Every year I have a discussion or argument with myself about two of Australia’s greatest races.
They are the Cox Plate and the Australian Cup.
There’s no outcome to this discussion or argument, but twice a year the results determine how I feel.
The Cox Plate will always be the bigger of the two.
It has bigger crowds, is more prestigious, and there is much more prize money involved.
The Cox Plate is considered to be the weight for age championship of Australasia.
It’s run in October at Moonee Valley and on a track which has a very short straight and a tendency for leader bias.
When a three-year-old is entered into the Cox Plate the punting public has often only ever heard of the horse in the few preceding weeks.
Unless the horse is a superstar like Pierro.
Then there’s the Australian Cup.
Run at Flemington, Australia’s greatest racecourse, it has a huge open straight.
When the horses enter that straight with about 450 metres to go, the front runners and the backmarkers all have an equal chance of winning.
The Australian Cup has been run since 1863, but it’s since 1987, when it was made a Weight for Age event for the second time, that it’s become highly significant.
Interestingly, the great Dulcify won the Australian Cup in 1979 when it was also a weight for age event.
Both races have given us some of the greatest finishes in race history.
As famous as Bonecrusher’s win of The Cox Plate is, so is Vo Rogue’s wins of the Australian Cup and especially his loss to Dandy Andy.
Other great wins in the Australian Cup include those by Intergaze, Northerly, Old Comrade, Lonhro, Makybe Diva, Zipping and Shocking.
Both the Australian Cup and the Cox Plate, over the past 28 years, highlight the greatness of Australia’s weight for age racing and also highlight the end of certain era of racing.
It’s also special when a horse wins both races – as did Bonecrusher, Better Loosen Up, Saintly, Dane Ripper, Northerly and Makybe Diva.
After Makybe Diva won her last Cox Plate and Australia Cup, the weight for age stocks in our racing seemed to diminish a bit.
The favourites and best horses in the country were milers and not succeeding in these two great races.
Winners from 2006 to 2009 include Savabeel, El Segundo, Maldivian and a nine-year-old champion Fields of Omagh, as well as Roman Arch, Pompeii Ruler, Niconero and Sirmione.
Good horses, but not great with the exception of Fields of Omagh.
So for 2014, I’d like to see the name Shamus Award or Fiorente in the record book, the two horses in this field which we could be talking about in 20 years time.
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