The Cox Plate sits snuggly in between the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups as one of the most prestigious races in the country, and this year sees one of the most highly anticipated match-ups in recent history.
The 2016 edition has been shaping up as a one-on-one battle for glory between the unstoppable force that is Winx, and her biggest challenge yet, Hartnell.
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Winx is in the midst of a historic 12-race winning streak and is shaping up to go back-to-back and defend the Cox Plate she won 12 months ago.
But Hartnell has come as the foreign invader, looking to unseat the champion mare and become just the second international horse in Cox Plate history to win the race.
With so much hype and plenty of Saturday afternoon BBQ’s planned around the country, everyone will be watching closely to see if Winx won them their money or not.
Here’s all the race info you need for the big day.
Start time: 5pm local (AEDT)
Track: Moonee Valley Racecourse, Melbourne
Distance: 2,040 metres
Prizemoney: $3,000,000 (AUD)
Class: Group 1
Type: Weight-for-age
Qualification: Three years and older
Surface: Turf
2015 Winner: Winx
Inaugural race: 1922 won by Violoncello
If you don’t happen to be at Moonee Valley, or better yet, a pub with a projector screen out in the beer garden, then don’t fret, because there’s still plenty of ways you can catch the big race when the barriers drop.
The Seven Network have had a stranglehold on the Spring Carnival rights for a few years now and that will continue this afternoon and up to the Melbourne Cup.
If you’re near a TV anywhere in Australia, then you can catch all the live coverage of the entire race day, not just the Cox Plate, as well as plenty of Bruce McAvaney.
All the major cities will have differing timetables and channel setups. So here, have a table.
| Location | Time | Channel |
| Sydney | 12:00pm (AEDT) | Seven |
| Sydney 2 | 5:30pm (AEDT) | 7Two |
| Melbourne | 12:00pm (AEDT) | Seven |
| Adelaide | 11:30am (ACDT) | Seven |
| Brisbane | 11:00am (AEST) | Seven |
| Perth | 9:00am (AWST) | 7Two |
| Perth 2 | 10:00am (AWST) | Seven |
The Racing.com channel is another free to air option and it will have all the race action and highlights across the day. That is channel 78 on most free TV services.
The same channel is also available on Foxtel, alongside Sky Racing 1 and Sky Racing 2, as well as Sky Racing Central.
If you’re not already signed up, Foxtel will set you back $50 a month, including the sports package that will give you access to the aforementioned racing channels.
The Sky Racing coverage will have all the races throughout the entire day at Moonee Valley, including the Cox Plate of course.
Racing.com also have an online streaming service for their Racing+ members.
Alternative online streaming methods are most of the major betting agencies. TAB and Sportsbet will have a live stream for their members across most devices.
Of course, The Roar will have all the live race updates, highlights, results and coverage to get you through the big race on the live blog.
And there will be plenty of other racing content throughout the day across the site.
While all eyes are undoubtedly on Winx and Hartnell, there is, in fact, eight other runners in the field.
Just ten horses make up the Cox Plate this year with many trainers and owners being scared off by the sheer intimidation of Winx.
Black Heart Bart will be lining up in barrier 6 coming off the back of a second place finish in his last run, which came against Winx at the Caulfield Stakes in a field of just three.
Vadamos and Lucia Valentina will join Hartnell as the only international runners in the field, looking to become the second overseas horse to ever win the race after the Irish-bred Adelaide won the Plate in 2014.
Yankee Rose is coming into the race carrying the lightest weight in the field with just 47.5kg, a touch under ten kilos shy of the next lightest.
Hauraki has two wins from his last three starts, albeit it on shorter distances, but he’ll have veteran jockey Dwayne Dunn steering the ship.
Awesome Rock, Happy Clapper and Happy Trails round out the field with a strong sense of participation rather than legitimate challengers for a place.
| No. | HORSE | TRAINER | JOCKEY | BARRIER | WEIGHT |
| 1 | HAPPY TRAILS | Paul Beshara | Ben Melham | 10 | 59kg |
| 2 | BLACK HEART BART | Darren Weir | Brad Rawiller | 6 | 59kg |
| 3 | HARTNELL (GB) | John O’Shea | James McDonald | 7 | 59kg |
| 4 | HAURAKI | John O’Shea | Dwayne Dunn | 8 | 59kg |
| 5 | HAPPY CLAPPER | Patrick Webster | Brenton Avdulla | 4 | 59kg |
| 6 | VADAMOS (FR) | Andre Fabre | Joao Moreira | 2 | 59kg |
| 7 | AWESOME ROCK | Leon & Troy Corstens | Stephen Baster | 5 | 59kg |
| 8 | WINX | Chris Waller | Hugh Bowman | 3 | 57kg |
| 9 | LUCIA VALENTINA (NZ) | Kris Lees | Kerrin McEvoy | 9 | 57kg |
| 10 | YANKEE ROSE | David Vandyke | Dean Yendall | 1 | 47.5kg |
No surprises, Winx is paying ridiculously short odds at $1.80, having dropped down from two earlier in the week.
Hartnell has fluctuated both ways in the build up but is looking settled at $3.40 to upset the Winx winning streak.
The next best you will find is Yankee Rose out at $16, after starting out at $19, then dropping down to $14, before everyone realised that it wouldn’t matter what he’s paying because it’s going to be one of the other two to win so he can settle at $16.
Vadamos, who was briefly the third favourite in the bookies market before the Yankee Rose movement, is close behind at $17.
Then we have Lucia Valentina and Hauraki sharing the money at $19 each.
If you find yourself a few beers down on race day and a whole heap of confidence, then Happy Tails is paying a friendly $126 for the win.
Awesome Rock has been shuffled out to $81, but wouldn’t be a bad option to throw the spare change on for a surprise place finish at $11.
The often overlooked Black Heart Bart made some big movements in the wrong direction after being convincingly beaten by Winx in their last start.
Despite an unlikely win being on the cards at $21, some incredibly consistent form has seen him rack up the first and second place finishes this year, making a place finish at $3.20 look fairly enticing.
It’s a two-horse race.
The rest of the field isn’t awful, but they just so happen to be in the presence of greatness.
Hartnell will be one of the toughest tests Winx has had to come up against in a long time and a real threat to the winning streak. But, it’s so hard to bet against Winx right now.
She hasn’t just been winning races, she’s dominated nearly every one of those 12 winning starts to get here and it will be one massive hill to climb for any horse to stop her from taking another Cox Plate.
1. Winx
2. Hartnell
3. Vadamos
4. Yankee Rose
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