So You Think He’s a Super Horse

So you think America’s Zenyatta and Europe’s Goldikova have the super horse market cornered? Not so fast my friends. You only need take a quick look down under to see that there is more out there besides the two great mares. On the precipice of equine greatness is Australia’s new racing hero, So You Think. He is a four-year-old New Zealand bred son of High Chaparral, who will be out to make history when he goes for back-to-back victories in Saturday‘s $3 million Cox Plate. The Cox Plate is regarded as the best weight-for-age race in Australia and is the second most important contest in the horse racing mad nation after only the Melbourne Cup. In recent years, The Cox Plate has featured large fields and wide open affairs. Not so this year, as only nine others have entered to challenge the heavily favored So You Think, who won last year by 2 ½ lengths. If he can send his throng of backers home happy, he will become the first horse since Northerly in 2002 to win consecutive runnings of the 2040 meter (just over 1 ¼ miles) turf race at Moonee Valley Racing Club. More impressively, with a win, So You Think would become the first horse in history to take the historic race at both three and four years old. Trained by the living legend, Bart Cummings, he has given his supporters great reason to be confident with three powerful wins leading up to the Cox Plate. His last race was in the Group 1 Yalumba Stakes on October 9. In that race, rider Steven Arnold, who has yet to be beaten on So You Think, had the dark bay colt stalking early leader Red Ruler before quickly taking command three furlongs from the wire. From there, So You Think displayed why he is so highly regarded. Take a look. The Yalumba victory was So You Think's third victory in a group one stakes and raised his overall record to six wins and two seconds from nine starts. Perhaps even more exciting than the prospect of winning the Cox Plate again, is news that Cummings said that the four-year-old will try to pull off the great Australian double by wheeling back in the Melbourne Cup on November 2. Cummings turned the trick once before with Saintly, who completed the Cox Plate-Melbourne Cup double back in 1996. The Melbourne Cup will present new challenges as it is contested at the demanding distance of two miles.  If So You Think is successful in both races, he will instantly become a legendary figure in Australian sports, but first things first, and the Cox Plate will not be handed to him. Chief among his rivals will be the star mare, More Joyous. The Gai Waterhouse trained front runner is in the midst of an impressive winning streak and enters the big race as the clear second choice. Shoot Out may merit the role of third choice in the Cox Plate, but will do so with replacement rider Corey Brown, after the shocking death of Stathi Katsidis, who was found dead in his home yesterday morning. Whobegotyou and Zipping are considered the next two with the best shot to derail the So You Think train. In the end, these horses are likely only running for second money though. The 2010 should be all about So You Think. Move over Zenyatta, step aside Goldikova, there may be a new sheriff on the racing globe, and his name is So You Think. Photo by Su-Ann Khaw