Romantic Warrior digs deepest to win Cox Plate ahead of Mr Brightside and Alligator Blood
Mr Brightside, Alligator Blood and Romantic Warrior are all superstars of the turf with a fierce will to win but one horse wanted victory more in the Cox Plate.
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Only one element remained available in the last 100m of yet another epic Cox Plate at The Valley.
The will to win.
Reserves of fitness built up over weeks of work and racing were drained with 100m to go, leaving the frontrunners with only one thing left in the locker.
Bravery, old fashioned guts or heart.
Mr Brightside, Alligator Blood and Romantic Warrior had it by the bucketful as all three drove for the line under their desperate riders.
But Romantic Warrior had a granule more than Mr Brightside and Alligator Blood.
• Romantic Warrior wins Cox Plate in epic finish
Some of Mr Brightside’s connections thought their star had posted another Group 1 triumph while the Moonee Valley Racing Club fired black and white streamers out over the crowd soon after the trio crossed the line.
However, the photo finish revealed the Hong Kong champion Romantic Warrior had got half a nostril to the line ahead of Mr Brightside.
Romantic Warrior denied Ben, Will and JD Hayes the chance to become a third generation of Hayes Cox Plate winners after their grandfather Colin and father David.
WHAT A RACE!
— 7HorseRacing 🎠(@7horseracing) October 28, 2023
ROMANTIC WARRIOR WINS THE COX PLATE FOR HONG KONG! ðŸ‡ðŸ‡° pic.twitter.com/9Tw19ljGMN
Some thoughts may have turned to counting jockey James McDonald’s whip strikes on Romantic Warrior after last Saturday’s Caulfield Cup furore with jockey Mark Zahra breaking the whip rules.
But McDonald asked, pleaded with, then begged Romantic Warrior to give a little more in the straight rather than strongly pressuring the gelding with the whip.
That left punters, racegoers and the social media horde left to find something else to occupy them over the next few days.
Let’s start by marvelling at what these superb animals and the awesome athletes on their backs did in the Cox Plate.
• Cox Plate: What the jockeys said
Let’s also tip our hats at the effort of Danny Shum’s team for an amazing effort to produce Romantic Warrior in the shape of his life in the Cox Plate, three weeks after his disappointing fourth in the Turnbull Stakes.
Romantic Warrior’s groundbreaking performance to become the first Hong Kong horse to win a Cox Plate came after encountering an obstacle that might have ended any plans to head to Australia.
Shum’s nickname, “Iron Man”, would have been tested as he desperately searched for new feed for Romantic Warrior after the tough Australian biosecurity laws prevented the trainer from bringing his usual feed.
Romantic Warrior struggled to stay on his tucker at home in Hong Kong, which left him short of his best in the Turnbull Stakes.
For a few strides a similar result was on the cards in the Cox Plate as jockey James McDonald was one of the first to ask his mount to quicken at the famous school, or the 600m mark.
Romantic Warrior crabbed a little as he hit top pace around the home turn but continued to give for his mate James McDonald,
McDonald was aboard the best horse in Australia in last year’s Cox Plate when scoring on Anamoe but there were no standouts this year, making the job of the jockey more important this year.
McDonald did his part, giving Romantic Warrior the perfect run to the home turn before his mate of less than a year gave his all to nab the $3m winner’s cheque.
• Romantic Warrior’s win is racing’s ‘Crocodile Dundee moment’
“I showed belief. This horse is pretty special to me,” McDonald said.
While reminiscing about one of the great Cox Plates, spare a thought for Damien Oliver, who had little luck aboard the fourth-placed Duais.
“Ollie” had given Duais the perfect ride but the master needed one more gap to have the Ed Cummings-trained mare challenging Romantic Warrior and his ilk.
But that last gap didn’t come in Oliver’s last Cox Plate, robbing arguably the greatest jockey Australia has produced to go to the line on the heels of the placegetters.
“Just needed one more run to open up at the top of the straight and I think she would have been fighting out the finish, but it was a great effort,” Oliver said.
The Cox Plate was back to its best after Covid-induced empty stands in 2020 and 2021 and a wet meeting last year and racing fans need to realise there’s only two more chances to watch Australia’s best race in the current format at The Valley.
But Damien Oliver has no more chances to ride in the world-class contest, he could be forgiven for wondering “what if that last gap had come?”.
Jockey Mark Zahra has chosen his Melbourne Cup mount.
Zahra rode Without A Fight to victory in last Saturday’s Caulfield Cup
Reigning Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Mark Zahra could just about float to Flemington next week.
Seven days after clinching a second Caulfield Cup in three years, big race jockey Zahra put on a clinic at The Valley with four winners.
“It is up there (as a highlight),” Zahra said after the last.
“I’ve ridden maybe one or two winners on Cox Plate Day but I would have liked it more if I’d won the Cox Plate but to ride four is a big achievement.”
Zahra’s quartet included Bold Bastille (Inglis Banner), Prowess (Crystal Mile), Apulia (Moonee Valley Vase) and Archo Nacho (Red Anchor Stakes).
Originally published as Romantic Warrior digs deepest to win Cox Plate ahead of Mr Brightside and Alligator Blood
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