‘Shark’ caught in jaws of dilemma
The Moonee Valley Racing Club (MVRC) faces a major selection dilemma next week when assembling the field for this year’s A$5 million Gr.1 Cox Plate (2040m).
With the retirement of star mare Winx, who won the Cox Plate for a record-breaking four years in a row, the weight-for-age ranks in Australasia are looking decidedly even.
Factoring in spots taken by overseas-trained invited runners, plus the winners of exemption races means several of Australasia’s best weight-for-age gallopers may be miss the race on October 26.
Exempt race winners this year include Harlem (Australian Cup), Homesman (Feehan Stakes) and Cape of Good Hope (Caulfield Stakes) and that trio remain paidup acceptors for the Cox Plate.
There are a further three horses that have accepted invites from the MVRC to run in the Cox Plate – Danceteria (David Menuisier), Kluger (Tomokazu Takano) and Lys Gracieux (Yoshito Yahagi).
It leaves just eight spots remaining in the capacity 14-horse field with the MVRC using their discretion to select the remainder of the runners next week, with around 23 horses holding legitimate claims for a place.
Amongst those contenders is the Jamie Richards-trained Te Akau Shark, who turned in a strong performance to run a narrow second in the Gr.1 Epsom Handicap (1600m) when carrying four kilograms more than the winner Kolding.
The star Kiwi, who is partowned by NRL great Paul Gallen, has a cult-following and has won five of his nine career starts and finished second in a further three, but without a Group One win on his CV, the prospects of the $9-chance gaining a start remain at the discretion of the committee, who have to select the final field early next week.
Group One winners Avilius, Mystic Journey, Hartnell, Humidor, Gailo Chop, Gatting, Kings Will Dream, Fierce Impact, Verry Elleegant, Castelvecchio and Flit all remain in contention.
Te Aroha’s meeting scheduled for today has been abandoned after racecourse received 124mm of rain in under 24 hours.