The Cox Plate is a highly acclaimed racing club event, held in late October at the Moonee Valley Racecourse located in Melbourne, Australia. The race is run over a 2040 meter track, and is restricted to horses over three years old, with weight for age rules applied. It is currently the second richest race of its kind run with a grand prize for the winner being a staggering 3 million Australian dollars. The Cox Plate comes second only to the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, which has a higher grand prize payout amount.
The Cox Plate is widely regarded as one of the most important horse racing events in the world, drawing attention from horse racing fans and bet makers alike. Some of the finest racing breeds in Australia take part in the race, and many even go as far as to refer to the Cox Plate as the Grand Prix of horse racing. The
A Brief History
Having been founded by W.S Cox in 1922, the Cox Plate was named after man, who was a well known and respected horse riding and breeding fanatic. The event rapidly gained a reputation for featuring the best horse breeds from Australia and New Zealand, and it wasn’t long before horse trainers and breeders were eager to get their horses into the race, which stood as testimony to the quality of horses and people responsible for training it and it being right in the middle of the October season.
Today the Cox Cup has not lost this reputation, and horse breeders and trainers still aim to have their best bred horses enter the Cox Plate. During the period of 1999 – 2005 the Cox cup was even included in Emirates World Series Racing Championship, listed alongside the Japan Cup, Dubai World Cup, the Arlington Million, the Hong Kong Cup, the Canadian International Stakes, and many others.
Notable Cox Cup Winners
Rising Fast is one of many highly acclaimed horses that have appeared in the Cox Plate. Rising Fast notably won the Cox Plate in 1954, the same years winning both the Melbourne and Caulfield cups. Few horses have ever achieved such an astonishing series of wins, and Rising Fast is regarded as the greatest horse to have ever been bred in New Zealand. This in itself is an incredible achievement, given the number of incredible horse breeds that come from the New Zealand area.
Kingston Town is the only horse to have ever won the Cox Plate on three separate occasions, with all three occurring on consecutive years; 1980, 1981 and 1982. This amazing achievement has never again been repeated, and must certainly have been an incredible opportunity for bet makers at the time. One can only imagine that by the third win smart bet makers must have wised up to the fact that the horse was an almost sure fire winning bet.
Cox Plate Betting
Betting on the Cox Plate is possible via convenient online bookmakers. Betting options will be made available when the event occurs at the end of October. Horses will be given odds by the bookmaker, although keep in mind that different odds may be available at different bookmakers.