Horse Racing: 'Without a fight' has claimed the 2023 Caufield Cup after a controversial ride from jockey Mark Zahra.
It’s the greatest two minutes in sport. The weight-for-age championship of Australasia. A $5 million race which time and again is won by an outstanding thoroughbred most worthy of their place on the honour roll.While the Melbourne Cup is the greatest race in the country, for the cultural institution it is, it’s the Cox Plate that usually attracts the very best horses.
There’s a couple of crack three-year-old colts - Militarize and King Colorado - who get in with tiny weights because of their age and could surprise their older rivals, plus a couple of quality mares in Duais - champion retiring jockey Damien Oliver’s last ride in the race - and Fangirl, who’s been making hay in the absence of her great but now retired old rival Anamoe, who won this last year.
The Melbourne Cup is of course Australia’s grandest phenomenon, racing or otherwise, but the Cox Plate holds status as this turf-mad country’s highest-quality race, since it’s held under weight-for-age. That’s the scale devised to eradicate the hiccups of handicaps, so that horses carry weights according to their age, not their form, so that the best horse may win. That’s why some of the best horses you’ve heard of have won this one.
The field jumps from the top of the straight and it’s a jostle for positions, often at high speed, before the first tight turn after 200m. Things usually stay fairly calm up the Dean Street side and over the back, but then heat up down the School Side. From the 800m to the 600m, passing the country’s most famous educational institution - Moonee Ponds Central School - the runs start to come, bearing down to the home corner, before the dash to the line and its promise of eternal glory!$5 million.
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - OCTOBER 23: Cox Plate favourite Romantic Warrior is seen after gallops at Moonee Valley Racecourse on October 23, 2023 in Melbourne, Australia. Alligator Blood during Breakfast With The Best trackwork at Moonee Valley Racecourse on October 24, 2023 in Moonee Ponds, Australia.
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