Even as the expectation and her entourage has grown, the excitement around Winx remains the same for owner Debbie Kepitis as her champion mare attempts to win a third Cox Plate on Saturday.

There will more than 100 people in the Winx camp as she shoots for her 22nd consecutive win at Moonee Valley, a far cry from the dozen or so that were there when she won the Australasian weight-for-age championship in 2015.

"She is the best mare in the world and as we have gone on this wonderful journey, more and more people have joined us," Kepitis said. "Winx is a once-in-a-lifetime horse and you want to share it with your family.

"All my family have been coming for about the last year, there are about 15 of them. These are memories and times you want to share.

"It is good to have Chris [Waller's] and Hugh [Bowman's] wives and family there because we know we won't get another Winx."

If she wins as expected on Saturday, Winx will join Kingston Town as a three-time Cox Plate winner, pass Makybe Diva as the highest prizemoney-earner in Australian racing and match Black Caviar's remarkable tally of 15 group 1 victories.

The profile of Winx has extended beyond racing as she has stretched her unbeaten run to more than two years and it has seen the group around owners Kepitis, Peter Tighe and Richard Treweeke increase.

But go back to 2015 and Winx's first appearance at Moonee Valley, the ambitions were a little less lofty. Kepitis remembers having Winx and her Victoria Derby Preferment in the race, her father Bob Ingham had won with his champion Octagonal.

"I was just excited to have two runners in the Cox Plate, I didn't think about winning it really," Kepitis said. "To have a horse good enough to run in a Cox Plate is what you dream about as an owner and when she won it I couldn't really believe it.

"There were a dozen or so of us very, very excited."

That was the fifth victory in the winning sequence that continues to this day. Winx broke the track record and in dominating the race announced herself as a rising star of the turf.

By the time Winx arrived back at the Valley 12 months later and chalked up her 13th straight win, she had about 80 in the cheer squad. She was the star attraction, again delivering with possibly her best performance.

"I was hopeful last year because we were taking on a very good horse in good form in Hartnell," Kepitis said. "Then she came out and won like that [by eight lengths]. That was amazing.

"This year I'm just hoping nothing goes wrong. It is a different feeling again."

Kepitis will keep things as much the same as she possibly can in the lead-up to Saturday, with Tighe to do the barrier draw on Tuesday morning.

"Peter has chosen the barrier for the last two years and it has worked, so we won't be changing that," Kepitis said. "You get excited because it is a Cox Plate and you never take it for granted, even with Winx."

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