2023 PB Lawrence Stakes Results: Cox Plate Hope Mr Brightside Salutes First-Up
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All punters are hearing about in the lead-up to the Cox Plate 2016 is Winx and Hartnell, but is Lucia Valentina a smoky chance to score a boilover in the weight-for-age classic?
There are officially 10 runner sin Saturday’s $3 million Group 1 W.S. Cox Plate (2040m), but going by the headlines and the markets there are just two runners.
Winx defends her title after the romp home last year and shoots for a 13th win on the trot this weekend.
The Chris Waller-trained superstar is odds-on and firming now into $1.80 in the latest Cox Plate odds at Ladbrokes.com.au.
She is the one to beat obviously and it’ll be a sell out at Moonee Valley to watch her attempt to join Hall of Fame mares Sunline and Flight by winning multiple editions of the spring major on the weekend.
If she gets rolled the Cox Plate betting markets say it’ll be by Hartnell ($3.70) who faces off against the daughter of Street Cry for the fourth time, but finally at his best.
Further down the markets at $26 and easing is the Kris Lees-trained Lucia Valentina, a star in her own right and a forgotten Cox Plate horse this spring.
She’s in the wrong edition of the feature obviously and any other year she wouldn’t be at a blow-out price considering she is a dual Group 1 winner over the distance and international performer.
Whether the daughter of Savabeel really handles the Melbourne way is questionable, but she was far from disgraced when third to Black Heart Bart at Caulfield in the Group 1 Underwood Stakes (1800m) in late September.
She hasn’t raced since and that goes against her history-wise on Saturday.
That said, Lees knows his Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner better than the history books do so with the gun record over the Cox Plate distance surely she must be considered a danger?
“They don’t race in lanes, this is a horse race and there are a lot of variables,” Lees told The Daily Telegraph .
“We are going to the track confident our mare can run well.”
So can Lucia Valentina score the biggest Cox Plate upset since Pinker Pinker ($25 in 2011)?
Barrier: 9
Weight: 57kg
Jockey: Kerrin McEvoy
Trainer: Kris Lees
Owner/s: Mr L Petagna
Age: 6YO
Gender: Mare
Breeding: by Savabeel from Staryn Glenn (NZ)
Career: 29-7-1-5
Win: 24%
Place: 45%
Last 6: x41x43
Prize Money: $4,254,803
Track: 0-0-0-0
Distance: 8-4-1-1
Current 2016 Cox Plate Odds: $26
Fancy a sneaky Each Way Cox Plate 2016 bet on Lucia Valentina? Head to Ladbrokes.com.au now for Enhanced Odds on the race (T&Cs apply)!
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