The Cox Plate - A Rich History
Get the latest articles from us. Subscribe to our RSS feed.
If you have any doubts about Australians love of horse racing, just look at the history of the Group 1 W.S. Cox Plate.
The “Race of the Century” in 1986 featured a titanic neck and neck battle between two chestnut geldings that raced into “equine immortality”. For the last 800 metres Bonecrusher and Our Waverley Star battled for the Cox Plate, with Bonecrusher prevailing by a neck. It is a story Australian punters retell over and over again, because it holds all of the elements which make horse racing so enthralling.
The Cox Plate race is a weight-for-age race over 2,040 metres and was named after William Samuel Cox who founded the Moonee Valley Racing Club. The first race was run in 1922 and with a purse worth 1,000 pounds.
Today the race is worth more than $3.1 million including $1.8 million to the winner. The only other Australian race with more prize money is the Melbourne Cup. The race is a Group 1 thoroughbred race for 3 year-old or older horses. The time it takes to run the race is often referred to as the “greatest two minutes in sport”.
A Race of Memories
The Cox Plate is nestled right between the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups, our two famous staying handicap races. This gives it a special standing in racing annals and it’s weight-for-age status means that the best horse should win. Over the last 9 decades the Cox Plate has given the racing world plenty of excitement and memories.
The first horse to win the Cox Plate was Violoncello who was from Great Britain. Other winners of our great race have been bred in Australia, New Zealand and Ireland. Australia’s most famous horse Phar Lap won the 1930 and 1931 Cox Plates. And who could forget the great Kingston Town’s wins in 1980, 1981 and 1982.
Rising Fast won the 1954 Cox Plate and went on to become the only horse to win the Caulfield Cup, Melbourne Cup and Cox Plate in the same year. New Zealand horse Tulloch set a new race record in 1960 and in some quarters was compared to the great Phar Lap. The current race record is held by Might and Power and was set in 1998 when the horse won in 2 minutes and 3.54 seconds. Dulcify (1979) and Sunline (1999) share the greatest winning margin of 7 lengths.
Global and Proud
Since 1999 the Cox Plate has been part of the horse racing World Series and this has added even more prestige and global significance. The 12 race World Series includes races that are run on four continents.
The Cox Plate is a great horse race held every year at Melbourne’s Moonee Valley. And every year punters watch to see if equine immortality will be claimed by Australia’s new weight-for-age champion.