Plating up a stallion

This story appears in the September issue of Inside Racing magazine.

It has been nearly a quarter of a century since a Cox Plate winner has emerged as a significantly successful stallion in Australia and New Zealand, but the tide could be turning.

The last winner of Australia’s “weight-for-age championship” to make an impact in the breeding barn was the handsome and versatile Rubiton, successful in 1987. The son of Century sired 38 Stakes winners in an outstanding career; eventually, one of his offspring, the enduring Fields Of Omagh, went on to win the Cox Plate twice, in 2003 and 2006.

Unfortunately for the breeding industry, like many of the modern male Cox Plate winners, Fields Of Omagh was a gelding.

Before So You Think won his first Tatts Cox Plate as a three-year-old colt in 2009 (he won it again in 2010), only four Cox Plate winners were entires – Our Poetic Prince (1988), Almaarad (1989), Octagonal (1995) and Savabeel (2004).

Of the 23 winners since Rubiton, 13 were geldings. The list includes some of the greats of Australian racing – Saintly, Might And Power, Super Impose, Better Loosen Up, Northerly, Maldivian and El Segundo.

Three of the winners were mares – the champions Sunline, Makybe Diva and Dane Ripper.

However, the Cox Plate might be taking on a new position as a “stallion race”, especially if So You Think can continue with his triumphant international tour de force. His likely place as a high-profile shuttle stallion between Coolmore Stud’s Irish and Australian farms will direct interest from Europe towards the Cox Plate as a race of international influence. And winners will be encouraged to show off their talents against the best of Europe’s middle-distance horses to secure a place on the lucrative shuttle train.

Of the four winning entires since Rubiton, Our Poetic Prince and the imported Almaarad didn’t make it commercially at stud, whereas Octagonal, after a promising start at stud following such a wonderful track career, has lost his commercial viability in an unforgiving market. However, Octagonal’s legacy will be that he is the sire of the exceptional Lonhro, Australia’s champion stallion of 2010-11, who is poised to rewrite the record books.

Ironically, Lonhro failed in his two attempts, when favourite, to win the Cox Plate in 2002 and 2003.

Savabeel seems to be the unlikely hero. The son of Zabeel was a bit of a surprise winner as a three-year-old and, like Octagonal, he failed to back up to win the Group 1 Victoria Derby seven days later. Savabeel is emerging as an exciting stud prospect from his Waikato Stud base at Matamata in New Zealand. He is the sire of nine Stakes winners from three crops of racing age, including the highly ranked spring contender Scarlett Lady, winner of the Group 1 Queensland Oaks, the Peter Moody-trained Do Ra Mi and the promising 3YO filly Dowager Queen.

The Cox Plate, first run in 1922 when won by the imported Violoncello, hasn’t always been in a stallion drought. Before the speed influence of the imported Star Kingdom and the rise of the Golden Slipper scamper as the target race for breeders in the late 1950s, some of the best winners went on to become outstanding stallions.

They included Heroic (seven times Australia’s leading sire), Chatham (16 Stakes winners), Beau Vite and Manfred (12 Stakes winners each), Noholme (a stud sensation in North America) and Strawberry Road, who went on to race successfully in Europe and North America before becoming a leading stallion in Kentucky.

On the other hand, some of the best winners who didn’t have a stud impact included Tulloch, Delta, Ajax, Star Affair, Fury’s Order, Taj Rossi, Aquanita, Dhaulagiri (stood in France), Tobin Bronze (stood in North America) and the popular grey Gunsynd.

Pre-1960, the champion geldings to win the Cox Plate included Phar Lap, Amounis, Rogilla and Rising Fast.

While the Cox Plate is unlikely to reach the heights as a stallion-producing race as the Golden Slipper has – and to lesser extent Caulfield Guineas and the Ascot Vale (Coolmore Stud) Stakes – the deeds on and off the track of modern winners such as So You Think (by High Chaparral) will see more commercial studs, here and overseas, taking notice of the winner. Especially now that the Australian industry is showing a renewed interest in breeding middle-distance and staying horses.