Awaiting another chapter in Australia's greatest race

I have often reflected on when and how I first fell in love, to use a Donald Trumpism, with the sport of kings.

A passion for racing was in my family, as I assume would be true for most of us, but in my case, Kingston Town’s Cox-Plate threepeat certainly looms large in my memory as the likely moment when I reached the point of no return.

To put it simply, when Bill Collins famously said that ‘the King’ couldn’t win, and he won anyway, I was hooked.

The Cox Plate, more than any other race, represents the bank of memories that lovers of racing draw on when nostalgia for the sport we love takes hold.

Indeed, ‘what we were doing when’ stories for my friends and me always seem to centre on the great Moonee Valley event, while even the runnings of the Melbourne Cup seem to blend into one another, especially in these days of the foreign invaders – but don’t get me started.

As I read over the results of past Cox Plates, as I always do at this time of year, I was struck anew by the quality of the winners and placegetters.

The list is certainly the historical ‘who’s who’ of Australasian racing. Who can ever forget that golden era at the turn of the century when such greats as Sunline, Northerly and the vastly-underrated Fields of Omagh dominated?

A few years later, So You Think came along to dazzle the racing public. And now there is Winx.

Hugh Bowman on Winx. (Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)

I don’t think anyone imagined that Kingston Town’s three victories could ever have been matched, notwithstanding that three horses managed to go back to back between 1982 and 2010. Now, we stand poised on the brink of the King’s magnificent achievement being eclipsed.

People often say that hindsight is a wonderful thing, but for my part, foresight wins hands down.

I wonder what odds were available on Winx ever winning a Cox Plate after she was soundly beaten by Gust of Wind in the 2015 Australian Oaks.

And as for three, there would not have been enough space in the betting books for all the zeros, but will she win her fourth on Saturday?

I think she might be vulnerable. Her Turnbull win was unspectacular, and the form from the race didn’t really stand up last week.

I am not convinced that she is as effective at 2,000 as she is at 1,60 or 1,800, and there are one or two here that can definitely test her. Humidor was terrific last year, and he has had a different preparation this time, which seems to have been leading him to only one place.

D’Argento, meanwhile, can improve on his run at Caulfield, where he was well backed, but didn’t seem to handle the track. Winx will probably have too many guns, but I just don’t see any value at $1.20.

Whatever happens, it will be another great chapter in my favourite thoroughbred story. I just hope that plenty of youngsters will follow along and be inspired as I was 36 years ago.