Chris Munce warns not to change Cox Plate tactics with three-year-olds

Chris Munce won the Cox Plate aboard a three-year-old 20 years ago and has some advice on how Broadsiding should be ridden on Saturday.

Grand Slam-winning jockey Chris Munce has cautioned Cox Plate jockeys against riding lightweight three-year-olds out of their comfort zone as they prepare to tackle the $5m feature with Pride Of Jenni looming large.

Two decades on from his famous win aboard three-year-old colt Savabeel in the race, Munce said there is no point in trying to ride Broadsiding closer to the speed on Saturday, simply because he has 49.5kg on his back.

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The colt is one of two three-year-olds in the race after Evaporate’s surprise entry earlier this week as they look to become the fifth lightweight winner in the last 30 years.
“You have to ride the horse, at the end of the day you can’t be changing a horse’s tactics too much in a Cox Plate,” Munce said.

“You know Pride Of Jenni is going to roll along, on exposed form at least.

“Broadsiding gets back anyway, he needs to find his feet to hit the line, so I wouldn’t be kicking him up to be third or fourth just because he has no weight on his back.
“By this stage of their career, they all have their patterns of racing.”

Chris Munce winning the Cox Plate with three-year-old Savabeel 20 years ago.

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Munce said his ride aboard Savabeel for Kiwi trainer Graeme Rogerson came after he swore himself off riding three-year-olds in the weight-for-age feature.

“I was riding all these good three-year-olds, Caulfield Guineas winners and all that and they never got sighted in the Cox Plate,” he said.

“I was wasting away to ride them at 48.5kg and it kills you.

“Savabeel came around, and ‘Rogey’ said I should ride him, he said have a go in the Spring Champion first, win that and see what you think.

“Of course he won the Spring Champion, so I thought I better ride him in the Cox Plate.

“There were a few weeks in between to get my weight right, the rest is history.”

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While Munce produced a perfect ride in the Cox Plate with Savabeel, he laughs when he revealed what the tactics were supposed to be 20 years ago.

“On the Friday before the Cox Plate I was with Rogey and he was talking about the tactics of the race and he said you need to ride him like Octagonal, out the back and take off a long way out,” Munce said.

“That was the game plan, then as soon as the gates opened I was one-one and I thought I couldn’t drag him back now, we ended up getting the world’s best run.

“They told me the last horse off the bit wins the Cox Plate, and I remember getting to the school (800m mark) and I was jogtrotting, so I thought I was going OK.”

Originally published as Chris Munce warns not to change Cox Plate tactics with three-year-olds