MAIDEN OF THE WEEK Friday, October 23, 2020 | Dedicated to the Australasian bloodstock industry - subscribe for free: Click here MAIDEN OF THE WEEK : CAPTIVANT (AUS) - PAGE 15 YESTERDAY'S RACE RESULTS - PAGE 21 Probabeel seeks to What's on Metropolitan meetings: Moonee Valley emulate Cox Plate greats (VIC), Launceston (TAS) Race meetings: Scone (NSW), Benalla Kiwi mare will join likes of Ajax, Fields Of Omagh, Sunline (VIC), Sunshine Coast (QLD), Gawler (SA), and Winx if she captures centenary victory Canberra (ACT), Pioneer Park (NT), New Plymouth (NZ) Barrier trials / Jump-outs: Warwick Farm (NSW), Scone (NSW), Flemington (VIC), Canberra (ACT) International meetings: Taipa (MAC), Newbury (UK), Doncaster (UK), Newcastle (UK), Dundalk (IRE), Fairview (SAF) International sales: Arqana October Yearling Sale (FR) MORNING BRIEFING Drama for Ballydoyle Cox Plate runners Aidan O'Brien faces an anxious wait after his Probabeel SPORTPIX two intended Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) runners, tomorrow, but history is also on her side as Magic Wand (Galileo) and Armory (Galileo), BY ANDREW HAWKINS | @ANZ_NEWS she attempts to etch her name into the record both showed signs of lameness just two days robabeel (Savabeel) will have books. out from the race. All 14 Cox Plate starters, plus to emulate some of the greatest First run in 1922 when won by Violoncello emergency Buckhurst (Australia), were inspected horses to have stepped foot onto (Valens), the Cox Plate is celebrating its 100th by Racing Victoria veterinarians yesterday and the Moonee Valley turf if she is to running in 2020 because two divisions of the race passed fit to start, with the exception of the Ptake out the centenary Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) were contested in 1946. Continued on page 2>> O'Brien pair. Morning Briefing page 5 >> ENTER NOW JULY 24 -29 ONLINE SALE ENTRIES CLOSE JULY 22. Featuring broodmares, yearlings and racing stock. FRICatalogue 23RD available at inglisdigital.com - WED 28TH OCTOBER - INGLIS DIGITAL OCT SALE (LATE) SALE LIVE - VIEW HERE Follow us @anz_news | 1 | Brought to you by Probabeel seeks to emulate Cox Plate greats | 2 | Friday, October 23, 2020 << Continued from page 1 Widely known as Australasia’s weight- for-age championship, the race has become synonymous with legends of the turf from Phar Lap (Night Raid) to Makybe Diva (Desert King); Kingston Town (Bletchingly) to Winx (Street Cry); from Flight (Royal Sun), Tulloch (Khorassan), Tobin Bronze (Arctic Explorer) and Strawberry Road (Whiskey Road) to Might And Power (Zabeel), Sunline (Desert Sun), Northerly (Serheed) and So You Think (High Chaparral); from Dulcify’s (Decies) demolition job to Bonecrusher’s (Pag-Asa) dash into “equine immortality”. Perhaps the measure of the race is by the winners not mentioned, rather than those that are. While a virtual Cox Plate will be contested tonight bringing together some of the greatest winners the Brendan Lindsay STUFF.CO.NZ race has seen - as well as ring- THE 100TH RUNNING ins Frankel (Galileo), Secretariat Last night, there were doubts about the Aidan O’Brien-trained pair IS EXTRA SPECIAL, BUT (Bold Ruler) and Deep Impact Armory (Galileo) and Magic Wand (Galileo) taking their place, with both WE’RE JUST HAPPY TO (Sunday Silence) - the real thing presenting degrees of lameness. Further inspections will be conducted today. HAVE A RUNNER IN THE will be a must-watch clash as an If either is withdrawn, it paves the way for O’Brien’s son, Joseph, to have COX PLATE AND A LIVE intriguing local contingent takes his first Cox Plate runner with Buckhurst (Australia). CHANCE on a number of raiders searching Russian Camelot (Camelot) yesterday evening held narrow favouritism at - BRENDAN LINDSAY for a third foreign-trained victory $4.60 with TAB ahead of his last-start Caulfield Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) conqueror after Lys Gracieux (Heart’s Cry) Arcadia Queen (Pierro) at $5, with Armory at $6 and Probabeel at $8.50. They and Adelaide (Galileo). are the only four horses in single figures. Continued on page 3>> Ready 2 Race 2yo’s sold to “I bought the horse for Hong Kong trainer Caspar Fownes and I was looking for a real powerhouse of a sprinting type.” Follow us @anz_news | 2 | Brought to you by Probabeel seeks to emulate Cox Plate greats | 3 | Friday, October 23, 2020 << Continued from page 2 If successful, the Jamie Richards- New Zealanders to see - and for visitors from around the world in fact, should trained Probabeel will become the race’s third winner to have been sired by they visit Cambridge Stud. The 100th running is extra special, but we’re just a previous winner, joining Ajax (Heroic) and Fields Of Omagh (Rubiton). happy to have a runner in the Cox Plate and a live chance.” Ironically, Fields Of Omagh finished second to Savabeel (Zabeel) in the A Probabeel win would also see her become just the fourth horse in 2004 Cox Plate, in between his victories in 2003 and 2006. the last 25 years to come out of the Epsom Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) to win She would also become just the third New Zealand trainee to win the the Cox Plate, joining champion mares Winx and Sunline as well as Pinker Cox Plate in the past two decades, joining the Trevor McKee-prepared Pinker (Reset) and Dane Ripper (Danehill). Sunline and Gary Hennessy’s Ocean Park (Thorn Park). It is a source of Notably, all four were also four-year-old mares like Probabeel, while the immense pride for Cambridge almighty Winx was the only one to complete the double; Dane Ripper (11th), Stud’s Brendan Lindsay, who Sunline (fourth) and Pinker Pinker (second) were all beaten at Randwick. SHE HASN’T HAD A purchased the historic farm In Probabeel, Sistema founders Brendan and Jo Lindsay have found a LOT OF LUCK WITH THE from Sir Patrick and Lady Justine remarkable flagbearer for their yellow and black checked colours. TRACKS UP IN SYDNEY Hogan in late 2017. She has developed a terrific record of eight wins and six runner-up AND SHE’S STILL “It’s very significant because finishes from 18 starts and appears to be getting better with age. Among MANAGED TO WIN, AND her father won the race,” Lindsay those victories are two at Group 1 level in the Surround Stakes (Gr 1, SHE SAT FOUR-WIDE said. “We’re building a heritage 1400m) and the Epsom Handicap, while she also won the rich Karaka 2YO IN THE EPSOM AND museum at Cambridge Stud Million (RL, 1200m) and the Karaka Million 3YO Classic (RL, 1600m) in KICKED AWAY TO WIN for Sir Tristram and Zabeel and her home country. CONVINCINGLY. SHE’S for Sir Patrick and Lady Justine While she may have won the adoration of the public, she is still being A BIG CHANCE. and what they contributed to overlooked by many professionals as a legitimate Cox Plate contender, New Zealand racing. Should something that confuses Lindsay. - BRENDAN LINDSAY Probabeel be successful, that “Brent Thomson just sent through the Best Bets and I notice that she’s trophy will be on display for all not picked in the first four by any of the tipsters,” Continued on page 4>> Outstanding first-crop soldiers! ex. Gig ex. Fivestar Lass ex. Warnock ex. Monaliesha ex. Choice Words Logo (without secondary wording) ex. Comme Ca ex. Atomic Meteor ex. Koritsi Mou ex. Ladder PHIL MARSHALL - 0407 853 782• ADAM HENRY - 0428 036 472• ASH RICHARDS - 0416 334 338 [email protected] • sunstud.com.au Follow us @anz_news | 3 | Brought to you by Probabeel seeks to emulate Cox Plate greats | 4 | Friday, October 23, 2020 << Continued from page 3 a forthright Lindsay said yesterday in a wide-ranging interview with Andrew Bensley. “Quite frankly, I just don’t understand that. She was a dominant winner of the Epsom. She finds it so hard to be beaten, this horse, she tries her heart out. “I think she’s a real chance and we’re having sleepless nights. We’re thinking about it, we’re as excited as hell but we’re nervous as hell. She’s told me I have to go and sleep in the spare room, she said she’s sick of the tossing and turning all night and going about the race. She says it will be what it will be, but I said, ‘Yeah, I know that but I just can’t stop thinking about it.’ “We’re disappointed that we can’t be there, same as all the other owners, but we’ve got the champagne on ice and hopefully we’ll get a chance to open some up.” From getting in well in the Epsom Handicap at the weights, carrying Probabeel SPORTPIX only 51.5 kilograms to victory under Kerrin McEvoy, she now goes to weight-for-age and rises three and a half kilograms. Also of concern is that it will be just the third time that Probabeel By comparison, Winx had 57 kilograms - although on a 56-kilogram races counterclockwise, having finished second on debut at Te Rapa limit, with weights raised four kilograms - Sunline had 56.5 kilograms, in November, 2018, going the Melbourne direction before winning at Dane Ripper had 54.5 kilograms and Pinker Pinker had 52.5 kilograms. Awapuni in January this year. McEvoy retains the ride, with the pair to jump from gate two in the It will also be just her second attempt at the distance, having finished 14-horse field. second to Shout The Bar (Not A Single Doubt) in the Vinery Stud Stakes “She came into the Epsom with 51.5 (kilograms) which gave her (Gr 1, 2000m). Of note, though, is that both Winx and Pinker Pinker were quite an advantage, I think, and the reality is that she has an extra 3.5 unplaced in the Vinery Stud Stakes the same year they took home the kilograms which is not going to help,” Lindsay said.