Trainer Tony McEvoy was cheeky in his pre-race interview on Ladbrokes Cox Plate Day, discussing a “plan” jockey Dean Yendall has on how to beat Winx in the Cox Plate 2017.
Dean Yendall rides Tony McEvoy-trained three-year-old Royal Symphony in the 2017 Cox Plate field today at Moonee Valley. Photo: Adrienne Bicknell.Dean
Yendall rides McEvoy’s three-year-old Domesday colt Royal Symphony in the Group 1 $3 million Ladbrokes Cox Plate (2040m) this afternoon, chasing another placing behind Chris Waller’s outstanding champion.
“Dean’s got a plan which I quite like, as soon as the gates open he’s going to grab Winx’s tail and not let go,” McEvoy joked to Channel 7.
“So maybe Winx can win the Cox Plate with two jockeys!”
Winx won the 2015 Cox Plate in race record time, returning in 2016 to defeat Hartnell (2nd) and the Yendall-ridden filly Yankee Rose (3rd) by a record winning margin.
Yendall has gotten down to the lightweight again to partner the only three-year-old in this season’s Cox Plate field, jumping aboard Royal Symphony for the first time.
The weight-for-age conditions suit the young horse who won his first four career starts before fourths in the Caulfield Prelude and Ladbrokes Caulfield Guineas.
The last start fourth to Mighty Boss in the Group 1 over a mile was the right lead-up for a three-year-old into the Cox Plate.
The last two of that age to salute in the ‘Race Where Legends Are Made’ were both Caulfield Guineas graduates: Shamus Award (3rd) in 2013 and So You Think (5th) in 2009.
For obvious reasons, heroic six-year-old Winx is $1.16 in the latest Cox Plate betting markets at Ladbrokes.com.au to make it 22 straight wins and 15 Group 1s.
Royal Symphony is the other best-ed horse, firming into $15 in the Cox Plate odds following the scratching of Kaspersky from the line-up.
McEvoy won the Cox Plate in an upset back in 2003 with Fields Of Omagh ($17), but holds no illusions that they are running for anything other than second to Winx today.
“It’s just a pleasure to have a horse good enough to take her on,” McEvoy said.
“She’s invincible and I truly believes she’s the greatest racehorse I’ve ever seen.
“I’d be very happy to run second to her.”
McEvoy was also full of praise for Waller and the connections of Winx, poised to become Australia’s highest-earning racehorse in history suring Makybe Diva ($14.5 million), for the way they have handled all of the pressure.
“The way Chris Waller and her owners have handled her is absolutely incredible,” he said.
Incredible is right.
History is about to be made, so get behind Winx in the 2017 Cox Plate betting markets now through Ladbrokes.com.au.
