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We knew her level in the UK when she was beaten in 3 of her 4 G1 runs (her only win coming against her own sex in Ireland’s Pretty Polly when she beat the 112 and 113 rated Stay Alert and Above The Curve).
She was last seen on these shores when finishing runner up to King Of Steel in last year’s Champion Stakes, she subsequently moved from George Boughey’s stable to Chris Waller’s stable Down Under and since then (as a 6yr old) she has won 4 of her 6 races (all at G1 level ranging from 7f to 10f) and has just taken the Cox Plate by 8L and in the process took 2 seconds off of Aussie Legend Winx’s track record.
How do we view this?
More proof that horses just short of G1 class in the UK can clean up in Australia, remember Addeybb (as a 6 and 7 yr old) won 3 of his 4 G1s in Australia and 2 of them before he won a soft ground Champion Stakes or is it possible that these older horses have improved their form as they got even older?
Does the Cox Plate result put Winx’s G1 winning record a little more into perspective as being more of a good/very good horse beating up on an average bunch of rivals that wouldn’t cut much ice if the rocked up for a G1 in UK?
I think it shows by the top owners and trainers in OZ that Euro breds are generally superior horses 2000 upwards, thats why they buy them raced or in the case of increasing number of owners sending them down for big prizemoney . Some OZ owners are buying unraced , racing them at 2 and 3 and sending them down after .I was at Flemington few weeks back and Via Sistinas win that day was a good tough win but this was extra special . I think form through Docklands , Prognosis show it as a true world class performance though .
Some ex Euros do seem to improve down under , Contributor , Hartnell and Zaaki ones that spring to mind even taking into account weaker opposition . Maybe some prefer different training regimes .
Sprint distances the OZ horses are light years ahead , Asfoora just also ran in top company down under . Wouldnt get near Overpass or Bella Nipotina .Out of the Melbourne Cup which didn’t seem to have been her main target:
Will go for the Champions Stakes at Flemington instead.
Never felt 2m would be her bag but then the Aussies when they get these ex-UK 10-12f horses seem to run them at any trip from 7f to 2m.
Reading the article, it seems like the right decision to make as they won the Cox Plate, which was her actual target……also giving her some extra days to recover can’t be a bad thing as although she won the Cox Plate very easily, taking that big a chunk out of the course record would have taken a lot out of her regardless of how easy it may have looked.
Timeform have her highest rated horse in the world after that performance, higher than city of Troy though I guess lower when female allowance taken into account. https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/horse-racing/via-sistina-tops-world-rankings-with-2024-cox-plate-romp/news-story/b370a3db71403cee795f38e1b529c93a#
Good win again today , another 7 figures in bank , good comeback run from Without a Fight into 3rd .
Docklands finished 6th and he still picked up £32k (he was beaten only 6L this time compared to the 11L she beat him in the Plate) – incidentally he was also beaten 11L by City Of Troy in the Juddmonte.
Harry Eustace brought two down , Sea King and Docklands , Sea King won a Bendigo Cup and gave connections a good day out in Melbourne Cup , Docklands two runs not too bad on Cox Plate and yesterday .In total about 290k UKP in stakes earnt .Sea King stays in OZ , probably in profit for trip for both . Costs about 75k Aussie Dollars to bring one down i read , so i suppose with other costs thrown in adds bit more . Good effort by his team. Hope he gets invite for HK with Docklands .
I’d like to see where she ends up in the Coolmore International Classifications at the end of the year. Surely no other mare worldwide has shown as much as she did. But I can imagine her rating might not do her much justice.
Sorry, I meant Longines International Classifications. Don’t know, why I came up with Coolmore.
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