Yulong Investments' Via Sistina became the oldest mare to land the Cox Plate (G1) and joined an elite list of dual winners in a fittingly classic edition of the race Oct. 25 in its last staging at Moonee Valley Racecourse before its redevelopment.
In a Cox Plate for the record books, the Yulong mare and Buckaroo brought their retired sire Fastnet Rock the quinella as they fought a titanic struggle over the last 100 meters before Via Sistina—who'd looked beaten several times—lifted to score by a nose.
It made Chris Waller the first trainer to quinella the great race since 1961, when Brian Courtney's pair Dhaulagiri and New Statesmen filled the first two placings.
James McDonald became the first rider to win four Cox Plates in succession aboard three different horses—Anamoe, Romantic Warrior, and Via Sistina twice. McDonald's quartet sits him among a group of riders one behind the race's most successful jockey, Darby Munro.
In the last race before the famed Moonee Valley circuit is bulldozed and reconfigured, Via Sistina became the 15th multiple winner of the Cox Plate, joining horses including four-time queen Winx, triple hero Kingston Town, plus other dual victors including Phar Lap, So You Think—who died last week—Northerly, Tobin Bronze, and Sunline, the great New Zealand mare to whom McDonald said Via Sistina deserves comparison.
Expat Kiwis Waller and McDonald are now the modern kings of the race, with Waller now having won it six times with just the two great mares, Winx and Via Sistina, who's now won 13 stakes races, including 11 at group 1 level.
Australia's reigning Horse of the Year started a steady AU$2.25 favorite in the eight-runner field, but had come in under a cloud, having managed moderate—by her standards—thirds at her two previous starts in the Makybe Diva (G1) and Turnbull (G1) stakes. But she looked back to her majestic best in the yard, benefitting from that first 2,000-meter hit-out of the preparation, and indeed on the track.
McDonald settled the mare just worse than midfield behind a strong pace set by Light Infantry Man, with another revitalized Yulong mare, Treasurethe Moment, behind him.
Soon into the school side, McDonald began his run as the pace heated up. Via Sistina neared the lead as the widest of four runners together, as Treasurethe Moment surged towards the front on her inside.
Treasurethe Moment kicked to a near 2-length lead nearing the turn as Via Sistina came after her, but under hard riding. Eventually Treasurethe Moment began to tire in the straight as Via Sistina pressed for the lead, only to see Buckaroo come with his run down the outside to threaten a boil-over.
But while he looked like going past the great mare, Via Sistina drew on all her reserves of courage to score by a nose.
Buckaroo—the 7-year-old who like Via Sistina was bred from one of Fastnet Rock's many shuttles to Ireland—was brave in defeat at AU$16.
Treasurethe Moment was a 1 1/2 lengths third at AU$5.50, giving Yulong two of the three placegetters and putting a bright end to a week in which the ownership attracted headlines over the continuing absence of the group's founder, Zhang Yuesheng, from Australia.
Aeliana, Waller's third runner in the race, didn't figure at AU$8, while AU$3.80 second favorite Antino settled last and stayed there, in a baffling nonperformance.
Renowned for his emotions after momentous wins such as these, Waller fought back tears as he reflected.
"James had to get going early and everyone could see him. He was five wide turning for home. She was great and Treasurethe Moment was awesome and gave it something to chase," Waller said after his 185th group 1 win. "And Buckaroo that was ... I'm glad Via won and Buckaroo, he's run out of his skin."
McDonald, after group 1 win number 121, said he'd been pleased in the run before having to ask Via Sistina for her all in the straight.
"It was funny because she began well. I thought, 'this is beautiful.' I thought I was in a great spot," he said. "Zac Lloyd (on Nepotism) was jostling for a position. Came back, she raced a little bit keen for a bit but her incredible will to win shone through there and she's a champion racehorse.
"I'm so proud of her. She deserved to be in the same breath as Sunline and those sort of horses with two Cox Plates.
"You know what? I'm just rapt that it was a proper run Cox Plate. That's what Cox Plates are all about. Best horse shone through and she deserves all she gets."
McDonald said there was an element of "relief" to the win, on such a special occasion.
"I love this place, I'm blessed to ride champion racehorses, blessed to be a part of a champion stable, and she was trained to the minute," he said. "Waller's a genius."
After rain had fallen during the afternoon, Via Sistina's time of 2:05.03 was well outside her record 2:01.07 set last year.
Buckaroo's rider Mark Zahra said: "He was courageous. Followed the winner everywhere but I just never got in front at any stage. She just finds a head the minute you come up to her. She's a good mare but he ran well."
Bred in Ireland but by British interests with the quintessentially English-sounding name of Laundry Cottage Stud, Via Sistina becomes the first 8-year-old mare to win the Cox Plate.
She's the fifth and very much the best of seven named foals out of the unraced Galileo mare Nigh. Suggesting major influence from Fastnet Rock in their mating during his shuttling career to Ireland, only one other of Nigh's offspring has won, and that is Fougere, who claimed only a Nottingham handicap in 19 starts.
Via Sistina is another example of Fastnet's potency when crossed with daughters of Coolmore's perennial breed-shaping sire Galileo, with the mare among the nick's 29 stakes winners and she is also one of 11 group 1 scorers bred on the cross.
The yearling Via Sistina was sold by agent Jamie Railton to Stephen Hillen Bloodstock for US$6,751 from Book 3 of Tattersalls' December Yearling Sale in 2019. From those inauspicious beginnings, she was bought by Evergreen Equine at Tattersalls' December Mares Sale in 2023 for US$3,581,316 from the draft of Ireland's Grove Stud, before coming to Australia to race in the Yulong green and white.
Nigh now has a 3-year-old filly yet to race called Via Sienna, by Bated Breath, and last year had a colt by Too Darn Hot.
Video
