Tearful goodbye: meet the Brit who has been with Winx every step of the way

An Englishman has been at Winx's side throughout her racing career. That Englishman is now facing up to a future without the wondermare and is readying himself for Saturday's conclusion to the farewell tour. Like the man he calls his employer and friend, he is odds-on to shed a tear.

Charlie Duckworth, assistant trainer to Chris Waller, will not be the only one who gets emotional. Waller himself is famously not afraid to bare his soul, while groom Umut Odemislioglu expects to be moist of eye when, in the near future, the time comes for Winx to leave his care and her racing home for good. Before that, there is the last hurrah to complete.

The sun is shining on Sydney and its surrounds this Wednesday. Waller and Duckworth have just walked off the Rosehill Gardens racecourse and are now heading to the trainer's trackside stables, which have been placed under lockdown in the final countdown to Winx's last race, Saturday's Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick.

Waller has masterminded a 32-race winning streak he and his team dearly wish will soon become 33. The 29-year-old Duckworth has been in that team for all those races. His time in Australia began in January 2014 following stints with Ralph Beckett, John Joseph Murphy and Mick Channon. It has been a very good time indeed.

"I spend 12 hours a day with Chris six days a week, so I have a pretty special relationship with him," says Duckworth.

"He has looked after me fantastically well throughout my time here. Family is such a massive part of his life and he realises I'm a very long way from home. He's like a father in Australia to me. He really is. I would go to him with any trouble, whether it's personal or work-related and he'd be my confidant. That's pretty special, too."

Incredibly special is the lady who lives in box 51 under the daily devoted care of Candice Persijn and Odemislioglu, a former theatre manager back home in Turkey. There is no doubt about the identity of his leading lady.

"She's a no-problem horse, that's the main thing," says Odemislioglu. "She knows her routine and knows her job. We do what we have to do with her and then leave her alone, which is how she likes it. We know her language."

Winx's groom Umut Odemislioglu at Chris Waller's stablesCredit: Lee Mottershead

There is not much that is not known about Winx, not least because she is the subject of a 450-page authorised biography. The paperback edition is likely to have a winning final chapter. Everyone expects Winx to triumph at Randwick. It is not, however, Odemislioglu's priority.

"The first thing in my mind is that she finishes her race safe and healthy," he says. "Once she does that I'll realise it's the last race. As a team we'll have finished the job and we'll have lots of memories. She's going to be a mum and I'm happy about that.

"We might all cry a little bit when she leaves here – first Chris and then the rest of us. It will be emotional but she's not going far and I'm sure we'll be able to visit. We might also see her babies here as well."

One day Duckworth might be a licence holder with one of those babies running in his own name. At the moment he is perfectly happy where he is.

"I'm not in a rush to leave," says Duckworth, who boasts piercing blue eyes to match the blue silks in which Winx races.

"I've always wanted to train but leaving a yard in which we have so many good horses to train some very slow horses in the middle of nowhere would be hard."

The opposite of very slow is Winx in top gear under Hugh Bowman.

"We don't really know how good she is," says Duckworth. "We can't say if she is as good as, or better than, Frankel. It's like comparing rugby union and league.

"Racing is so different down here compared to home, but she can only beat what she's up against. Horses are now sent to stud and they're sold to breeders as having finished second to Winx. That's a pretty big statement. It tells you she's exceptional.

Winx and connections with her four Cox Plates, (l-r) Patricia and Peter Tighe, groom Umut Odemislioglu, Debbie Kepitis and her husband PaulCredit: Vince Caligiuri

"It's obviously down to Chris and Hughie, but I hope she smashes them by ten lengths on Saturday. I'd love to see Hughie let her rip so she can show her dominance. Everyone will then be able to see again that she is pretty bloody good."

Winx has been more than good for her connections and sport, attracting levels of media coverage unheard of for a racehorse anywhere else in the world. Among those thankful she came along is Waller's business manager Liam Prior, who represented his boss when the then juvenile filly made a winning debut at Warwick Farm in June 2014.

"She's done a lot for our business, for sure, but she's also done a lot for the industry and for racing in New South Wales in particular," says Prior.

"People are drawn to any sportsperson when they start building a winning sequence and through Winx people have started to go racing and become involved in racing.

"Over the last four seasons every horse in Australia has had a chance to beat her from 1,400 metres to 2,000 metres. She has beaten a lot of horses and a lot of Group 1 winners."

There is now just one more field of Group 1 winners to beat. That means we are also in the last of what Waller's staff call a Winx week.

"Whenever it's Winx week we know we're going to get in trouble with Chris for something," says Prior.

"When you're right, you're wrong, and when you're wrong, you're still wrong. I think the pressure starts to build for him from the previous Saturday. Charlie might come in during the morning and say he took a spray of bullets from Chris. I'll know it's my turn next."

Prior adds: "We all watch Winx's races together and as soon as the race is over you feel the massive weight of pressure lift. During the races Chris looks like a ghost with no colour and dry lips. He watches the races holding his breath, but then the race ends, he gives you a cuddle and everything is right."

Winx relaxing at home

Racing fans around the world will be hoping everything is right at around 3.10pm local time on Saturday, when the curtain comes down on one of the greatest careers in racing history and Australian sport.

Duckworth will be in the Winx entourage and is looking forward to helping Waller to saddle a mare who has been an integral part of his life in a distant land.

"I know I'll get emotional on Saturday and I'll definitely shed a tear," he says. "I've got choked up for every one of her last five runs. It doesn't help that I watch her races with Chris. When you see someone else cry it rubs off on you.

"It hasn't sunk in yet that after Saturday she won't ever race again. I don't even think it will sink in over the winter months. I think it will hit home only when she doesn't return in the spring. She's been here all the time I've been here. It's hard to imagine what it will be like when she's not here."

What is hard to imagine will soon become a reality for Duckworth, Waller and all the team. Goodbyes are not long off being said. For now, though, a superstar continues to live in box 51.

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