Race for Cox Plate runner-up heats up

The imports made a mess of Australia’s ‘‘other’’ best horses, leaving a decent gap to multiple Group 1 winner Humidor and aspiring WFA candidate D’Argento.

Timeform expects the Cox Plate will still be a race for second, despite Benbatl’s lofty international rating. Benbatl is a 125 Timeform rated horse; Winx is 134.

The great mare has gone to 129 so far this season, and even at that figure, Benbatl would have to extend to 133 to beat her with the allowance mares get.

And what of The Autumn Sun?

He went into the Guineas as a 120 horse and will come out of it presumably a few points higher.

But going from 120 to 130+ in a couple of starts is a monumental ask, so you can understand Chris Waller’s conservatism with regards to the Cox Plate for the star colt.

Whether The Autumn Sun’s owners (which now include Arrowfield’s John Messara) want to try to convince the trainer otherwise remains to be seen.

From a racing fan’s perspective, it would add so much to the race if he was there.

A couple of well-regarded imports and Australia’s best three-year-old lining up would set the stage perfectly for the world’s highest rated horse to win her fourth in a fortnight.

CLIFFS’ CLIMB FASCINATES

IN BETWEEN D’Argento and Humidor in the Ladbrokes Stakes was The Cliffsofmoher, who was the eye-catching runner from a Cups point of view.

That was until Yucatan charged up Cup charts when winning the Herbert Power in a canter, further ramming home the disparity between the two hemispheres.

Lloyd Williams is now in a prime spot to win the Cup for a third year in a row.

The Cliffsofmoher is off the same prep as Johannes Vermeer, who ran second in both the Stakes and Caulfield Cup last year. The Cliffsofmoher is more highly regarded internationally and has 56.5kg (Johannes had 54.5kg) on Saturday.

How does that translate to the Youngstar/Kings Will Dream form behind Winx last week?

Hopefully Youngstar can continue the big spring carnival for winter graduates and get the job done.

FINED OVER WRONG HORSE

STRANGE happenings in Townsville on Friday when trainer Roy Chillemi was fined $ 500 for presenting the wrong horse on course.

Em Cee Rocket was declared a late scratching in Race 4 when it was established a different horse had been presented. Turns out, it was He’s Blessed.

In a further twist, Em Cee Rocket is dead. Chillemi was given He’s Blessed on the assumption it was Em Cee Rocket until the discrepancy was picked up on Friday.

Chillemi was found guilty of the same charge in 2003 when he presented the wrong horse as Southern Spur at Townsville.

Stewards must have become more lenient in the past 15 years, with Chillemi fined $ 1000 on that occasion.

DOOMBEN WASHOUT

RQ officials are certain to add more races to programs over the next week, but the ongoing wet weather is making it logistically hard to lock them in.

TAB meetings were washed out at Doomben, Gold Coast and Warwick on Saturday, in addition to Ipswich on Wednesday and Toowoomba (owing to excessive wind) on Friday night.

Ipswich has gone to Tuesday and Toowoomba will race on Monday.

Another casualty of the big wet was Gayndah, which had been planning a huge 150 year Queensland Derby celebration this weekend.

POSITIVE MOVE

A PRESS release from the office of Treasurer Jackie Trad on Friday night was the most positive sign yet that wheels are turning in the industry’s battle for a bigger slice of Point of Consumption receipts.

Trad welcomed “the decision of the industry to continue consultation with the government and withdraw the threat of strike action.”

“This is in the best interests of all stakeholders,” she said. “We look forward to working constructively with the industry going forward.”

HISTORY ON SHOW

THE Thoroughbred Racing History Association had a special evening last Tuesday to celebrate the opening of the Stanley Room at Doomben Racecourse, the centrepiece of which is the 1968 Cox Plate won by Rajah Sahib.

The Stanley Collection, which is a collection of trophies won by horses raced by Bill and Evelyn Stanley all over Australia, is housed in a specially outfitted room on the first floor of the public grandstand and will be open to the public on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10.30am to 1.30pm. It will also be open on selected race days or by appointment.

Thoroughbred History Association President Peter Howard said the exhibition was opened to coincide with this month being the 50th anniversary of Rajah Sahib’s Cox Plate win.

“In addition to the Cox Plate, Mr and Mrs Stanley won a Stradbroke (Rajah Sahib), Australian Cup (Cyron), Doncaster (Rajah Sahib), VRC Queen Elizabeth Stakes (High Sail), Adelaide Birthday Cup (Rajah Sahib), VRC George Adams Handicap (Cyron), and the Queensland Derby and VRC Dalgety (Mr Cromwell),” Howard said.

Bill and Evelyn’s involvement in racing started when they brought the six-year-old tried horse Garr Silk in 1949 and it took him 12 starts to win a race for them, that being a sixth division at Esk! They owned 99 horses over a period of 50 years.

WINTER WONDER

QUEENSLAND mare Winter Bride has continued on her winning way with a second Group 3 victory during the Melbourne spring carnival at Caulfield, reports AAP.

The Toby Edmonds-trained Winter Bride resumed from a let-up with a win in the Group 3 How Now Stakes on September 22.

And the four-year-old backed up that performance with another strong effort to narrowly take out yesterday’s Cape Grim Beef Stakes over the same 1200m course at Caulfield.

The victory extended the mare’s winning sequence to four races stretching back to the Queensland winter and took her overall record to eight wins from 16 starts.

With Ryan Maloney aboard, Winter Bride ($ 4.80) withstood a challenge from Booker ($ 13) on her outside to get home by a short-head in Saturday’s race with 1¼ lengths to Our Crown Mistress ($ 19) in third.

“She was game again today,” Edmonds said. “She had a bit of weight (57kg) and she has gone up pretty quickly in the weights so that was against her.

“And she’s also probably more adept with a bit of jar out of the track.

“I’m not sure where we’ll go now. We came down here taking it one race at a time and we’ll work out where we go after today.”