“Once upon a time there was a horse named Kelso – but only once”.

It’s such a simple but beautifully poignant line written by Joe Hirsch, founder of the American Turf Writers Association, one who would have a Group 1 race named after him (that is still run today).   (I’ll let you ponder that happening in Australia, but it is to say Hirsch was respected, if not a little revered for his craft with a typewriter and words, well before an era of laptops, IPhones, Twitter and Facebook.)

Kelso was obviously pretty good. He was a five-time American Horse of The Year consecutive from 1960, the same unbeaten run he had in the Group 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup. He won 39 of 63, but never had a race named after him, and ended up hunting and jumping (but in the Hall of Fame).

When he was retired, The Bloodhorse magazine wrote: “Kelso demonstrated the durability of class, no horse in our time was so good, so long. His was mature greatness”.

He was undoubtedly the king of his era – in America – but it is Hirsch’s line that underlines the majesty of some sort of transcendence in the supreme equine athlete – ONCE!

So think of the luck of our generation – the invincibility of Black Caviar (25 straight, unconquered here and abroad) or the uniqueness of achievement of Makybe Diva (three Melbourne Cups and a Cox Plate). Have we not been spoiled more than ONCE!

And that is not to forget Northerly or Sunline or Might And Power or Lohnro or Weekend Hussler – but today they resigned to fading memory and Miller’s Guide.

But then there is the wonder of Winx, as she approaches joining the King of a previous generation in Kingston Town as the first Queen of a triple Cox Plate.

You might have seen her in the real news this week. There is nothing fake about Team Winx.

You may have seen her outwardly calm, respectful and elegant trainer Chris Waller on the telly using words like humbled, privilege and honour in a tone a touch revered and at times a little quivering.

You might have pulled the glossy poster out of the newspaper which carried stories about everything Winx from the bloke (John Bunting) who puts on her size seven shoes to the float driver Dougie Hill who transports the precious passenger to the track while carrying lollies and drinks for the strappers and a bag of carrots for the star girl.

You might have seen and heard from her ebullient part-owner Debbie Kepitis, bouncing around town like a pinball with a fresh dash of purple in her hair as excited and anxious about her (our) horse as she might be going on a first date as a teenager.

You might have heard all the theories about why she is so good and gunning for 22 straight wins and history on Saturday – like the frequency of her strides, or her ability to quicken her stride, not the length of her stride. There is a thesis on this! Hashtag that.

You may had heard miserable pundits says this would be the worst Cox Plate in history or that because of her domination and lack of opposition, the crowds will stay away. They had to fill a space somehow?

So what have we got? A Cox Plate day sell out and unprecedented focus on a supreme athlete!

And what we haven’t heard from the real star of the big show? Absolutely nothing and that’s just something which make all this adulation and idolising such a thing of mystery.

There is no “I’m going to do this or that to you” or come and see me, the greatest show on turf”. There is no swagger or pomp.

As Waller would say: “She makes our job so easy.” She’s Winx – and you can’t define her any more clearly than that.

It is why on a Tuesday morning, the Moonee Valley Racing Club opened its doors to allow you in and see her for free, grab an instant coffee and a bacon and egg roll and mingle.

It’s why outside stall 54, a myriad of society peered in to see The Queen. The morning darkness was lit by an IPhone paparazzi, kids on father’s shoulders, hoisted to a better vantage points. Others ogled as if they could lift the bonnet and see the motor, or pierce the eyes and delve into her mind.

And she’d looked back as if to say “what’s all the fuss about”. And then went about her business without any fuss at all. There was enough of that going on all around her.

There was Malcolm Johnston, who shared in the Kingston Town trilogy as his first Cox Plate winning jockey, dressed up as supposedly Donald Trump (but looking more like Sydney journo Ray Thomas). Whoever – he looked as silly as the bloke who would have shared in the King’s three-peat had he not got himself suspended the other two.

There was “Joffa”, leader of the Collingwood Cheer Squad and his Posse, Greg “Diesel” Williams, a two time Brownlow medallist (1986/94) and still claiming it should have been three himself, (like The King), if not for the umpires who missed 44 possessions in Round 10 1993.

Mums, Dads, old and young boys and girls, some on their way to school after brekkie with the very best. Even some were carrying pictures of the previous Queen Black Caviar chasing Peter Moody’s signature. Oh those other racing queens Gai Waterhouse and Michelle Payne were photo bombing away but their roles were as virtual extras on a morning with Winx the star.

But there was Moody, who as an owner with wife Sarah, provides a challenger, well an opponent, to Winx in the Plate via Hardham. He has joined the dark side of the fourth estate as a roving rambler for the race sponsor Ladbrokes and nabbed every participant possible for his popular lively viral snapshot.

As the unthinkable was floated – Winx going under – about as likely as the Washington Generals beating the Harlem Globetrotters perhaps – or Kepitis not wearing her superstitious yet very  well dry cleaned purple, black and white race suit (they are betting on that) – it was left to Moody to tell it like it is.

“As long as her arse points to the ground, she won’t get beaten.” he said as succinctly as the Joe Hirsch line on Kelso, but with obviously a little more trademark Moody candour.

So in a week the Gemba group – in their own words – “a leading authority in the ever changing world of sport and entertainment” – released a timely report on the state of the racing industry’s relevance, it noted the problems with the “millennials”, the 18-29 year-old age bracket. “The racing industry has missed the kick and is floundering 20 lengths behind the leaders” (basketball would you believe).

The solution: “Star Power” – “millennials are attracted by charisma and attitude, their heroes don’t toe the line, they leap over it”. They would go on – “Who has the personality and attitude that will resonate with this group, is it the jockeys, trainers or horses themselves?”

Why not run with Winx this week, a four-letter word meaning “Star”. Wow they even proposed to name a race after her in Sydney this week, The Warwick Stakes becoming the Winx Stakes. Sorry Warwick, whoever you were.

So on Saturday afternoon, Daryl Braithwaite will reprise “Horses” again at The Valley to a capacity crowd, all there for only one, even if it is only for once.

And then Hugh Bowman from Dunedoo will take her into the cauldron that is only that Cox Plate moment. Neither will look flustered. And hopefully the job will be done without fluster but with customary flair.

William Shakespeare knew a thing or two about words and I will borrow them for Winx, changing the male from Henry V Act 3 to her. Like her, they are of beauty and excellence.

“When I bestride her, I soar, I am a hawk: she trots the air; the earth sings when she touches it; the basest horn of her hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes.” 

But then maybe we can dream this – what if she comes back for four, then that would be truly a “ONCE”.