When the great racemare Winx powered through 33 consecutive wins, 25 of them Australian Group 1s between 2015 and her retirement in April 2019, horse racing experts and scientists raced to seek the source of her talent.
Some of those studies involved performance analytics including Winx’s racing stride and cadence (the stride frequency) and other bio mechanical traits to her physique, said to be key to her remarkable success.
Physicist Dr Graeme Putt, from the University of Auckland, determined that Winx (Street Cry (Ire)) had been able to put in 2.7 strides per second, compared to the average of 2.3 for other horses. This cadence would translate to speeding 170 lengths per minute, about 30 lengths better than her competition.