She’s an Elleegant chance in the Cox Plate

FOUR-YEAR-OLD mare Verry Elleegant will bypass the Caulfield Cup and head to the Cox Plate after pleasing connections at The Valley yesterday.

Although she’s not guaranteed a start, connections are happy to roll the dice.

Yesterday at The Valley, James McDonald rode the Chris Waller-trained four-year-old mare and was happy with her gallop. He compared her gallops with when he rode Hartnell in the lead-ups to his two Cox Plate seconds.

“I suppose there’s a little question mark as how she’ll handle it. She felt similar to Hartnell four or five years ago. He came and ran second in a couple of Cox Plates so he adapted well,” McDonald said. “She felt fine. She felt a bit awkward around the bends and she was good late in the gallop. “She felt fantastic in her action.” Managing owner Brae Sokolski said he was happy with her work and that it was full steam ahead for the Cox Plate.

Sokolski also said that Blake Shinn, who rode Humidor when he finished second to Winx in 2017, would fly in from Hong Kong to ride him.

Sokolski also said Kings Will Dream’s temperature had come back to normal levels and he was 100 per cent fit.

“Hugh Bowman is engaged and once again, it will be ‘can Waller and Bowman win five in a row’. We feel we have the right horse,” Sokolski said.

Japanese Cox Plate invitees Lys Gracieux and Kluger both galloped at The Valley yesterday and pleased their respective riders Damian Lane and Tommy Berry. Lane rode Lys Gracieux to win his last start at Hanshin when he won the Group 1 Tarazuka Kinen and said she looked similar to then.

Lane was confident she would handle The Valley circuit as she was an adaptable racehorse.