Farewell to Australia’s greatest horse

Storm clouds may be rumbling over racing’s future financing in terms of gambling legislation but 2019 offered no shortage of happy memories. The emergence of the once-bumptious Oisin Murphy as a modest, articulate and thoughtful champion jockey. The pulsating battle between two previous winners in this year’s King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes when Enable and Crystal Ocean provided the most thrilling racecourse duel since the gut-buster between Grundy and Bustino in 1975, with John Gosden’s mare taking it by a neck. Then there was the dominance of Pinatubo, surely the best juvenile since Frankel, in the Woodcote at Epsom, the Chesham at Ascot, Goodwood’s Vintage Stakes and the National Stakes at the Curragh. He will be the hottest ticket on the racecourse this coming year.

Over jumps we have already enjoyed an enthralling round one in what should be a fascinating series when Nicky Henderson’s Altior lost his 19-race unbeaten record over jumps to Paul Nicholls’s Cyrname. We saw the emergence of a new star when Colin Tizzard’s Lostintranslation conquered Betfair Chase hero Bristol de Mai at Haydock.

The arrival in the post of a bulky parcel from Australia (the Queen got one too) reminded me that we also celebrated this year a triumphant end to the career of the best horse ever raced on that continent. The Hunter Valley area is probably better known to British wine-drinkers than racegoers but Winx, a filly by Street Cry out of Vegas Showgirl who was foaled there in the spring of 2011, went on to become the darling of Australian race fans, her following surpassing even that enjoyed by Phar Lap, Makybe Diva and Black Caviar. My friend Andrew Rule, a much be-gonged investigative journalist with an instinctive flair for race writing, has penned the definitive biography of the mare who rewrote the Antipodean record books, and it is a joy.