Australian and New Zealand breeders have supplied only six of the 14 runners in Saturday’s $3 million Cox Plate G1.
Two of them are by Arrowfield stallions and one will join the Arrowfield roster at the end of his career. They bring three quite different stories to the race where legends are made.
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The future Arrowfield resident is, of course, It’s A Dundeel who became favourite for the race after Atlantic Jewel was scratched on Tuesday because of a tendon injury.
It’s A Dundeel has much in his favour: an imposing record of Group 1 Guineas, Derby and weight-for-age success from 1600 to 2400 metres, blink-of-an-eye acceleration, a splendid competitive temperament, a master trainer and the genetic backing of High Chaparral & Zabeel. The two sires have appeared individually in the pedigrees of the last four Cox Plate winners: Maldivian (2008) So You Think (2009 & 2010), Pinker Pinker (2011) & Ocean Park (2012).
Against him is some heavyweight history. It’s A Dundeel will jump from barrier 12 which has not supplied a Cox Plate winner in the past 30 years, although wide barriers don’t make success impossible. Bonecrusher, Rubiton, Better Loosen Up, Solvit, Sunline and Pinker Pinker have all won from double-figure gates in that period.
Eleven favourites have won the Cox Plate in the past three decades, most recently So You Think in 2010, but the race has produced plenty of upset winners in that time, notably Dane Ripper at 40-1 in 1997, Pinker Pinker (20-1 in 2011) and Fields of Omagh (18-1 in 2006).
More telling is the fact that only five horses have won the Australian Derby and returned the following spring to claim the Cox Plate at four. All five would appear on most lists of the best thoroughbreds ever to race in Australia: Phar Lap (1930), Dulcify (1979), Kingston Town (1980), Strawberry Road (1983) and Bonecrusher (1986).
Five Australian Derby winners in the past decade have attempted to complete the double and the best Cox Plate finisher has been Starcraft, third to Savabeel and Fields of Omagh in 2004.
The two Arrowfield-sired Cox Plate runners will start at considerably longer odds than It’s A Dundeel, yet both their camps have good reasons for the confidence they express in their chances.
Trainer Danny O’Brien reports that 3YO colt Shamus Award (by Snitzel), who made the field only after Atlantic Jewel’s scratching, is “super” after his excellent third in the Caulfield Guineas G1 – his seventh black type placing in a career that doesn’t yet include a win.
“We always intended to have him ready for this weekend and our preference was always the Cox Plate.
“He gives us every indication that he will be a very good racehorse when he gets to 2000 metres. He’s very relaxed, really genuine and competes every time.”
Shamus Award is Snitzel’s first Cox Plate starter and the first maiden to line up in the race since Oxberry Way, unplaced in 1984. Four 3YOs have won the Cox Plate in the past thirty years: Red Anchor (1984), Octagonal (1995), Savabeel (2004) and So You Think (2009).
Jonathan Munz, owner-breeder of Rekindled Interest (by Redoute’s Choice), succinctly reviews the 6YO gelding’s preparation for his third Cox Plate appearance.
“He was injured in the 2012 Cox Plate, and had surgery after that. He was fabulous first-up, running second at Moonee Valley in a 1200-metre Listed Race carrying 61 kg in what ended up as a hot form race.
“He was then a bit disappointing second-up in the Epsom when held up at the top of the straight.”
Rekindled Interest has the best form on the track of any 2013 Cox Plate starter, as Jonanthan Munz confirms. “He flies at Moonee Valley where he won the Vase over 2040 metres as a 3YO, he was unlucky not to win the 2011 Cox Plate and he’s been trained to peak on Cox Plate Day.”
Redoute’s Choice, himself fifth in Sunline’s 1999 Cox Plate, has had six runners in the race, with Lotteria (2nd, 2005), Samantha Miss (3rd, 2008), Rekindled Interest (3rd, 2011) & Miss Finland (4th, 2007) doing best.
