Winx Stakes 2024 – What the jockeys said

See what each of the jockeys had to say about their mounts in the G1 Winx Stakes at Randwick on August 24th, 2024.

WINX STAKES – JOCKEY COMMENTS

Kerrin McEvoy (Via Sistina): “Great win, she’s just a winner basically, I’ve only sat on her once, which was last Saturday, and she was on her own, but she’s just a competitor.

“Chris [Waller] just said look, she’s in really good form. The unknown was 1400m in this grade, and first up.

“Just wanted to let her tell me where she wanted to be. She jumped in the air a little bit and got sort of back and ended up on the rail, inside Fangirl and I just thought, I’ll cut the corner. I thought I’d just make it a little bit easier, rather than James [McDonald] who got shuffled back a little and had to come wide.

“When I got to the corner, I sort of saved a bit of ground and then went to the inside, but I was happy to do that because I think it’s drying out all day.

“She really motored the last furlong, so fantastic training effort to see her do that first up at that level, and the world is her oyster this prep now.”

Tommy Berry (Zougotcha): “Showed her versatility today. There wasn’t a lot of speed in the race, and she was outside the leader. She was just beaten by a freak today. I was definitely not stopping. I’d love to see the sectionals of the winner. It was just too good on the day.”

James McDonald (Fangirl): “She is great. She has returned in good order. Very proud of her efforts.”

Dylan Gibbons (Semana): “Another 110% effort from her. She is a length off probably the best horses we’ve got. Proud of her once again.”

Jason Collett (Detonator Jack): “Really good run. Against these horses he’s very happy and come back well.”

Zac Lloyd (Zardozi): “Fantastic first-up run from her. Probably the best she has performed first up. Only up from here. She had a nice day out and sure she will improve a lot from that.”

Nash Rawiller (Riff Rocket): “I thought it was a great return. He really finished the race off well. This was an incredibly frustratingly run race for me on a horse first up. We were hoping for a bit more even speed mid-race, but he’s still gone through his gears, and we got outsprinted. Has probably run one of the best closing sectionals for the day. Very happy.”

Josh Parr (Buckaroo): “I thought that was a nice return.”

Tyler Schiller (Atishu): “Really good return. She settled nicely. She was very well behaved, and I thought she quickened well the last 200m.”

Adam Hyeronimus (Tropical Squall): “A little bit disappointing. She doesn’t normally run like that. She is bigger and older and probably just needs that run to bring her on in the coat as well.”

Rachel King (Just Fine): “Super first run back. I think he’s hopefully back to his best this prep.”

Reece Jones (Zeyrek): “Take improvement from that run. WFA probably works against him a little bit. He put in a good performance. Take good benefit from it.”