Happy Melbourne Cup Day!

149 times in the past the best of Australia and elsewhere have competed in The Race That Stops a Nation. Today, 24 horses will line up for the $6 million Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse. The 150th running of the two mile handicap on turf is expected to draw well more than 100,000 fans and to be viewed on television by a large percentage of the rest of the country. It is truly one of the biggest races in the world, and the biggest in the horse racing crazy nation of Australia. Winning the Melbourne Cup ensures star status for the winning horse, and their connections, but this year there is a horse looking to take things to an even higher level. ***The remainder of today's column can be found on Youbet.com*** Click Here

2 Miles from being Legen … wait for it … dary!

3,200 measly meters. That is all that stands in the way of So You Think from becoming a legend of the turf. He is already a superstar of Australian racing after yesterday’s convincing win in the $3 Million Cox Plate at Moonee Valley. The win in the Cox Plate, the second most prestigious race in all of Australia, was the second in a row for the son of High Chaparral, thus becoming the first horse in the history of the great race to win as both a three and a four-year-old. So You Think now has the entire nation buzzing in admiration and anticipation. He has won each of his four races in 2010 with ease for his all-time great conditioner, 82-year-old Bart Cummings, and the best may be just around the corner. The repeat win in the Cox Plate was special, and proves that he is one of the best horses in the world, but there will be no time to rest on his laurels, for November 2 is looming. The two miles I speak of, is of course, the demanding distance of the race that stops a nation. The $6 million Melbourne Cup is the biggest of the big down under, and it is only nine days away. So You Think will be aiming to create history by winning the Melbourne Cup. Only a handful of horses have won both the Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup, and for such an inexperienced horse to do it, would be legendary. While I have little doubt that he will be the best horse in the 24 horse field, major questions must be answered. The Melbourne Cup is after all a lot to ask for the young colt who has only raced ten times and has never run beyond 2040 meters. Can he do it? I think he can, and having 12-time Melbourne Cup winning trainer Bart Cummings in his corner can’t hurt his chances one little bit.

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

Talent, Kiwi and Balloons

Vineyard Haven has become one of my favorite horses. The horse I thought was the best two-year-old in the nation last year, has come back like gangbusters since his unfruitful time in Dubai. Some horses flourish with a long Winter in the Arabian wonderland, Vineyard Haven was clearly not one of those horses. One failed race in a key eleven month stretch of his career, and I am left wondering what might have been. Vineyard Haven returned to America and finally made it to the races on the last Saturday of August, where he faced the finest field of 3-year-old sprinters assembled all year. The race included Capt. Candyman Can, Munnings, and Big Drama. Vineyard Haven, without the benefit of a prep race, ran erratically down the lane and still hit the wire first. It was the kind of race that horses just don’t do off such a layoff, or at least they do not do it more than once in a blue moon. The grey horse with the blue blinkers and silks was at again yesterday with a scintillating performance at Laurel Park in the De Francis Dash. It was a race that a lesser horse would have struggled home fifth. Vineyard Haven broke from the rail, which was not a good spot with the abundance of speed in the race. He stayed up close early, but dropped back a little as the leading group blazed an opening quarter in 21 and change. He quickly found himself stuck on the rail and the holes in front of him were disappearing. Alan Garcia and Vineyard Haven waited, and they waited, until things finally cleared enough for him. Still it appeared third was about the best he would muster as Fleet Valid was still full of run and Ravalo was charging on the outside. Then it happened, the horse of superior talent kicked it in, and like a silver streak, he made a devastating burst on the fence to win the De Francis Dash by half a length. Vineyard Haven is the real deal, and I, for one, will be watching every move that he makes. Also on Saturday, So You Think, a New Zealand bred son of High Chapparal dominated the $3 million Cox Plate at Moonee Valley Racing Club in Australia. Becoming the first 3-year-old to win the very prestigious Cox Plate in five years. In only his fifth lifetime start, So You Think stamped himself a star with the huge win. Piloted by Glen Boss, who was fined for excessive celebration, So You Think surprisingly set the early pace and when the running really started, he scampered home much the best. Final margin of victory was 2 ½ lengths for the happy supporters of the bay colt. One of his supporters is legendary trainer, Bart Cummings. Cummings had stated this inexperienced youngster had a big chance, and when he talks it is best to listen. The octogenarian is perhaps the most successful trainer in the world. This was his 4th Cox Plate winner which is dwarfed by his unbelievable 12 wins in the Melbourne Cup out of his 256 Group 1 victories. At 82, Bart Cummings is clearly still going strong and when he says that So You Think may become his best horse ever, it would be wise for everyone to listen. The synthetic surface at Keeneland appears to be like no other racing strip in the country. I say this because time and time again form coming from other places does not hold up at the beautiful Lexington track. On this Polytrack surface, it seems that all the horses start with a clean slate. Handicapping is thrown virtually out the window. The result on the tote board is…balloons. Large win, place and show prices and monstrous payoffs on the exotics stun the crowd. An excellent example of this happened again yesterday in the feature race. The $300,000 Raven Run Stakes came down to three fillies as Don‘ttalktome desperately tried to hold off Satans Quick Chick on the rail and Slides Choice on the outside. Satans Quick Chick surged on the rail to win with Slides Choice a rallying 2nd and Don’ttalktome a near miss 3rd . The odds of these fillies? 23-1, 49-1, and 41-1. How ‘bout them apples? I will not bore you with the measly payoffs, rather I will jump right to the superfecta payout. A ten cent wager on the winning ticket returned $5,930 to the lucky few holding the ticket. Not a bad return on your investment.

A Visit Down Under - The Cox Plate

G’day Mate. With a slight lull in American racing until the Breeders’ Cup, I will take this opportunity to introduce you to a little racing down under. It is the middle of Springtime in Australia and the racing season is at its’ peak. Australia is a nation of sports fanatics and racing is high on their list. The AFL, or Australian Rules Football as we know it, is the biggest of all the sports in the nation, but after that, the great sport of horse racing is right there in the hearts of the sport minded. Excitement is in the air, as tomorrow is one of the biggest days in Australian racing with the running of the Cox Plate. The W.S Cox Plate, currently called the Tatts Cox Plate for the sponsor, was inaugurated in 1922, and it was named in honor of the founder of Moonee Valley Racing Club, William Samuel Cox. Moonee Valley is one of the major race courses of Australia and is found just outside of Melbourne. Melbourne being the second largest city in Australia, and located in the Southeast corner of the nation. The Cox Plate is held in late October each year and falls between the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups in the Spring Racing Carnival. The Cox Plate is considered by most as the second biggest race held in Australia only behind the Melbourne Cup. Although to some, it is the ultimate race in the country. Ryan Martin, a former jockey down under explained it to me this way, “The race I look forward to the most is the Cox Plate. It is the greatest race in our country. It’s run at Moonee Valley, which is my favorite track. The pressure is always on, and then they go early at the valley down past the school at the 600m, only the toughest of the toughest survive and win....To me this is the one single race I would love to win as a jockey!” Whether or not it is regarded in the same fervor as the Melbourne Cup by Australians, the Cox Plate is regarded as the best weight-for-age race in the country and it carries as much history as it does prestige. The Cox Plate has always attracted a field of the best horses in the nation with a national honor roll of champions. The famed list of stars to win the race include: Phar Lap in 1930 & 1931, Rising Fast in 1954, Tobin Bronze in 1967, Gunsynd in 1972, the ill-fated Dulcify in 1979, Kingston Town in 1980-1982, Strawberry Road in 1983, Might and Power in 1998, Northerly in 2001 & 2002, Fields of Omagh in 2003 & 2006, and the great mares Sunline in 1999 & 2000, and Makybe Diva in 2005. Make no mistake, stamping your name on the trophy is a huge accomplishment. The Cox Plate is contested at 2,040 meters (slightly more than 1 ¼ miles) over the Moonee Valley turf course and the horses run in the same left to right direction familiar to us in the States. In this year’s edition, a full field on 14 runners will vie for the prize. Including: 1. El Segundo 2. Zipping 3. Vision And Power 4. Nom Du Jeu 5. Scenic Shot 6. Black Piranha 7. Sir Slick 8. Road To Rock 9. Speed Gifted 10. Whobegotyou 11. Heart Of Dreams 12. Rock Kingdom 13. Manhattan Rain 14. So You Think Whobegotyou is the favorite for the race and is trained by Mark Kavanagh, the same trainer who won the race last year. The son of Street Cry is a perfect 4 for 4 over the Moonvee Valley course. Whobegotyou has of late, been tangling with his top rival Heart of Dreams, the likely second choice of the bettors. The English bred gelding, Speed Gifted and the lightly raced 3-year-old, So You Think are also given a big chance. Female conditioner, Gai Waterhouse, has two entrants, Rock Kingdom and Manhattan Rain, the former being supplemented for $130,000 in the $3 million (just under $2.8 million U.S.) race. Two 8-year-olds will contest the race again; Zipping was 2nd last year and El Segundo won the 2007 Cox Plate. I have never been to a running of the W.S. Cox Plate at Moonee Valley Racing Club, nor for that matter have I ever been to Australia, but it is a dream of mine to visit the country, after all the racing is too good to pass. Someday, yours truly will be there in person living out a dream.