race career.

The TAB customer first invested $56,000 on Winx to win the 2017 Chipping Norton Stakes and has been rolling over up those winnings on the “Queen of the Turf’ ever since.

The punter’s most recent wager on Winx was $170,000 at $1.16 before she won the Turnbull Stakes last start — the TAB’s biggest ever bet taken on the mighty mare.

Overall, the punter has wagered $1,210,150 on Winx since February 2017 and has collected $1,363,187.50 in that time.

“Winx is often too short a price to be a betting proposition for most punters, however, this brave soul has bucked the trend and made a fortune as a result,” TAB’s Nick Quinn said.

“The question now is will the customer roll the dice on her in the Cox Plate and let it ride, or sit back and count their winnings.”