Two Kiwi chances to claim A$3m Cox Plate

Two Kiwi chances to claim A$3m Cox Plate

The prestigious A$3 million Group 1 Cox Plate is set to race in Australia this Saturday and New Zealand’s hopes of victory will be pinned on Nom Du Jeu and Sir Slick

Nom Du Jeu and Sir Slick are the only two New Zealand trained horses in the 14-strong field although there are also another three New Zealand bred horses set to line-up in the race, which brings together the best weight-for-age horses in Australasia.

The Murray and Bjorn Baker trained Nom Du Jeu recorded some great results last year including winning the AJC Australian Derby, finishing as runner-up at the Caulfield Cup and finishing eighth in last year’s Melbourne Cup. He will start from Gate 5 and is paying Fixed Odds of $31.00 to win this year’s Cox Plate.

Well-known New Zealand war-horse Sir Slick, who is trained by Te Aroha-based Graeme Nicholson, finished fifth at the Kelt Capital Stakes earlier this month and is a regular visitor to Australia. He will have his work cut out to win the race from Gate 11 and is paying Fixed Odds of $81.00.

The New Zealand bred contingent includes El Segundo ($15.00), who won the race in 2007, Vision and Power ($18.00), who won the Doncaster Handicap in April this year, and rising superstar So You Think ($11.00), trained by master horse trainer Bart Cummings.

Cummings picked up his seventh Caulfield Cup last weekend thanks to an easy victory by Melbourne Cup hero Viewed last weekend and will have his sights set on total domination of the spring carnival, with the Cox Plate the next stop. In total, he has won three Cox Plates, seven Caulfield Cups and 12 Melbourne Cups, but, unlike Lee Freedman, has not won all three races in the same season. Lee Freeman will have one horse in this year’s Cox Plate – the talented Speed Gifted, who won the Metropolitan Handicap in Sydney at his last start

The last Cox Plate winner trained by a Kiwi was Savabeel in 2004, which was trained by Graeme Rogerson, and now stands at Waikato Stud.

The Mark Kavanagh-trained gelding Whobegotyou, an impressive last-start winner of the Yalumba Stakes at Caulfield, is the current favourite with the TAB to win the race, paying Fixed Odds of $2.40. Second favourite is Heart of Dreams, paying $6.50 with Speed Gifted third favourite, paying $9.00.

The W.S. Cox Plate will be run of 2040m at Moonee Valley in Victoria (Race 8) with the gates set to crash open at 6:30pm (NZ time).

For the latest TAB Fixed Odds available on the race visit http://www.tab.co.nz/sport/?option=308

ENDS

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