James Cummings after winning the Cox Plate last year
COX PLATE DAY
The amphitheatre of Moonee Valley just heightens the greatness required to win the Cox Plate and it is only the elite that survive. The Best of the Best have taken out the WFA Championship of Australasia and while the race itself only takes a bit of two minutes, every bit of the 2040m is pulsating. From PHAR LAP to TULLOCH, then KINGSTON TOWN to WINX, it is the great ones that handle every bit of the pressure. The 2022 running was 100 years since the race’s inception and yet it was on from the start as James Cummings trained-ANAMOE prevailed.
This year there is a pre-determined new addition to Cox Plate Day with the G1 Manikato Stakes (1200m) run on the Saturday as opposed to the traditional night before. Last year the race was lightning/weather delayed by 24 hours but it takes its scheduled place as part of a dual G1 afternoon. As well, there are many other stakes races including the G2 Moonee Valley Vase (2040m) for the 3YOs, the G2 Fillies Classic (1600m) for the girls and the G2 Crystal Mile (1600m), etc.
ROMANTIC WARRIOR aims for another big win in the G1 Cox Plate
ROMANTIC WARRIOR sets sights on the Cox Plate
Hong Kong hero ROMANTIC WARRIOR has been aimed at the Cox Plate following his outstanding record back home in feature races and with the joining of globally recognised rider James McDonald, he is well established atop early betting in the big one.
Although his first run in the Turnbull Stakes was no match late for last year’s Melbourne Cup winner GOLD TRIP, he has not raced for nearly five months. Trainer Danny Shum is leaving no stone unturned in getting the 5YO to the race in the best possible shape and his international rating says he has to be a massive hope with this journey.
ROMANTIC WARRIOR aims for another big win in the G1 Cox Plate
3YOs receive significant weight advantage in the Cox Plate
3YOs have long had a big focus on the Cox Plate, mainly due to the weight advantage they receive so early in the season and 2023 could well be no different.
While SHAMUS AWARD was the last Southern Hemisphere colt to score back in 2013, two from the North have done it since even without that huge weight differential. ADELAIDE prevailed for Irish juggernaut Aidan O’Brien back in 2014, then his son Joseph achieved the feat seven years later (2021) with STATE OF REST, just off a nice score state-side in the Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes. This year, Aidan O’Brien’s is looming in large with strong American favour again, dispatching last year’s G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner VICTORIA ROAD for a tilt at the Cox Plate.
MILITARIZE, the son of DUNDEEL, should be no doubt on the stamina.
Key contenders
Those 3YOs could well be big players, not just due to the weights. Horses like MILITARIZE (Sire: DUNDEEL) and KING COLORADO (Sire: KINGMAN) won G1s as juveniles but importantly are by sires who you would expect will provide them with few dramas running the strong 2040m.
However, they will also have some genuinely tough WFA stars in MR BRIGHTSIDE (second place in the G1 King Charles III Stakes 2023) and ALLIGATOR BLOOD (winner of the G1 The Might And Power Stakes 2023) as rivals as well.
Can Gai & Adrian win the Cox Plate?
Gai Waterhouse finds the missing piece
Of all her 154 G1 winners conditioned to date, somehow the Cox Plate is one of the few races that eludes the legendary Gai Waterhouse on Australian Turf. Now teamed up with Adrian Bott, this new partnership’s ALLIGATOR BLOOD hopes to go one further in this year’s running.
Can Gai & Adrian win the Cox Plate?
