Sir Dragonet and jockey Glen Boss ensured the 100th W S Cox Plate will be remembered for all the right reasons.
The meeting was decimated by scratchings after an inch of overnight rain reduced the track to heavy but that was to the advantage of Sir Dragonet with his proven affinity for wet ground.
The son of Camelot finished second to Magical in the Gr1 Tattersalls Gold Cup over a mile and a quarter on a soft track at The Curragh at his last start and with his record of three wins and three places on ground from soft to heavy was well supported on Cox Plate day.
Following this last run Sir Dragonet was secured in a private negotiation for a figure reputed to be $A2million on behalf of local Melbourne businessman Aziz Kheir and partners.
Boss settled Sir Dragonet in midfield with cover and was than blessed with a clear run up behind the leaders before the home turn, Sir Dragonet finishing powerfully to overwhelm his former stablemate Armory and win by 1-1/2 lengths with the favourite Russian Camelot three-quarters of a length away third. (pic: Natasha Morello/Racing Photos)
Boss, who joined Hugh Bowman and Brent Thomson as four-time winners of the race, was only book to ride Sir Dragonet after Bowman opted to take a careless riding suspension incurred last week this week so he can ride ride Anthony Van Dyck in the Melbourne Cup.
Boss had previously won the Cox Plate with Makybe Diva in 2005, So You Think in 2009 and Ocean Park in 2012 and incurred the now mandatory $1000 fine for standing high in the irons passing the winning post.
“As a young boy I used to watch a VCR (video) of Kingston Town and Manikato and I wore that out, so the Cox Plate was engrained into my psyche as a young boy,” Boss said.
“It’s a special race and I just couldn’t have scripted the run any better. He just gave me a lovely ride. I was twitching my fingers throughout the race and he was there for me. I thought ‘This is nearly going to be winning this’. He was up for the task.
“I only thought once the rain came that this was the right horse. He’s got great form and he just might go a little bit better in a Melbourne Cup, I’m telling you, because he was actually getting warmed up towards the line. He was actually getting quicker towards the post.
“The way he gave me a feel today, he might be running in a Melbourne Cup and running very well in one.”
Trained in partnership by Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, Maher was so overwhelmed he thanked a sister he does not have.
“This is something else,” he said. “The Cox Plate is the race you dream to just have a runner in let alone win it. Just having a horse good enough to run in the race.
“It’s unbelievable. I can’t thank (owners) Ozzie (Kheir) and Phil (Mehrten) and John O’Neill and all of the rest of the owners, Brae (Sokolski), I’ve probably missed a few.
“One, giving us the opportunity to train a horse of this calibre. You don’t see that sort of form in this part of the world that much and I can’t thank them enough.
“I better give my mum and dad a shoutout too, my brothers and sisters, brothers, sorry I don’t have any sisters.
“Also Dave’s brother Harry and his father James. They looked after him at Newmarket.”
Maher said he was delighted to win a Cox Plate his training partner Eustace.
“Dave, he’s great, he’s a very hard worker. He’s a young bloke. We gel well together but the whole team. It’s a big operation.”