2 weeks Ago By Ben Sutton
Superstar jockey James McDonald has won his third Cox Plate in a row with a stunning victory on Via Sistina in Saturday’s $5m feature at The Valley. McDonald timed his run to perfection, swooping to the front on the final bend and bursting clear to win by a staggering eight lengths. It completed a remarkable week for the Chris Waller-trained Via Sistina after the champion horse tossed McDonald and galloped around the track in a scary training incident on Tuesday .
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Japanese raider and pre-race favourite Prognosis was second, with Godolphin’s Broadsiding third. Fan favourite Pride Of Jenni had done the early running and led at the final bend before fading badly to finish well back. For McDonald, it was the stuff of legends.
Three Cox Plates in a row after previous wins on Romantic Warrior and Anamoe. It was also his 100th Group 1 win. “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,” Bruce McAvaney said on Channel 7.
Fellow commentator Jason Richardson said the run was “Winx-like”. She ran a time of 2:01.07, which smashed the previous record set by Winx in 2017 (2:02.
94) It also equalled Winx’s winning margin record of eight lengths. Trainer Chris Waller was reduced to tears post-race, having won Australasia’s weight-for-age championship for the fifth time after his four victories with super mare Winx. After the race, McDonald conceded he thought his hopes “were stuffed” after the training mishap earlier in the week.
“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,” he told Channel 7. More to come .
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