Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Talented hoop Rachel King emerged on Saturday as a serious contender to win this year’s Cox Plate, a historic feat that would see the Sydney jockey smash one of racing’s unbroken glass ceilings.
King could follow Michelle Payne and Jamie Melham into racing folklore if she becomes the first woman to salute in the country’s weight-for-age championship – to be staged at Flemington for the first time on Saturday week – after she became the first woman jockey to win the $3 million group 1 Caulfield Guineas.
The 36-year-old King lobbed in Australia from the UK on a working holiday in 2014 and formed a formidable partnership with flamboyant Sydney-based New Zealand trainer Bjorn Baker.
The pair were the toast of Melbourne racing fans on Saturday after combining to win the Guineas (1600 metres) on well-backed favourite Warwoven.
It was a win with the promise of more to come.
Baker had long spruiked Warwoven’s credentials and the colt rocketed into third favouritism ($5) for the Cox Plate on the back of the Guineas victory.
A win would see him become the first three-year-old galloper to capture the coveted $6 million event in 13 years.
“I don’t think he has peaked. I think there’s still more there,” King said after her winning ride. “I’ve certainly never sat on a horse like this, and he’s pretty unbelievable.”
King has won 10 group 1s, but none of the sport’s majors. Payne became the first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup in 2015, while Melham became the first woman to ride the winner of the Caulfield Cup on Half Yours last year, as well as the first female to take out the Cups double.
Baker’s stable representative, Luke Hilton, praised King’s patient ride in the Guineas after she waited until the home turn before setting after second-favourite and another possible Cox Plate runner Blind Raise.
“Over the past 24 hours she has copped a lot of instructions and running through the race play-by-play which she doesn’t appreciate because she is better off flying by the seat of her pants, but she did well, and it means a lot,” Hilton said
“I see how hard she works and the ups and downs she goes through. It is an amazing game, and it can be very tough as well.”
Hinton labelled Warwoven an outstanding colt (by Sword Of State and out of Needle And Thread).
“Bjorn has said for a long time that he could be one of those special horses that don’t come around too often. He’s proving him right so far,” he said.
Further life was injected into this year’s Cox Plate when 70-1 outsider Land Legend caused one of the upsets of the spring by beating odds-on favourite Sheza Alibi by nose and putting away Birdman, a fancied runner with Carlton interests such as Chris Judd and Sam Docherty, in the $1 million group 1 Might And Power Stakes (2000m).
No one expected the Ciaron Maher-trained Land Legend to win the race, a victory set up by a daring Ethan Brown front-running ride, least of all Sheza Alibi’s champion trainer Peter Moody. The seven-year-old gelding had not won a race in two years.
“As long as his ass points to the ground, he’d never beat her again,” Moody said of the upset, echoing the feelings of the race day crowd who let out an audible gasp when the fast-finishing Sheza Alibi failed by a matter of centimetres to run Land Legend down.
“But he’s had his day in the sun, hasn’t he? So that’s life, and we’ll bounce back to fight another day.”
Bouncing back might take more than Moody and co-trainer Katherine Coleman had originally planned, as they now turn their attention towards the $10 million Golden Eagle (1500m) at Randwick on October 31.
“We followed Birdman, and unfortunately, he went terrible, and we were going to use him to drag us into the race, so it just didn’t pan out. So that’s life. We got beat on our merits,” Moody lamented.
“We’ve got to sort of regroup and go back to Sydney in three weeks, and hopefully, we get the job done there.
“I am confident in her ability, but they ran a course record time. I would have liked a softer run today to go back to (1500m from 2000m) in three weeks, but we’ll let her guide the path and see how she does.”
As for the reborn Land Legend, a French import formerly trained by Chris Waller to run in the big Cups, he had Maher tossing up between a run in this Saturday’s Caulfield Cup or the Cox Plate.
“The Caulfield Cup can be a charge of the light-brigade to the first bend which wouldn’t really suit him,” Maher said.
“So whether he runs in a Caulfield Cup and a Cox Plate, or whether he runs in the Cox Plate, it’s a good problem to have.”
While King was the story of the day and injected extra spice into the Cox Plate narrative, the country’s best jockey, James McDonald, delivered the ride of the day at Caulfield by winning the $1 million group 1 Toorak Handicap (1600m) on the Waller-trained Lady Shenandoah, edging out Changing Colours by a nose.
“That was really one of the all-time greats, that ride,” Waller said of McDonald’s ability to barge between horses when he looked blocked for a run.
“With 58-kilos for a mare, and awkward draw, there’s not an inch to spare, and he saved every inch he could. Kept the momentum. It was the difference between winning and not.”
