The Group 1 $5 million Ladbrokes Cox Plate (2040m) will be contested by a select field of weight-for-age stars on Saturday with Pride Of Jenni in gate seven among the nine final acceptors for the ‘Race Where Legends are Made.’

There is already plenty of pre-race drama however with a key contender, Via Sistina, breaking loose and dumping rider James McDonald on Tuesday morning.

Her trainer, Chris Waller, remains hopeful that the class mare will still be able to line-up on Saturday with a final decision to be made the morning of.

Moonee Valley Racecourse will light up on Saturday for the second of the ‘Big 3’ spring majors.

The 2024 Cox Plate field features one of the smaller line-ups in recent history boosted class-wise by the inclusion of Ciaron Maher‘s star mare Pride Of Jenni on the quick back-up.

2024 Ladbrokes Cox Plate Field at a Glance

• Prognosis from Japan is the current favourite
• Prognosis (Japan) and Docklands (Great Britain) are the two internationals in the mix
• Pride Of Jenni and Via Sistina are the two mares in the field
• Chris Waller (Via Sistina, Kovalica) and Ben, Will & JD Hayes (Evaporate, Mr Brightside) have two contenders
• Pride Of Jenni, Via Sistina, Mr Brightside and Prognosis are the oldest runners at seven-years-old
• Broadsiding and Evaporate are the three-year-olds in the event

The seven-year-old daughter of Pride Of Dubai jumped favourite in Sydney’s Group 1 $5 million King Charles III Stakes (1600m) over the Randwick mile on The Everest Day last weekend only to be run down late by the impressive Joe Pride-trained four-year-old Ceolwulf.

Maher however remains confident she can atone and return to winning form up in trip at The Valley where she defeated Mr Brightside by 1.5 lengths two back in the Group 2 Feehan Stakes (1600m).

The top trainer may have missed out on the King Charles trophy last Saturday, but he celebrated an history interstate double claiming the $20 million The Everest with Bella Nipotina in Sydney before success in the Group 1 $5 million Caulfield Cup with Duke De Sessa huge from the front.

Maher has had the King Charles into the Cox Plate set for Pride Of Jenni all prep and remains pleased with how she performed in the former.

“I was very pleased with her effort. She ran super but was just beaten by a better horse on the day,” he told Racing.com.

Pride Of Jenni is one of two Cox Plate mares officially accepted along with the Waller-trained Via Sistina.

Waller has a historic affinity with the race having prepared the only four-time history, Winx, for her clean sheet between 2015 and 2018.

He hopes to return with a livewire chance this weekend with Via Sistina, current topweight for the 2024 Melbourne Cup on November 5, among the favourites in the Cox Plate odds online.

The seven-year-old Fastnet Rock mare celebrated her fourth Group 1 success last time out at Flemington defeating stablemate Buckaroo by a neck in the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m).

Buckaroo franked the form last weekend running a brave second to Duke De Sessa in the Caulfield Cup and markets for the Cox Plate suggest Via Sistina will also be right there in the finish at her next Group 1 start.

A cloud of doubt over her running emerged on Tuesday morning however with the mare losing rider McDonald before getting loose and completing two and a half laps of The Valley circuit.

“We’ll accept for Saturday and use all of that time up to Saturday morning to make sure everyone’s happy and the horse is 100 per cent, first and foremost,” Waller told Racing.com.

“We’ll go beyond that and take bloods to make sure the vets are happy and strappers are happy so she will only run if she’s 100 per cent.”

Waller could have two runners in the weekend’s feature also accepting for his consistent Ocean Park five-year-old Kovalica who was last seen running a close second to Attrition in the Group 2 $2 million Hill Stakes (1900m) at Rosehill.

What the Cox Plate line-up lacks in numbers it makes up for in intrigue with the inclusion of two international contenders looking to beat home the locals in the hugely popular Moonee Valley Racing Club feature.

Distance specialist Prognosis and the rails-drawn Docklands, who is yet to win over further than a mile, add an international flare to the event from Japan and Great Britain respectively.

Hong Kong’s Romantic Warrior (2023) was the last international Cox Plate champion just last year.

Overall, four raiders have been successive in the weight-for-age showdown with: Adelaide (2014), State Of Rest (2021), Lys Gracieux (2019), and Romantic Warrior (2023).

Deep Impact seven-year-old Prognosis, drawn in barrier five, heads the latest Cox Plate betting markets at race sponsor Ladbrokes.com.au for his Australian race debut.

The recent Group 2 Kinko Sho (2000m) winner by five lengths was runner-up to former Cox Plate hero Romantic Warrior in April’s Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2000m) when narrowly denied before a last start fourth first-up in the Group 2 Sapporo Kinen (2000m) in August.

The three-year-olds will be represented this season by the talented James Cummings-trained Broadsiding and a late inclusion with Evaporate also accepted.

The pair will jump either side of Pride Of Jenni with Broadsiding in gate eight and the Ben, Will & JD Hayes-trained Caulfield Guineas third placegetter Evaporate in barrier six.

From 2004 to 2023 there were five three-year-old Cox Plate champions.

A five-time winner from nine starts, Broadsiding is by sire of the moment Too Darn Hot, and the gun colt is a three-time Group 1 champion after his Golden Rose victory two back.

At his latest he ran fourth in the Caulfield Guineas 1.25 lengths off Private Life as the beaten short-priced faovurite for which he seeks atonement for down in weight against the older horses this weekend.

A late decision by Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott to accept for Royal Patronage, coming off a trio of thirds including in the Epsom behind subsequent King Charles winner Ceolwulf, was also made on Tuesday morning with the class import to line-up from gate

Royal Patronage was also nominated for both the Crystal Mile and JRA Cup on the Cox Plate Day card, but after an impressive piece of work at the Breakfast with the Best, the call was made to give the six-year-old a shot at Australasia’s weight-for-age championship.

Team Hayes’ WFA champ, Mr Brightside, completes the field lining-up in his third straight Cox Plate drawn a treat in barrier two.

The now seven-year-old son of Bullbars was seventh in 2022 behind Anamoe before going down by the barest of margins to Romantic Warrior in last year’s Cox Plate quinella.

A winner of over $14.3 million in stakes, Saturday will be his 39th career start and he will be out to win for the first time since the Makybe Diva earlier this prep.

He has been second best at his latest two firstly behind Pride Of Jenni in the Feehan and then behind Deny Knowledge in the Group 1 Might And Power (2000m) on Guineas Day.

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