Bowman supports international campaign for superstar Winx

Hugh Bowman said he is dreaming of riding Winx at Royal Ascot as he threw his support behind an international campaign next year for the Australian superstar.

The clamour to convince Winx’s trainer Chris Waller and her owners to ship the six-year-old to Europe has grown louder with each of the brilliant mare’s wins. These have included back-to-back runnings of the Cox Plate, last year’s Queen Elizabeth Stakes and ten other Group 1s over distances from 7f to 1m2f.

Furthermore, Winx has not been defeated since April 2015, despite varied and consistent attempts by her rivals, racking up a sequence of victories which now stands at 20.

Bowman, 37, has been on Winx throughout that winning run and has his eyes firmly set on matching the legendary Kingston Town’s three successive wins in the Group 1 Cox Plate.

However, following Waller’s press release earlier this week suggesting a European campaign could be on the agenda for Winx next year, Bowman expressed his excitement at the possibility of her travelling abroad.

He said: "I would love to see her compete on the world stage, internationally. For me it's about the welfare of the horse. If she's happy and healthy and it can work then it would be an absolute dream to come to Royal Ascot.”

'Huge boost for Australia'

Black Caviar, another Australian superstar, made the journey to Royal Ascot in 2012 to win the Diamond Jubilee Stakes. She followed the likes of Choisir, Miss Andretti, Scenic Blast and Takeover Target in winning at Royal Ascot over a sprint distance.

Should Winx manage to defeat European milers and middle-distance horses, Bowman believes it would be a huge boost for Australian racing.

“To come over with a genuine middle-distance horse, and to win a race that's not over a sprinting distance, and prove that the stock in the southern hemisphere is up to standard would mean a great deal to me and everyone in Australia,” Bowman told Racing UK.

“I suppose a Queen Anne would be an obvious [race to go for]. That would jump out at me and maybe the [Prince of Wales’s Stakes] –one or both of them – so that would be a starting point.”