Champion jockey James McDonald has claimed his third consecutive Cox Plate with a record-breaking victory aboard Via Sistina at Moonee Valley.
It was McDonald’s 100th Group 1 triumph, and follows his wins on Romantic Warrior and Anamoe in Australasia’s weight-for-age championship over the past two years.
Chris Waller-trained Via Sistina smashed the track record for the 2040-metre test on Saturday and won by a record eight lengths from Japanese raider and pre-race favourite Prognosis.
James McDonald. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Racing Photos via Getty Images)
“She won like Winx … it was just a phenomenal performance,” McDonald told Channel Seven.
Godolphin’s Broadsiding was third and Mr Brightside fourth for the Hayes brothers, while fan favourite Pride Of Jenni led by as much as three lengths mid-race before she was caught.
The stunning triumph came after Via Sistina was in huge doubt for the $5 million feature following a scary incident on Tuesday, when the seven-year-old mare threw McDonald during trackwork.
“I thought our hopes were doomed,” McDonald said.
“There was a fantastic picture there when I popped myself up and looked and watched her gallop away.
“If looks could tell a story … we were stuffed.”
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New Zealand-born McDonald, 32, is the fifth and youngest jockey to reach a century of Group 1 wins in Australia, the milestone making his latest Cox Plate triumph all the more special.
“There was more pressure. The other two were well-fancied, but they’re very easy horses to ride,” McDonald said.
“This one, she’s not easy. Things needed to go our way, and probably the momentum of this 100 has been quite heavy.
“Each week everyone’s been gunning for me and I haven’t been able to get the job done.
“To do it in a Cox Plate, I couldn’t even imagine it. It’s pretty surreal.”
McDonald is the third jockey to register at least three consecutive Cox Plate wins and the second to do it on three different horses.
Champion trainer Waller was reduced to tears after the race, having joined the legendary Bart Cummings in equal-third on the honours list with his fifth Cox Plate win.
Waller, who previously combined with jockey Hugh Bowman for four in a row with super mare Winx, had to drastically alter his preparation plan for Via Sistina after the trackwork mishap.
“Forget what happened Tuesday, she’s a good horse and she’s done my job to prove it,” Waller told Seven.
“The truth is when she got up and James got up, the rest of it didn’t care. The horse and James equally are just so important.
“The Cox Plate’s on every year, so if she didn’t make it, who cares? She’s alive and James is alive.”
Earlier, Ben Allen steered Baraqiel to a dominant win in the Group 2 McEwen Stakes.
Trainer Troy Corstens said Baraqiel will head towards the Group 1 Champions Sprint, to be run on the final day of Flemington’s Melbourne Cup carnival in a fortnight.
Newshttps://https://ift.tt/vio2GJr Sistina defies odds in dominant Cox Plate win
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