Inside the Chinese dinner that led to Via Sistina bypassing the Melbourne Cup

The inside story of how the team behind Via Sistina decided against running the superstar mare in the Melbourne Cup at a Chinese restaurant.

Diners at the up-market Silks Chinese restaurant at Melbourne’s Southbank precinct were focused on their seafood dumplings and Peking duck pancakes but elsewhere in the room, one of the most important decisions in recent racing history was being made.

This is the inside story of how the team behind Via Sistina resolved to dodge the Melbourne Cup with racing’s new super freak.

Seated at a dinner table were Yulong founder Yuesheng Zhang, his daughter April, April’s husband Jun, Via Sistina’s trainer Chris Waller, Yulong general manager Vin Cox and Cox’s father Chris who was a surprise guest.

WOW! The superstar of Australian racing Via Sistina dominates the $3 million Group 1 TAB Champions Stakes. JMac with a perfect 10 ⭐

🎥 @wwos | #StakesDay | #MelbCupCarnivalpic.twitter.com/wd6nRG1qhA

— Victoria Racing Club (@FlemingtonVRC) November 9, 2024

• J-Mac: ‘Via Sistina would have won Melbourne Cup by 10 lengths’

“Chris Waller rang and said let’s have dinner, it was very short notice on the Monday after the Cox Plate,” Cox told Racenet.

“The reason my old man came to dinner, he was driving down from Mudgee to the (Yulong) farm, he had just got to the farm.

“I had initially planned to have a dinner barbecue at the farm with my wife and my Dad and his wife.

“All of a sudden I was driving to Melbourne and Dad said he would jump in the car with me.

“The purpose was to enjoy the success of winning the Cox Plate, but also to really work out what it was we wanted to do with Via Sistina.

“We needed to decide whether she should have a spell, race her in Hong Kong, race her in the Melbourne Cup or race her in the Champions Stakes.”

Vin Cox (right) with Chris Waller and James McDonald. Picture: Racing Photos via Getty Images

This was always going to be a pivotal decision for Zhang, the Chinese billionaire at the heart of the Yulong juggernaut.

After all, he had fallen in love with the Melbourne Cup on his first visit to Australia in 2013 when he was at Flemington and was gobsmacked by Fiorente’s Cup win.

The lure of the Melbourne Cup for Via Sistina would have been tugging at Mr Zhang’s heartstrings for sure, after the incredible eight-length Cox Plate blitz a few days earlier.

But the crew around the table at the Chinese restaurant took the emotion out of the equation.

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In the end it was a fairly simple and straightforward decision to avoid the Melbourne Cup and instead head to the Group 1 Champions Stakes, which Via Sistina ended up winning easily last Saturday.

As the dinner crew moved on to dessert, there were no dissenting voices.

Via Sistina smashes her opposition in the Group 1 Champions Stakes. Picture: Racing Photos via Getty Images

“We went through the various pros and cons around each one of the options and ultimately settled on what was probably the most sensible one,” Cox said.

“It’s very hard to turn away from the prospect of a Melbourne Cup and she probably would have started favourite.

“But what were we always hoping to achieve was a Cox Plate.

“The Melbourne Cup was never our primary goal.

“Given that, the Melbourne Cup is a two-mile race and Via Sistina had never raced over any further than 2400m.

“It’s a big stretch, she hadn’t totally been prepared for it.

James McDonald celebrating Via Sistina’s Cox Plate win with Yulong racing owner Yuesheng Zhang. Picture: Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images

“So, given that, what lies in the future for her was probably what we had our eyes on rather than a mission into the Melbourne Cup.

“There were no dissenting voices.

“My Dad was absolutely intrigued by the way the process happened and the decision we came to.”

The rest, as they say, is history.

Via Sistina stormed to victory in the Champions Stakes, with many racing lovers now even daring to dream that we could be seeing the emergence of the next Winx.

The 2025 Autumn carnival now beckons for Via Sistina – and the great news for fans is there are certainly no thoughts of retirement anytime soon.

“As long as she does well in autumn, we will keep racing her,” Cox vowed.

Originally published as Inside the Chinese dinner that led to Via Sistina bypassing the Melbourne Cup