Winx after her fourth Cox Plate.

© Racing Photos

By Andrew Eddy

Peter Tighe was happy to officially move back the decision on Winx’s racing future until next year after the four-time Cox Plate champion emerged unscathed from her triumph on Sunday morning.

While Winx enjoyed a recuperative paddle in the waters at Altona a little more than 12 hours after she again lit up The Valley with her extraordinary ability, Tighe gathered with fellow part-owner Debbie Kepitis to bask in the glory once they’d checked the mare was sound and well.

Tighe admitted to feeling ‘’pretty bloody dusty’’ after a long night’s celebration of Winx’s mind-blowing achievement but he said Winx’s future is something to think about another day.

‘’We leave it all up to her,’’ he said. ‘’She’ll call the shots. She’ll have a couple of months before we have to discuss that.’’

Tighe told Racing.com’s After The Last program on Saturday night that there was no rush to make a call on whether she could add to her winning sequence of 29 next autumn.

‘’If there’s a chance she could race again, it will be examined extremely well,’’ he said. ‘’The vets will go over her, everyone will go over her and we’ll have a good hard look at her because we certainly don’t need to race her but we certainly don’t need to retire her.

‘’So we’re happy to have a jolly good Christmas and a happy new year and we’ll all have this problem in the new year.’’

Tighe said Winx’s 29th straight win on Saturday was something special.

Every horse in that race had its chance to win today but the best horse won the race. ‘’It’s the most satisfying,’’ he said. ‘’It’s worked out as we wanted it to work out and the way everyone wanted for it to work out.

‘’She not only won the race but she confirmed she is the best horse in the world and honestly, I think she’s the best horse we’ll ever see.

‘’It’s a big statement to make but she is just unbeatable when she’s on song.’’