This Saturday in Melbourne Winx will look to do what just one other champion of the turf has done before her winning a third straight Ladbrokes Cox Plate and the historical statistics suggest she’s a good thing.
Historical Cox Plate form lines point to a Winx win this weekend at The Valley. Photo: Steve Hart.
There are eight rivals bravely taking on the queen of Australian racing in this year’s Group 1 $3 million Ladbrokes Cox Plate (2040m) at The Valley, one less than she defeated by an historic eight length margin last spring.
Since the Australasian weight-for-age championship was first run and won in 1922 there have been 10 dual Cox Plate winners.
The first was the mighty Phar Lap (1930-31) and on Saturday Winx, currently paying $1.16 through Ladbrokes.com.au, will jump the shortest-priced Cox Plate favourite since Phar Lap for his second at $1.07.
Before Winx (2015-16) the other most recent successive Cox Plate hero was So You Think (2009-10) who was only the punters’ pick for his second at $1.50 after winning at $13 as a three-year-old in 2009 when the favourite Whobegotyou ($2.75) ran sixth.
There has of course only been one triple Cox Plate winner with the mighty Kingston Town saluting as the top fancy from 1980-82.
Kingston Town won his first at $2.50, before starting at $1.67 in 1981 and then $2.75 in 1982 doing what he shouldn’t have been able to do and secure the three-peat in the Moonee Valley classic.
Of the nine other back-to-back Cox Plate winners outside of Kingston Town just three attempted a third and, obviously, all failed.
Young Idea (1936-37) returned in 1938 finishing out of the money behind Ajax who saluted as the $1.50 favourite in race record time.
Hydrogen (1952-53) was no match for the 1954 champ, dual Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup winner Rising Fast, while Sunline (1999-2000) did her best but failed in her third attempt in 2001 when Northerly won his first of two Cox Plate trophies.
Sunline was the last successive Cox Plate winning mare before Winx and for her second in 2000 equalled the race’s then record winning margin of seven lengths.
Winx of course surpassed that in 2016 making a mess of the runner-up Hartnell, improving on her four and three-quarter length win in 2015 over Criterion.
None of those three returning dual winners were at the top of Cox Plate betting for their respective third attempts.
Kingston Town was and saluted, so that bodes well for Winx this weekend as she backs-up from a six and a half-length Group 1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) win at Flemington.
Coming off 21 straight wins, it is unsurprising to see Winx such a dominant favourite in the Ladbrokes Cox Plate odds for Saturday.
Chasing win number 22 on the trot, she is also the 22nd odds-on Cox Plate favourite to line-up.
The strike rate of those under $2 for the win is good, 15 getting the job done.
It is all coming up Winx so head to Ladbrokes.com.au now and back the Hall of Fame mare at the right price for the 2017 Ladbrokes Cox Plate today.