Winx marches on Rosehill with win number 16 in her sights

Two starts into her 2017 campaign Winx moves across Sydney from Randwick to Rosehill, but Chris Waller's record-breaking mare appears in no mood to surrender her winning ways in Saturday's China Horse Club-sponsored George Ryder.

The dual Cox Plate winner has become a media phenomenon in Australia, with the Sydney Morning Herald calculating that a $100 bet on the first of her 15 straight wins, with the winnings rolled on to each of the next 14, would by now have made $760,000 (£477,000 / €545,000), so enough to buy a house in Australia's booming property capital.

With top sprinter Chautauqua and the William Buick-ridden Hauraki in opposition, Winx faces more than credible opposition over an extended seven furlongs in a contest she won last year.

"We’re certainly not running away from challenges – never have and never will – so it’s good to see some headline horses there, not just from Sydney but from Melbourne and Queensland" said Waller after Winx had completed a public workout at the track on Thursday.

Tommy Berry has been talking a confident game about his mount, Chautauqua, who has impressed work-watchers.

Berry said: "I don't think Winx has met a horse like him before, he can run the same sort of sectionals as she does. I know it's going to be tough but he's the best horse I've ridden and is going really well."

Buick believes Hauraki also has a realistic chance of lowering Winx's colours on the rain-softened ground.

"He handles soft ground and last time he met Winx he wasn't that far off her," said Buick. "We are there with a chance and he is geared up for a big run and is very talented."

Buick rides Trekking in the Longines Golden Slipper, the other feature on the Rosehill card and the world's richest two-year-old race.

Meanwhile Godolphin's former retained rider in Australia, the New Zealand-born James McDonald, has lost his appeal against the severity of an 18-month ban for betting at a hearing in Sydney.