Steven Arnold’s experience guiding the great So You Think to victory for the horse’s second Cox Plate win three years ago has prompted the now Newmarket-based trainer Jane Chapple-Hyam to book the Melbourne hoop to ride her hope in the 2013 edition Mull Of Killough.
Aussie ex-pat Chapple-Hyam, formerly from Victoria, has established a small but successful training base in the UK and hopes the fruits from that labour will pay off back home in the $3 million Group 1 WS Cox Plate (2040m) on October 26.
She has the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival weight-for-age classic firmly in sight for her dual Group 3 winner Mull Of Killough, and now also has a jockey for their Cox Plate bid secured.
“I am very happy to have secured the services of Steven Arnold,” Chapple-Hyam told Racing and Sports this week.
“After all he knows how to win a Cox Plate having already guided the great So You Think to his second Cox Plate win a few years back and he has also ridden with success at Royal Ascot.”
Fifth to Military Attack in the Group 1 Singapore International Cup (2000m) back in May, veteran Mull Of Kintyre gelding Mull Of Killough was last seen running eighth to Real Solution in the Grade 1 Arlington Million Stakes (2011m) in the US last month.
While the bookies don’t rate their form, Mull Of Killough a $71 roughie in the latest Cox Plate odds, Chapple-Hyam remains positive that they will be well suited to the notoriously tight circuit at Moonee Valley Racecourse.
“When you receive an invitation to compete in such a prestigious race as the Cox Plate, you don’t turn it down,” Chapple-Hyam said after her horse was one of 20 internationals invited to race in the event.
“And especially when you have a horse like Mull Of Killough who still improving and has already proven he can travel competing in both the Arlington Million in the US and the International Singapore Gold Cup in the last six months.”
Chapple-Hyam currently has Mull Of Killough preparing for the long international haul ahead in quarantine at home where they’ve managed to put on around 10 kilos of excess weight.
To sneak in an outsider bet on Mull Of Killough for the Cox Plate, or check out the full markets for it and the other upcoming Melbourne Group 1’s, head over to Ladbrokes.com.au and sign-up with the country’s No. 1 online betting agency.
