| COX PLATE a Spring Carnival headline act for the innovative MVRC |
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MOONEE VALLEY – SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24 2009 $3.05 MILLION W S COX PLATE – GROUP ONE WFA THE most famous weight-for-age race in Australia is undoubtedly the W S Cox Plate run at Moonee Valley each October between the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups. Named in honor of Sam Cox, the founder of Moonee Valley, the race is now acknowledged as one of the classic events of the international racing calendar and the only Southern Hemisphere race to be included in the World Series.  The Cox Plate, named in honor of the club’s founder, was inaugurated in 1922 and has become Australasia’s weight-for-age championship and in the eyes of the thoroughbred purists rates more highly than the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.
The list of past winners of the Cox Plate contains most of the champion racehorses of Australia and New Zealand. Many greats have won the race twice, including Phar Lap, Flight, Tobin Bronze, Sunline, Northerly and Fields of Omagh. The legendary Kingston Town won it three times. Only one horse has ever won the race in the same year as winning the Melbourne and Caulfield Cups, Rising Fast, considered by many to be the greatest ever horse from New Zealand. The double with the Melbourne Cup has been achieved by six horses, namely Makybe Diva, Might and Power, Saintly, Nightmarch, Phar Lap and Rising Fast. Only three horses have ever won the Melbourne Cup and then gone on to win the Cox Plate the following year. They were: Phar Lap, Might and Power and Makybe Diva. The first Cox Plate was run in 1922 and won by the imported English horse Violoncello, who also won his next three starts during the Melbourne Spring Carnival. The ill-fated Dulcify strode away to win by seven lengths in 1979. He later started favorite in the Melbourne Cup but had to be put down after breaking a pelvis during the race. The only triple winner of the Cox Plate, the mighty Kingston Town won in 1980, 1981 and 1982. On each occasion he was ridden by a different jockey: Malcolm Johnston in 1980, Ron Quinton in 1981, and Peter Cook in 1982. After winning in 1983, Strawberry Road raced in Europe and the United States. He ran fifth in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp and third to Seattle Song in the 1984 Washington International at Laurel. Red Anchor’s victory in 1984 was trainer T J Smith’s seventh Cox Plate winner. The 1986 Cox Plate was an epic two-horse war over the final 800m before Bonecrusher triumphed over Our Waverley Star by a neck. This epic encounter became known as the ‘Race of the Century’. Rubiton, the winner in 1987, went on to a successful stud career where he sired a future Cox Plate winner in Fields of Omagh. Better Loosen Up was 30 lengths from the lead with 1000m to run before winning the 1990 Plate in record time. He went on to become the first - and remains the only - Australian horse to win the Japan Cup. The eight-year-old Super Impose won in 1992 and defeated a top class field which included Better Loosen Up, Let’s Elope and favorite Naturalism, which lost its rider. Naturalism went on to run second in the Japan Cup. Australian Horse of the Year, Octagonal, was successful in defeating Mahogany in 1995 while Saintly gave Bart Cummings his second winner of the race in 1996 and Dane Ripper his third the following year. The 'peoples’ champion' Might and Power led throughout to win in 1998 setting the current record time of 2:03.54 and returned to scale to a massive ovation. In a brilliant front-running display, Sunline won the 1999 Cox Plate and returned in 2000 to win again by seven lengths and equal Dulcify's record winning margin. West Australian champion Northerly defeated Sunline to win in 2001 and 2002. In 2004 Savabeel became the first three-year-old to win since Octagonal. Makybe Diva triumphed in 2005 and became one of the most popular horses in Australian racing history with an unprecedented third Melbourne Cup win 10 days later.
Today the race is worth more than $3.05 million, including $1.8 million to the winner. The only other Australian race with more prizemoney is the Melbourne Cup. The time it takes to run the race is often referred to as the ‘greatest two minutes in sport’. The Cox Plate is nestled perfectly between the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups, our two famous staying handicap races. This gives it a special standing in racing annals and its weight-for-age status means that the best horse should win. Since 1999 the Cox Plate has been part of the horse racing World Series and this has added even more prestige and global significance. The 12-race World Series includes races that are run on four continents. MVRC AT THE FOREFRONT OF INNOVATION IN AUSTRALIAN RACING The Monnee Valley Race Club, which has always been at the forefront of innovation, was the first Australian metropolitan racing club to conduct night racing. This season it will distribute a record $21 million stakes – an increase of $2.5mn on 2008-09.
NEW RACETRACK AND GRANDSTANDS INVOLVED IN CLUB PLANS MOONEE Valley could undergo a $200 million upgrade involving the construction of a new track and the demolition of grandstands. Chairman Bob Scarborough revealed the plans, to be completed within five to 10 years if given the all-clear by his Board, in an interview recently in Melbourne Herald-Sun. Racing journalist Matt Stewart reported that: ‘MOONEE Valley racecourse could be subjected to the greatest overhaul for an Australian metropolitan racecourse. Under a plan that the club believes would put $200 million in its coffers, the club is considering demolishing its grandstands and rebuilding along the north-east Wilson St boundary. The new track would be completed in five to 10 years if given the all-clear by the Moonee Valley Racing Club board. Chairman Bob Scarborough says the proposal is viable. A new 325m home straight would finish at the bottom of the Tabaret, which might also be demolished and shifted under the proposal. The layout of the course proper would be remolded to fit in with the dramatic overhaul of the facilities. MVRC chief executive, Michael Browell, said the next step for the club would be to draw up plans and costings. He said it would be funded by the sale of the top corner of the track - at McPherson and Wilson Streets - for the construction of a retirement village. “That might be worth anything up to $200 million for us,” Browell said. “The development of the new Moonee Valley might cost $150 million. The numbers appear to stack up. You sell off the land, build the new track and put $50 million in the bank.” Browell said the development of a site for a retirement village in Brisbane recently had convinced the club that its proposal, particularly the value of the land if sold for such a village, ‘could be a goer’. “It has just got bigger and bigger.” He said the Valley's status as the most cramped track in Melbourne would change under the radical proposal. “By altering the track, you really change it a great deal, with a great run home. You'd still have the Cox Plate start at the top of the straight. It would be a really nice track.”
That would include a complete overhaul of the StrathAyr track, which has exceeded its 15-year use-by date. MOONEE VALLEY RACE CLUB HISTORYFOR over a century the Moonee Valley racecourse has been a significant part of the vibrant racing scene in Victoria. Its signature race, the Cox Plate, is referred to as the ‘greatest two minutes in sport.’ William Samuel Cox was a racing pioneer. In 1882, he took a seven-year lease for a property nestled in a valley a mere six kilometres north of Melbourne. Originally known as ‘Feehan’s Farm’, entrepreneurial Sam set about transforming the land into a racecourse, on a larger and far grander scale than his first racecourse. He christened it ‘Moonee Valley’. The first meeting on 15 September 1883 had nine horses that faced Mr Doherty, the starter, for the Maiden Plate. Incredibly that first race at Moonee Valley resulted in a dead-heat between Eveline and Pyrette. Sam Cox died in 1895 and his son Archie Cox became secretary. Archie held the job until he became a stipendiary steward in 1905. His brother-in-law, Arthur Vaughan Hiskens, then took over and became one of the greatest racing administrators in Victoria’s history. Another of Sam’s sons, WS Junior was a leading amateur jumps jockey. His association with Redleap, on whom he won the VRC Grand National Hurdle and Steeplechase double in 1892, is legendary. In 1893, a son was born to WS Junior. His name was William ‘Bill’ Stanley Cox. Bill Cox became a Committeeman of Moonee Valley Racing Club in 1927 and then succeeded his uncle, AV Hiskens, as secretary of the Club, when Hiskens died in 1935. Bill Cox remained secretary of Moonee Valley until his death in 1966 and his son, William Murray Cox, then took the position of secretary. Murray held the job until 1970, when he left to become secretary of the Victoria Racing Club. A racing dynasty at Moonee Valley had ended. In honor of the founder of Moonee Valley, Sam Cox, the Committee decided to run a weight-for-age race. The race carried prizemoney of 1000 pounds. Because it was strategically placed on the racing calendar between the Caulfield Cup, Victoria Derby and Melbourne Cup, the Cox Plate immediately became a race of importance and prestige. As Australasia’s most prestigious race, the Cox Plate’s inclusion in the series in 1999 sees it listed with the world’s greatest races including the Dubai World Cup (UAE), Japan Cup (Japan), the Hong Kong International Cup (HK), Arlington Million (USA), Canadian International (Canada) Breeders Cup Turf and Breeders Cup Classic (USA), Irish Champion Stakes (Ireland), Grosser Preis Von Baden (Germany), and the Kind George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at Ascot (UK). The Cox Plate has provided race-goers with many great turf memories and will continue to for many more years to come. Renowned journalist and author Les Carlyon once wrote; “For a scribbler casting around pearls, the Cox Plate has become a tease. The problem is: how do you write about the race without appearing to slobber? “I'll explain. The Moonee Valley Racing Club, rather like that good colt Shakespeare in his Classic year, insists on staging masterpiece after masterpiece. They gave us the Kingston Town trilogy; that used up a few pearls. Then as a variation, they staged the Bonecrusher- Our Waverley Star slugfest. And how do you follow that?”
PHOTOGRAPHS USED IN THIS FEATURE WERE PROVIDED COURTESY OF THE MOONEE VALLEY RACE CLUB
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Fields of Omagh won his second Cox Plate in 2006, having won in 2003, finished second in 2004 and third behind Makybe Diva in 2005. In 2007 El Segundo won the Cox Plate avenging his close defeat to Fields Of Omagh the year before. In 2008 Maldivian led all the way to claim victory.
The MVRC has also enhanced its night racing model for the current season with 10 premium Valley night meetings programmed. At each of these meetings total prizemoney will be a minimum of $560,000 with two races of $100,000, two of $80,000 and four of $50,000.
Browell said there were two possible scenarios for the Valley, the other being to keep the track and facilities as they are but introduce a $3 million capital-works program.