Getting to know the 2014 Cox Plate

With a slight lull in American racing until the Breeders’ Cup, I would like to take the opportunity to blog all about one of my favorite races outside of the United States. The Cox Plate is regarded as the best weight-for-age race in Australia and is the second most important contest in the horse racing mad nation, after only the Melbourne Cup. As is true most years, this year’s Cox Plate, to be run on Saturday, will feature a large and competitive field.

Inaugurated in 1922, the Cox Plate was named in honor of the founder of Moonee Valley Racing Club, William Samuel Cox. Moonee Valley is one of the major race courses of Australia and is found just outside of Melbourne. Melbourne, being the second largest city in Australia, is located in the Southeast corner of the nation. Held in late October each year, the Cox Plate falls between the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups in the Spring Racing Carnival. While the Melbourne Cup is the race that ‘stops a nation’, to some, the Cox Plate is the ultimate race in the country.

Ryan Martin, a former jockey down under explained it to me this way, “The race I look forward to the most is the Cox Plate. It is the greatest race in our country. It’s run at Moonee Valley, which is my favorite track. The pressure is always on, and then they go early at the valley down past the school at the 600m, only the toughest of the toughest survive and win....To me this is the one single race I would love to win as a jockey!”

Whether or not it is regarded in the same fervor as the Melbourne Cup by the majority of Australians, the best weight-for-age race in the country carries as much history as it does prestige.

The Cox Plate has always attracted a field of the best horses down under with a national honor roll of champions. The famed list of stars to win the race include: Phar Lap in 1930 & 1931, Rising Fast in 1954, Tobin Bronze in 1967, Gunsynd in 1972, the ill-fated Dulcify in 1979, Kingston Town in 1980-1982, Strawberry Road in 1983, Might and Power in 1998, Northerly in 2001 & 2002, Fields of Omagh in 2003 & 2006, So You Think in 2009 & 2010 and the great mares Sunline in 1999 & 2000, and Makybe Diva in 2005. Make no mistake; stamping your name on the trophy is a huge accomplishment. The Cox Plate is contested at 2,040 meters (slightly more than 1 ¼ miles) over the Moonee Valley turf course, and the horses run in the same left to right direction familiar to us in the States.

In this year’s edition, a full field on 14 runners will vie for the prize. Here is the 2014 field in post position order:

1. Foreteller

2. Happy Trails  

3. Royal Descent  

4. Fawkner  

5. Wandjina  

6. Criterion

7. Side Glance

8. Almalad  

9. Sacred Falls  

10. Guest of Honour  

11. Silent Achiever

12. Sweynesse

13. Adelaide

14. The Cleaner

(Note the program numbers will be different, as they do not correspond with the post position or barriers as they are called in Australia.)

Fawkner looms the likely favorite for the race coming off a nice win in the Caulfield Stakes on October 11. The seven-year-old, uniquely colored gelding is a fan favorite in Australia, and would be a very popular winner for trainer, Robert Hickmott. One of the more interesting horses in the field, and one of the top choices behind Fawkner will be the Irish three-year-old, Adelaide. A consistent colt who has won group or graded races in both Europe and America, the son of Galileo is from the hugely successful Aidan O’Brien barn. Two starts back he won the Grade 1 Secretariat at Arlington Park, and has since run a good third in the Group 2 Prix Niel at Longchamp. O’Brien has raided the Australia before, including a competitive third with the Irish three-year-old Mahler in the 2007 Melbourne Cup.

American race fans will also recognize the name Side Glance, who has run in the States a few times, most recently finishing third in the Arlington Million. Since that solid effort, the speedy seven-year-old globetrotter turned in a game effort when third to Fawkner in the Caulfield Stakes. Splitting those two in the exciting finish that afternoon was the Australian Derby winner Criterion, who will look to emulate the great So You Think as a New Zealand-bred winner of the Cox Plate. Last year’s runner-up Happy Trails is back for another shot coming in off a fifth place run in the Caulfield Stakes, while the fourth place finisher that day, Sacred Falls, finished with a flourish, and should be one of the favorites on Saturday. Among the rest, includes the first lady of Australian racing, Gai Waterhouse and her entrant, Almalad, who disappointed when eighth in the Caulfield Guineas most recently.