It is the question on all racing fans’ lips in the lead-up to this year’s ‘Race That Stops a Nation’, will Chris Waller‘s eight-length Cox Plate queen Via Sistina line-up in the 2024 Melbourne Cup field?

An official decision from the Waller stable is yet to be made, but the mare was paid-up for at third acceptance stage on Monday and is getting endorsed by star hoop James McDonald.

McDonald was in the saddle, and subsequently fined for his pre-post celebration, when saluting in his third straight Ladbrokes Cox Plate this time aboard the emphatic and record-breaking Via Sistina.

After the ease in which she won the weight-for-age event over the 2020m at The Valley, attention now turns to the first Tuesday of November where the seven-year-old daughter of Pride Of Dubai could be after another historical win in the Group 1 $8.56 million Lexus Melbourne Cup (3200m).

A $5.5 million purchase by Yulong Investments last December, Via Sistina has won three of her past four starts this campaign with two other Group 1 wins in the Winx Stakes and Turnbull Stakes.

The pressure is now on for the team to make the call on a Melbourne Cup bid.

“We’ll have to just wait and see. It’s all about the horse in of how they recover, and you don’t really get a clear picture for a few days,” Waller told Sunrise on Tuesday.

“The dust is settling but we’re still watching closely on how she is and just her body language.

“We’ve all seen her go to an amazing level … it does take a lot of energy, so therefore the recovery’s so important to make sure that she lives up to the expectations in her next start.

“Because it’s alright for everybody to say we want to see her running in the Melbourne Cup but it’s not fair on the horse if she’s not 100 per cent. At this stage she’s fine but you just need a few more days to find out all those answers.”

While yet to win over further than 2100m, for many there is little doubt the equine superstar would see out the famous two-mile Cup distance with Via Sistina having handled a high-pressure Cox Plate to make a mess of her rivals setting a new course record.

Should she take her place in the 24-horse Melbourne Cup field she will don the number one saddlecloth and carry the 56kg topweight.

Waller won the Melbourne Cup with another of his former star mares, the ill-fated Verry Elleegant, back in 2021 with McDonald aboard on 57kg.

McDonald will ride Via Sistina chasing a second Melbourne Cup trophy if she is a confirmed final acceptor and will be left without a ride if she does not run.

“I think Via Sistina would get the trip,” McDonald told Racenet this week.

“I don’t want to say she would get it easily but I do think she will run it out. She is aerobically very, very strong.

“Verry Elleegant won with Cup with 57kg and Via Sistina feels every bit as strong as Verry Elleegant over 2000m.”

Melbourne Cup history shows the last horse to complete the Cox Plate – Melbourne Cup double in the same year was the mighty mare Makybe Diva when she won the last of her record three Melbourne Cups in 2005.

The bookies are taking no chances with Via Sistina and have her safe in Melbourne Cup betting at $8 although she is listed as “doubtful” at Ladbrokes.com.au.

If Via Sistina doesn’t take her spot Waller will still have a strong contingent led by the current $5 favourite Buckaroo, to be ridden by Brazilian hoop Joao Moreira, and who comes off a lead-up Caulfield Cup second.

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