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.
Jack
Guest
Sounding like a broken record.
Mirrabook
Guest
Please Ignore my post above, was distracted and posted it in error and cant find the delete button. Both races are WFA, but are run at different times of year. The Cox Plate is run during the very prestigious publicised Spring Racing Carnival, while the Australian Cup is run during the Autumn. Both races are great in their own right, and can't see why one has to be better than the other. This would be a great question if they were held at around the same time, so we should enjoy them both. My personal choice if I had to choose would be the Australian Cup. I have followed racing since the late 1960's and just love our racing, all of it.
Mirrabook
Guest
They are both different types of races the Cox Plate is WFA, while the Australian Cup is a handicap similar to the Melbourne Cup, I enjoy them both. It is almost impossible to assess horses that race in both as they are just so different, Both races have seen champions line up some win some get beaten. I feel the Cox Plate is the best WFA race and although there is no stating that the Melbourne Cup is the worlds richest handicap race, for myself the Australian Cup is far easier to select a winner.
michael steel
Guest
Don't worry mate, I think the Doncatser is actually my favourite race and I"ll never forget backing Chanteclair at 66/1 to win an Epsom in the mid eighties.
michael steel
Guest
Thank you and all the guys for their great responses. Your suggestion is very similar to a proposal Bart Cummings has made regarding qualifying for the Melbourne Cup, but i think he wants that race around October.
Luke Andrews
Guest
If I had suggested any race other than the Cox Plate was the best race in the country a decade ago I would have given myself an uppercut. But as we speak the M Cup is probably the best race due to the quality of international runners and the weight compression meaning the best horses both run and win. The Cox Plate has too many runners who are not WFA 2000m horses in it these days. If the MVRC wants to cater to these horses and not turn the CP into a $3mil barrier trial, maybe they could look at making the MV Cup WFA. I had long viewed the QE as the race that wasn't meeting it's potential. Within 2 years it could well be the best race in Aus. The big benefit it has over the Aus Cup is that it is timed to be a grandfinal. Many horses skip the Melbourne Autumn, and th QE is timed to bring all the different form lines together as you will have the staying stars, the top milers, some of the best mares and the probably the Derby Champion. It's the race I am excited about, and once quarentine gets sorted (especially enabling horses to compete in Dubai and then come here) it will get internationals.
Jason Cave
Guest
Make the Australian Cup a 2500m race, and just for good measure, make it a qualifying race for the Emirates Melbourne Cup. Whoever wins the race gets a automatic start in the Melbourne Cup. -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.
Mike from tari
Guest
My 2 favourite races are the Doncaster and Epsom at Royal Randwick, 2 of the most difficult mile races in Australia, I'm not from Victoria as you can probably guess, I don't mind the Cox Plate as I have won a few sheckels in the past.
sheek
Roar Guru
Michael, It's an argument I have as well, sometimes with myself, sometimes with the world at large. The WS Cox Plate is the more prestigious, there's no doubt. But technically, the Australian Cup is better placed to zoom past, if circumstances allow. The Australian Cup is perfectly named & run at the best track in Australia, Flemington. One thing I can't shake is a belief that the 2400m is a more testing distance for horses combining sustained speed, endurance & weight carrying. Thus, I consider winners of the Prix de l'Arc or King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes (both over 2400m) to be the two premier races in the world. I also consider the Hong Kong Vase(2400m) to be superior to the Hong Kong Cup (2000m) & Breeder's Cup Turf (2400m) to be superior to the Breeder's Cup Classic (2000m). But of course, the rest of the world disagrees with me, to wit, why we're witnessing the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Royal Randwick now the most valuable WFA race in Australia. I've always believed the HE Tancred Stakes (2400m) to be the premier WFA race in Sydney. But not so. In fact, the STC/AJC/ATC think so little of it, they prefer to call it by its sponsor's name - the BMW. Back to the Australian Cup. What if the VRC extended the distace to 2500m? What a gut-busting exercise that would be, demanding horses to combine speed, endurance & weight-carrying. It would be the WFA equivalent of the Melbourne Cup. The champion would write his own cheque, more so than winning the Melbourne Cup or Golden Slipper. But I'm in the minority. The move is to shorter & shorter distances & hey, let's retire all thoroughbreds at four so we can rehash the breeding cycle quicker. And make more money. Stuff the racing fans.
Drew H
Guest
I can argue so hard with myself that I start looking the wrong way with the horses coming into the straight. I was recalling Lonhro at odds-on coming into the straight and my thoughts were in the Sydney direction. "Not the RHS Drew", I say to myself. The rule hits me every few weeks: "odds on look on". It not too hard to stick to it. I'm getting horses' names mixed up, like All Too Hard and It's A Dundeel. Shamus Award and Shamexpress, so on, so forth. This makes it very hard to back a winner, not to mention, some horses are now retired. I'm backing non-starters. When will it all stop? I can handle social media but I cannot keep coward punching myself. But I still think that choosing every third letter in the alphbet, starting at A, is a good system. ADGJMPSVY keeps me alive. We've got Green Moon, Mourayan and Shamus Award.....and I go and back Foreteller. It doesn't end there: I have these flashbacks over historical events in racing, bit they are the wrong highlights to remember. Someone snobs me off and I remember Bit Of A Snob biting the ear of the horse beside him 5m from the post at the Valley, costing me the win. Must have a pill. cheers.