NZB WFA Championship Concludes with Caulfield Stakes

The New Zealand Bloodstock Caulfield Spring WFA Championship is a showcase of some of Australasia’s finest thoroughbreds, so it was fitting that the 2016 Series was brought to a close by this year’s undisputed queen of Australian racing.

Champion mare Winx (Street Cry) extended her winning sequence to 12 in a row when she beat two opponents in Saturday’s A$600,000 Ladbrokes Caulfield Stakes (2000m). Trained by ex-pat kiwi Chris Waller, it was the eighth Group 1 victory for the Sydney mare, who was voted Australia’s Horse of the Year in 2015-16.

Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) and Underwood Stakes (1800m) hero Black Heart Bart (Blackfriars), who already had the NZB Spring WFA Championship title sewn up before the final leg, led for most of Saturday’s tense battle of tactics.

But Winx began to creep closer approaching the home turn and then showed her class in the home straight, overpowering her rival and drawing clear to win by two lengths. He Or She (Kendel Star) was another six lengths behind the first pair.

Winx is out of the Al Akbar mare Vegas Showgirl (NZ), who was a dual Listed winner in New Zealand.

Winx earned 10 points for her outstanding win in Saturday’s race, placing her fifth on the NZB Spring WFA Championship leader board.

With victories in the Memsie Stakes and Underwood Stakes and a second placing in the Caulfield Stakes, Black Heart Bart racked up an impressive 28 points and was a clear winner of the NZB Spring WFA Championship.

He Or She, who ran seventh in the Memsie Stakes, second in the Underwood Stakes and third in Saturday’s Caulfield Stakes, finished in third place on the table with 15 points.