With the bat of an eye, Winx put away any thought of a contest in the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley on Saturday.
The crowd, which had clapped her through the tunnel and roared her onto the track, was sniffing a battle at the 600-metre mark. The moment had come for Hugh Bowman to go for the great mare. She was outside Hartnell at that point and they had left the others in their wake. Then Winx left him in her wake as he surged into racing folklore.
This was about one horse, Winx.
The best horse of the 21st century.
"She was just in the zone today and wherever she goes, if she is in that zone, she will win anything," trainer Chris Waller said.
Like Dulcify and Sunline, Winx opened up a big gap. At the top of the straight it was two lengths, then three and, at the post, it was a record eight lengths.
"It was a lonely, but great ride [in the straight]," Bowman said.
Fittingly, Winx went past Black Caviar and So You Think in earnings, reaching $9.3 million, with her second Cox Plate win.
She joined Northerly, also a dual-Cox Plate winner, on nine group 1s, but she has many more to come.
Northerly is one of three horses above her in terms of career prizemoney. The others are with Makybe Diva and Sunline.
Hartnell was brave in second and is the Melbourne Cup favourite, three-year-old filly Yankee Rose was third, another three-quarters of a length away, and is VRC Oaks favourite.
That was a mark of the victory that the vanquished are held in high regard.
"For her to win like that, it's pretty fitting for the horse she is," Waller said.
"It is like a dream right now as simple as that."
Waller had been very calm during the week. He knows his horse and knew this was coming.
Bowman said he just thought he would win when he came to the track. But a windy day had raised doubt but the crowd helped him through that.
"[The track] has just played to horses coming around them," Bowman said. "When I was able to secure Hartnell's hindquarters, all my worries disappeared.
"I just enjoyed the ride like everyone else.
"Not that I wanted him to fold, I knew he would take me to where I wanted to be. He couldn't take me far enough."
By the turn he was gone and the crowd roared Winx on as galloped as if it was an exhibition.
"She is a superior racehorse," Bowman said. "It is just great honour to be a part of it.
"I felt [the pressure] when I came out onto the track and they clapped her under the tunnel. When they went up for her coming onto the racetrack, I became a bit emotional and had to regather myself.
"What that did was give me confidence because when I came to the track I thought we can't lose."
Owner Peter Tighe summed what he saw simply.
"It's relief, a release, it's exhilaration," he said.
"I can't believe what we just saw. I can dream about it. It's that special, phew. It's fantastic."
Hartnell's trainer, John O'Shea, just shook his head.
"I thought my bloke was going well and then she just went whack," he said. "What a mare, what a horse.
"I still have the Melbourne Cup favourite, it was a pretty good Melbourne Cup trial, even though we got beat eight [lengths]."
David Vandyke has a special filly in Yankee Rose and is unsure if she will back up in the Oaks.
"We were in another race," he said. "We have run second in a Golden Slipper, third in Cox Plate and won two group 1s between them [with Yankee Rose].
"We got to run into a superstar, the best horse I have seen for long time.
"We were along way away but we weren't disgraced.
"We can say we got beaten by Winx."
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