It was a great Cox Plate Carnival with an unbelievable finish.
The Moonee Valley course is about to undergo major changes and it was announced that the track would be open after the last race. That last race was also a brilliant climax to the racing when our hero Via Sistina just claimed the Cox Plate ahead of stablemate Buckeroo. It looked like she was telling him "this is MY race", having been here and done it last year. Thee grandstand shook when the result was announced and then the crowd poured out onto the track, grabbing whatever was grabbable although we do wonder how the guys that grabbed a large section of the running rail which looked to have been at least ten metres long. How they got it out and to wherever the final destination was remains a bit of a mystery although there is a story about a certain person waking up to find a section of the rail in his bed!
The horses that impressed us most were Napoleonic, the first of J Mac's treble, who came with a blistering finish to win the Red Anchor, Salty Pearl who was so gutsy getting through what looked like an impossible gap to win the Fillies' Classic, Observer who won a straightforward Vase and of course Via Sistina.
We have been to numerous Cox Plates over the years and this has to be up there with the best of them.
