They could strap a trotting gig behind him and he’d still win it.īless their publicity-seeking gimmicky little hearts. Then on September 23 someone at the TAB decided it would be a good idea to pay out on bets for him to win the Cox Plate. Now seven according to southern hemisphere designation (though six-and-a-half biologically), the gelding has been a red hot favourite for this race for months.Īs he kept winning, so impressively, his odds were growing shorter, and shorter, until he was odds-on – less than a dollar’s profit per dollar. Zaaki came from Britain to explode onto the scene here this year, helping give another ex-Englander, Annabel Neasham, a ballistic start to her training career after learning her craft in other stables. It was all about Zaaki until his scratching on Saturday morning. From the 800m to the 600m, passing the country’s most famous educational institution (to racing fans anyway) - Moonee Ponds Central School - the runs start to come, bearing down to the home corner, before the dash to the line and a place for one horse among the very best in this country’s history. Things usually stay fairly calm up the Dean Street side and over the back, but then heat up down the School Side. The field starts from the top of the straight, and it’s a jostle for positions, often at high speed, before the first tight turn after 200m. But it does have a friendly, spongy surface and cambered turns to help horses negotiate its tight corners.Īnd it’s over probably the best, most testing, distance in racing – a mile and a quarter – in which horses need both those ingredients of speed and stamina more than any other. But in a very quirky stat this year, it’s the first Cox Plate since 1939 without a previous Valley winner in the field.ĭifferent to most international tracks where big racing is done, the Valley is often a challenge for horses, especially at their first try.
Conversely, there are the much-loved “Valley specialists”, who excel here. Hence, a lot of horses who might like Flemington don’t fancy the Valley, especially the big, long-striding ones. Flemington, by contrast, is a big old place, 2400m around and with a long straight of 420m, as opposed to the Valley’s ultra-short 180m. Cox had bought the land from a man who’d bought it from “Long” John Moonee.Īffectionately known as “The Valley”, it’s a quirky little rectangular course, only 1800m in circumference. (William Samuel) Cox, an entrepreneurial man who in 1883 founded the club and track where the event is run, Moonee Valley. That’s why some of the best horses you’ve heard of have won this one.Ī Group 1 for three-year-olds and up, the race is named after W.S.
That’s the scale devised to eradicate the hiccups of handicaps, so that horses carry weights according to their age, not their form, or the judgement of handicappers, so that the best horse may win.
The Melbourne Cup is of course Australia’s grandest phenomenon, racing or anything, but the Cox Plate can lay claim to being this turf-mad country’s highest-quality race, since it’s a weight-for-age event. Bugger Harry and Meghan and Oprah’s little love-in, this really is the year’s must-watch television event!Ĭlass-wise, it’s the best race Australia has, and regularly one of the top dozen or so races in the world, according to the international ratings people. For the second year in a row the joint will be near deserted, perhaps like a wasteland before the zombies roll in, if we can mention them again, not that we’re saying that’s what Melbournians look like after their eight or so years of lockdown.īut while the only sounds will be thundering hoofs, cracking whips, and perhaps the best revelation of the pandemic – jockey Damien Oliver’s maniacal screeching at his horse in a tight finish – Saturday’s race will be a must-watch affair.
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