“She was in big trouble” – Paddy Sheehan’s journey from bedside vigil to record-breaking sale

The most important moments of champion mare Winx’s life have all featured Coolmore foaling manager Paddy Sheehan.

She may have won 25 Group 1 races, including four Cox Plates and three Queen Elizabeth Stakes with trainer Chris Waller and jockey Hugh Bowman part of the ride, but Sheehan has been there when it mattered.

On the day she was foaled, September 14, 2011, Sheehan helped bring her into the world.

Nine years later, Sheehan worked closely with Coolmore vets and Scone Equine Hospital to save Winx’s life after she miscarried her first foal. He stayed by her side as she fought and won the battle.

“She was in big trouble and I went down every day to the Scone vets to see her. They said her chances of survival were 50-50. And she is just a tough horse,” he said.

Two years on, on October 7, 2022, Sheehan was the man on the spot as Winx’s Pierro filly arrived at Coolmore, ensuring her prodigious talent would carry on to another generation.

The champion mare wasn’t at the Australian Easter Yearling Sale this week, but for all the fanfare and publicity, she might well have been. Her daughter, by Coolmore resident Pierro, was, providing the greatest spectacle in the history of Australian bloodstock.

Kepitis keeps ‘collector’s item’ Winx filly in the family for $10 million

The daughter of 25-time Group 1 winner Winx has been sold to one of the champion mare’s part-owners with Debbie Kepitis paying an Australian record $10 million.

The StraightWarwick Barr

Sheehan was also there, handpicked by Coolmore principal Tom Magnier to lead the filly through the sales ring, something that is not usually on his job description.

“The owners have been very good to me and they put Winx first all the time. They said to me, ‘you have done the work with us and we want you to come and lead her through’. I usually stay behind and look after young stock and Tom said ‘you are leading her through’,” Sheehan said,

“I couldn’t believe it. I was hoping she’d make $5 million.”

On that account, Sheehan was half right. The filly smashed the previous Australian mark of $5 million, when Debbie Kepitis, part-owner of Winx and the foal herself, won out in a dramatic duel with American investor John Stewart to pay $10 million.

While the price will ensure Paddy is seen on every news program in the country on Monday night, the buyer was even more important.   

“It was a privilege that the owners were able to bring Winx back to Coolmore. It’s just amazing that Debbie could buy the filly,” he said.

It wasn’t a straightforward task leading the filly through. The interest in her has been stratospheric and the crowds lined the pre parade ring 5-10 deep as she prepared to enter the ring.

The only relief she got from the clatter of cameras and clamour of people was on her entry to the ring.

Auctioneer Jonathan D’Arcy’s introduction was followed by a hush, before the bidding began in earnest starting out at $2 million and ending in an Australian first eight-figure amount

“I couldn’t believe it. I was hoping she’d make $5 million” – Coolmore foaling manager Paddy Sheehan       

In the ring, Sheehan said the Pierro filly sensed the moment and he had to be on his game.

“She was very strong. All the public around her, she really tensed up there. You can feel that strength in her, she’s just an amazing filly,” he said.

There was relief for Sheehan and the entire Coolmore team when she exited the ring. But the quietly spoken foaling manager was barely to collect his thoughts before being bustled off to confront the waiting media.

“I said to the guys, I wouldn’t do any media, but Tom (Magnier) said I had to do it,” he said.

In his hand as he chatted to The Straight was the now-famous filly’s head collar and lead, destined for the memorabilia wall at Coolmore.

Sheehan will return to the Hunter Valley farm on Monday night and check in on Winx as she approaches the latter months of her pregnancy to Snitzel, with his association with her far from finished.

“She is just beautiful now. She’s just a wonderfully relaxed broodmare. It’s a credit to everyone at the farm,” he said.