2019 Cox Plate: Mystic Journey arrives in perfect order for big race but trainer worried about rain
The pride of Tasmania has landed in great shape, but as trainer Adam Trinder admits, Mystic Journey is going to have to beat the world’s best if she to become the state’s first Cox Plate winner.
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Same blanket, same wheels, same destination.
Mystic Journey is a creature of habit.
She left her Spreyton digs on Thursday afternoon and by this afternoon could be a permanent fixture in the history books.
It has, like her name would suggest, been a journey far beyond the 454km traverse across a blowy Bass Strait to Saturday’s $5 million Cox Plate.
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The Tasmanian mare’s travel has been refined to a by-the-minute operation, from the time she leaves her Spreyton stable to the moment she nestles into Box 16 at Tony McEvoy’s Flemington headquarters the next morning.
It’s always the same.
It has to be, to settle both ‘homebody’ mare and trainer alike, Adam Trinder admits.
“She travels with the same kit, and travels on the same truck,” the Tasmanian trainer says with a grin.
“Everything really is routine. It all transpires exactly the same from one trip to the next.
“It suits her really well — she’s a little bit of a homebody.”
The nervous energy that was evident at Flemington on Friday only serves her well for around 48 hours, Trinder said.
Anything beyond that and she’d tire herself out, hence why he opted to skip the hype of Cox Plate week — including Tuesday’s traditional trackwork at The Valley — and lob on the mainland according to the schedule that has suited her throughout this campaign.
From Devonport, you take a left just past the Spreyton IGA, then a right down Loone Lane. Another turn and it’s just past the Devonport Dog’s Home where you’ll find Trinder’s base.
The Spirit Of Tasmania pulled out of Devonport — just an 11-minute drive from his stables — at 7.30pm on Thursday with Trinder, strapper Bronte Page and prized cargo Mystic Journey, who is fondly known as “Betty”, aboard.
No one can get near her when the boat is moving, meaning it could be a nervous trip.
But they’ve got it down to a fine art.
Leaving at the same time, enough food and water is supplied before the non-equine travellers are forced to the upper deck.
She’s a calm seafarer.
Conditions weren’t all that forgiving as Melbourne sweltered through an usually warm October night and winds whipped up as they crossed the water, watching the mare via a baby-monitor-esque surveillance set-up in her truck in the cargo hold, arriving just before sunrise at Port Melbourne at 5.57am.
By the time she was paraded before the media just after 9.30am, the sky rumbled with thunder and rain fell.
Trinder doesn’t want any more of that before Saturday’s 2040m feature — she doesn’t like it when its wetter than a Soft 6.
Soon after, “Betty” was right back at home in Box 16, with her trainer enjoying a quiet moment amid the chaos of what could be the biggest week of their lives.
“She just likes (the system we have),” he explained in the peace.
“She’s more relaxed at home. She’s one of those fillies where when she’s away she’s very respectful of her new environment and she’s a guest, whereas at home, she’s quite happy to put her feet on the coffee table and relax.”
He doesn’t know the origins of the name “Betty”, with the yearling named by stable staff soon after her arrival due to her black coat and the 1977 track by Ram Jam, which has become something of an anthem among her fans, particularly on social media.
The four-year-old first caught the eye of Trinder’s fiance Leah Goodrick in early 2017.
Goodrick has good taste, he joked, but figured there was little to lose at the Magic Millions yearling sale with an $11,000 price tag on the mare.
“Leah picked her … she was definitely her filly at the sales,” Trinder said.
“She loved her right from the time we started doing inspections out on the farms.
“She sold in February — we’d started inspections early December. She liked her in December, she liked her in January, she liked her in February — she was a filly that I was obviously going to have to go home with, when Leah loved her.
“There wasn’t a lot of risk associated with her. We were fortunate enough to be able to get her and she’s succeeded our expectations of what she potentially could be.”
Leah — who Trinder says is “terribly nervous” — will fly in to Melbourne on Saturday morning after “running the show” for Trinder’s runners at Launceston on Friday night.
To salute on Saturday would be the “holy grail” for Trinder — a former jockey and grandson of Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Ray Trinder, who took Piping Lane to glory in 1972 — who’ll be up early and straight to work before driving to the track at around 2pm before finding his “own little space” to process the race and soak in the moment.
And there’s more pressure than he ever felt in the saddle.
“There’s a lot more moving objects,” he said.
“You can only control it up until the time as you let her go out of the mounting yard, and then it’s totally out of your control. There’s a little bit of apprehension in that regard, but I trust we’re handling it well and have done everything right.”
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Japanese star Lys Gracieux is favourite at $3.50 with “Betty” sitting just behind in betting at $7 in a full-field showdown.
“(I’m) very wary of the Japanese horse. I have an external understanding of the Japanese form — I rode over there in a previous career,” Trinder said.
“I think their good horses are really good, their really good horses are exceptional and I think the mare may fall into that latter category. I think it’s going to be a fantastic race.
“She raced Cox Plate Day last year and responded really well to the atmosphere of Moonee Valley. There on the main stage … I would suggest she’ll take it in exactly the same as she did last year. She really responds to the adrenaline of a big raceday.”
