[AusRace] Bill W on Winx

[L.B.Loveday]

Bill Waterhouse saw Phar Lap race and reckons Winx is the best ever


Ray Thomas, Racing editor, The Daily Telegraph

February 28, 2019 7:00pm

Subscriber only

One of the last living links to Phar Lap has been moved to rate wonder mare
Winx as a better racehorse than the legend of Australian racing.

Bill Waterhouse, once the world’s biggest bookmaker, is 97 but his memory of
Phar Lap hasn’t faded with the passing of time.

But as Winx is being readied for her attempt at a 31st consecutive win in
the Group 1 $600,000 Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m) at Royal Randwick,
Waterhouse said the mighty mare deserves to be recognised as the greatest of
all time.

Comparing racehorses from different eras — particularly two that are almost
90 years apart — is certain to create robust debate.

 

Winx will chase a world record 23rd Group 1 win on Saturday at Royal
Randwick. Picture: Getty Images

But Waterhouse is in a better position than most to make the comparison as
he can still vividly recall watching Phar Lap dominate the 1930 Randwick
autumn carnival with runaway wins in the AJC St Leger, Cumberland Stakes and
AJC Plate.

“As a boy, I saw Phar Lap race at Randwick, winning three times over the
seven days of the AJC Carnival,’’ Waterhouse said.

“He created a huge impression on me. I ‘knew’ he was the greatest horse to
ever race. Young eyes allow a champion to make an enormous impact.

“Then and thereafter, everyone recognised Phar Lap as an absolute ‘wonder
horse’.

“I remember Dad’s (C.O.H. Waterhouse, a St Leger bookmaker) oft-repeated,
sage advice to me, prompted by Phar Lap: ‘Never bet against a champion’.’’

 
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Waterhouse has always rated Phar Lap as the greatest horse he has seen and
unbeaten sprinter Black Caviar as the fastest but he now believes Winx has
eclipsed both champions.

“I have to acknowledge, Winx is, I think, superior to Phar Lap,’’ Waterhouse
said.

“I think she the best racehorse I ever seen in my 97 years.

“Modern horses are better reared, better fed and, maybe, better trained
today. Why wouldn’t they be better?

“With 30 straight wins, Winx has screamed her domination of her generation.

“Moreover, I’m told, she may have the ‘quickest’ stride ever recorded. She
is the best ever!’’

But Waterhouse feels Winx may not be remembered as reverentially as Phar
Lap.

“I am not sure history will be as kind to Winx as me,’’ he said.

“In contrast, the memory of Phar Lap will be that of a great horse of taking
on all distances, all weights, undaunted by the fear of defeat.

“Phar Lap won the 1930 Cox Plate and then won at each of the four days of
the VRC Spring Carnival (1600m to 3200m).

“He won, over his lifetime, from 1000m to 3600m. He raced in the Melbourne
Cup with 68kg on a 42.5kg limit.

“He won the world’s richest race lame, wearing bar plates. A brave warrior.

“By contrast I fear Winx will, in time to come, be wrongly tainted with the
tag a ‘cotton wool’ champion. But you can’t blame the Winx connections.
Times are different.’’

Waterhouse said prizemoney for weight-for-age races are “worth so much more
today compared with yesteryear” so there is no need for Winx to be tested in
handicaps.

“Phar Lap’s 1931 Cox Plate was worth only £400 as against his 1930 Melbourne
Cup of £9,229,’’ Waterhouse said.

Waterhouse is adamant Winx could race on for another year and still dominate
Australian racing.

“Phar Lap didn’t retire,’’ he said, recalling how the mighty racehorse died
from a mystery ailment when still in his prime, less than three weeks after
beating America’s best horses in the 1932 Agua Caliente Handicap.

“If I owned Winx, she would stay racing, forget about protecting her
unbeaten record and show her greatness by ‘stepping outside the crease’ like
Phar Lap.’’

 

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