By Lorenzo Di-Mauro Hayes
Stand aside Pride of Jenni, Via Sistina might have put together the greatest performance on an Australian track in the last of 12 months. In 1973, Secretariat won the Triple Crown with a Belmont Stakes victory famously by 31 lengths, but the time was exactly 2:24.00. The reason why that is impressive is because no other horse has won that race in less than 2:25.00 and Via Sistina did a similar thing in the fastest two minutes we’ve ever seen around The Valley. The W.S. Cox Plate is pure racing. Starting from the unique 2,040 meter starting point, it is a champions distance, horses going around the short and tight Mooney Valley Racecourse, and the 104th edition was a historic edition of the weight for age championship of Australasia.
Via Sistina was sired by champion Australian sire Fastnet Rock and out of the Irish mare Nigh. From 2021-2023, Via Sistina’s career saw her travel across Europe, beginning under the training of Joseph Tuite with a third in a maiden for fillies at Thirsk before her first win occurred at Goodwood. It would take a few bights at the apple before she claimed her first win at Group level, and it would be in all places: Toulouse, France. Victory in Group 3 Prix Fille de l'Air would be her last run in 2022 and she would come back stronger than ever, and back on the British Isles for 2023. And she was with wins in Group 2 Howden Dahlia Stakes at Newmarket, now trained by George Boughey. At her first attempt, Via Sistina won a Group 1, it was the Pretty Polly Stakes at Curragh in Ireland. After placings at Newmarket and Deauville, Via Sistina faced her toughest challenge yet with her first start against the boys in the Champion Stakes at Ascot, a race that might be best described as the Cox Plate of the UK. She was brave in a defeat, by just three quarters of a length to the Frankie Dettori ridden King of Steel. Via Sistina makes her away to Australia to be trained by Chris Waller. Her first start was a success in Group 1 Ranvet Stakes. Her second start down under was the far more famous: 2024 Queen Elizabeth Stakes. A race to be forever remembered by the insane ride of Declan Bates on 2023/24 Horse of the Year, Pride of Jenni. But her strong European form, plus an impressive start to her time on Australian soil, made her one of the horses to watch for the 2024 spring.
Running first up in the Winx Stakes, Via Sistina held off Zougotcha to win by a nose. Despite her previous good appearances on rain-effected ground, she had to battle through a heavy going for the Makybe Diva Stakes at Flemington and was well beaten, finishing six and half lengths behind the winner, Mr. Brightside. But that was obvious at the time, that her run one you could put a line through and that has only been shown to be more evident based on what happened next. Next up, Via Sistina holds on by a head, coming over the top of Melbourne Cup hopeful Buckaroo, doing much better on the rain-effected turf of Flemington on this occasion in the Turnbull Stakes. The most dramatic element of Via Sistina’s victory in the Cox Plate was actually the events of Tuesday. During the traditional ‘Breakfast With The Best’ trackwork on the Tuesday before the Cox Plate, the main talking point was Via Sistina unseating rider James McDonald, after the horse tripped up on a loose bandage. Riderless Via Sistina went around for two full laps before finally being caught, checked over and cleared. Waller was counting his lucky starts in the aftermath. “A bandage has come loose, she stood on the bandage, then a piece of gear has broken she has sort of tripped and that piece of gear has got caught up in her back leg and that’s given her a fright. She’s then run for a couple of laps and fortunately there was a clerk of the course out there that picked the horse up and she’s settled back down really well. She’s actually remarkably well. There’s no blood, no skin off. Our vet has been over her thoroughly and can’t find anything. We take comfort in that nothing has gone tragically wrong. You got to see the positives out of it. When James dislodged we feared the worst. You see the horse stumble and that’s never a good look so we feared the worst.”
On Friday, Via Sistina was cleared to race and thankfully for the rest of us, she did. Fan favourite Pride of Jenni was always going to set a quick pace when she crossed over from barrier seven and take the lead, but her narrow defeat in the King Charles III Stakes in Sydney took a toll on her and began to drop back very quickly and finished second last in the field of nine. By contrast emerging where Japanese raider and pre-race favourtie Prognosis and Via Sistina. When the Waller trained mare took the lead with 300 metros left and never looked like she would give it up. Via Sistina quickly put a couple of lengths on Prognosis and just kept going in the straight for the most sensational performance in the race’s history since Winx won in 2016 by eight lengths. The Winx comparison came think and fast, including Channel 7 analyst Jason Richardson and the legendary Bruce McAvaney was equally impressed. “Put it at the top of the list. We have seen some extraordinary things here in Cox Plates. J-Mac’s 100th Group 1 win. He wins the Cox Plate for the third consecutive year. It is the stuff of legends. Chris Waller is a genius and this mare is a champion. “We have seen some amazing performances in the Cox Plate. The stuff that we say we won’t see it again. You know what? We’ve seen one as good as we’ve ever seen before.” The time of 2:01.07 took nearly two seconds of the previous track record, held by Winx and was a full 31.8 lengths ahead of the standard time for a race of that distance, track and track condition.
Australia’s great weight-for-age had been won by a Kiwi duo. Chris Waller had once again got his horse perfect on its Grand Final Day, but the biggest story had to go to jockey and fellow Kiwi-born James McDonald. Not only will that now iconic celebration, promote racing for some time, but for it was McDonald's 100th Group 1 winning ride, and doing so at the age of 32, the youngest age anyone has reached the milestone. His wins have occurred at Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Japan. The moment was perfectly summed up by race caller Matt Hill who described it as “a century of the very best!”. McDonald was in disbelief after the week he had, that he had ridden the Cox Plate winner for the third straight year. “I thought our hopes were doomed. I think there was a fantastic picture there when I popped myself up and looked and watched her gallop away, and I think if looks could tell a story, we were stuffed." The thought of Via Sistina in the Melbourne Cup began to become very prominent but now we know, she will go to the Champion Stakes on the final day of the Melbourne Cup carnival at Flemington and after all we have seen from her so far, including that peformance which made her the weight for age champion, the only question left is what can she do next?
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