Gerard Whateley says the Cox Plate might need a prompt to remember how great it can be

ONCE the greatest race of the racing calendar, the Cox Plate is now struggling under the weight of history, writes Gerard Whately.

23/10/2010 SPORT: 23/10/2010 SPORT: 2010 Cox Plate. Moonee Valley. Steven Arnold wins on So You Think as they go past the post.

WHEN Moonee Valley chairman Bill Stutt vaulted the ambition of the Cox Plate more

than 30 years ago he prescribed only one limitation on his visionary chief executive

Ian McEwen.

The prizemoney for the Moonee Valley jewel could never exceed what was on offer

for the Melbourne Cup. In Stutt’s ever-respectful estimation that was “Australia’s

race.”

But it was hardly a note of concession. Stutt held the ace worth far more than the size

of the pot.

Where the Melbourne Cup had become the domain of moderate handicappers with

advantageous weights, the best horse in the land meeting his opposition on equal

terms was winning the Cox Plate.

“The Olympic Games are not handicaps,” Stutt observed. “The Davis Cup isn’t a

handicap. In Test cricket they don’t give one side 500 runs start.”

As the Cox Plate soared the synergy flourished. The Melbourne Cup remained the

nation’s iconic race while Moonee Valley staged the championship event.

Masterpiece after masterpiece created an unrivalled honour roll.

Etched already were Phar Lap, Rising Fast, Tulloch, Tobin Bronze, Gunsynd and

Dulcify before the Kingston Town Trilogy.

Pierro in action in Sydney last year.

Then came the race of the century, the incomparable struggle between Bonecrusher

and Our Waverley Star.

Theatre and greatness seemed permanently intertwined through Better Loosen

Up, Super Impose, Octagonal, Saintly and Might and Power before the flourish of

Sunline, Northerly, Makybe Diva and So You Think.

After Rubiton ran down Our Poetic Prince in the record-breaking Plate of 1987, then Premier

John Cain observed at the presentation: “I suppose, a bit like the stock market, there’s

nothing certain in racing, except one thing: that this race, the Cox Plate, is the greatest

race of the racing calendar.”

No one disagreed.

If Denis Napthine made the same proclamation tonight one wonders if it would meet

with unanimous endorsement.

It was the Cup that crossed the demarcation line. The visionary drive to evolve the

race from midweek handicap to international championship has been an astounding

success.

Where it leaves the Cox Plate is an open question.

It’s a Dundeel.

While recent editions haven’t groaned with the usual grandeur, the race has itself been

desperately short-changed.

Given the standards maintained by So You Think in less than ideal circumstances

overseas, there’s a compelling case to be made that Bart’s last great champion would

not only have equalled the King’s hat-trick but made it four straight victories.

Had overeager stud masters not prematurely demanded the services of All Too Hard

and Pierro one suspects they would’ve last year settled the question of superiority on

the Valley turf where such battles have always been determined.

When It’s A Dundeel romped home to win the Queen Elizabeth at The

Championships in April it was sagely concluded he had nothing more to prove.

Respectful to those three horses, their accomplishments are incomplete without a Cox

Plate.

Long regarded as the perfect race, there might be cause to enhance its points of

difference and reconnect with its history and purpose. Dust off the story of the race

narrated by Bud Tingwell and remember how legends are made.

A refresher in why an exclusive collection of heavyweights was preferable to a

capacity field.

When only eight faced the starter in 1996, four drove magnificently for the line

together and the Plate was blessed by Saintly.

All Too Hard.

The quality three-year-old is an essential component of the weight-for-age test. The

struggle as Almaarad reached to overhaul Stylish Century, not just any lightweight

who wanted a crack.

And the pageantry of the title fight that builds from Tuesday’s Breakfast with the

Best.

When Sunline first saw Moonee Valley she galloped like a cannonball as the

public ate their sausages. Five days later she repeated the deed and began her rich

contribution to the race.

To set momentum alight all competitors, both human and equine, should present at

the weigh-in.

Perhaps this current lull is merely the impatient wait for the next great horse. Or

maybe the Cox Plate just needs a prompt to remember how great it can be.

Originally published as Gerard Whateley says the Cox Plate might need a prompt to remember how great it can be