Chris Waller‘s Australian Racehorse of the Year and defending champion, Via Sistina, is the standout first acceptor for the Ladbrokes Cox Plate 2025 with the first round of declarations taken this week.

First acceptances for both the Group 1 $5 million Caulfield Cup (2400m) held on October 18 and the now $6 million Group 1 Ladbrokes Cox Plate (2040m) run at The Valley on October 25 closed on Tuesday.

The 2025 Caulfield Cup first acceptances left 85 stayers, while the Cox Plate list of potential runners for the weight-for-age championship is down to 57.

2025 Cox Plate First Acceptances: Quick Glance

• 57 first acceptances taken (down from 108 at nomination stage)
• Last year’s winner Via Sistina the outright $2.20 favourite through Ladbrokes.com.au
• 30 remaining for Chris Waller chasing his sixth trophy
• No international entries remain
• Within The Law last three-year-old filly left in contention

Sitting well clear of the rest of her rivals in futures Cox Plate betting at race sponsor Ladbrokes.com.au is Via Sistina at $2.20 to go back-to-back for the first time since the historic four-peat of the stable’s heroic mare Winx (2015-18).

After blitzing the field by eight lengths last spring, the now eight-year-old daughter of Fastnet Rock has collected a subsequent five more Group 1 trophies to bring her overall elite level tally to 10.

She resumed in outstanding fashion securing her second win in Sydney’s Winx Stakes on August 23 and will be hard to beat again when she gets up to a mile second-up this Saturday in the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) at Flemington.

Waller has won the Cox Plate five times to date and chases his sixth success with a bumper contingent still in the mix with 30 first acceptors for the stable.

His other standout currently sitting on the equal second line of betting at $9 is the autumn’s five-length Australian Derby winning filly Aeliana.

She raced out of her skin in her four-year-old debut giving Via Sistina plenty of guts in running second in the Winx Stakes.

Aeliana faces off against her more established stablemate in another potential thriller in the Makybe Diva.

Other Waller trained Cox Plate entries include Buckaroo who is also the all-in favourite for the Caulfield Cup, and the currently undefeated youngsters Autumn Boy and Autumn Glow.

The other $9 second fancy in the all-in Cox Plate odds is Tony Gollan‘s Doomben Cup champion Brisbane galloper Antino who returned running fifth in the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) where he got a “pass mark” from jockey Blake Shinn.

The Memsie Stakes was won by Matt Laurie’s brilliant Alabama Express mare Treasurethe Moment who put 2.5 lengths on the next past the post in her first-up run of the season.

The victory saw her extend her winning streak to nine on the trot with the now four-year-old, who did the rare VRC Derby – ATC Derby double as a three-year-old, collecting her fourth Group 1 win.

A bout of colic has Treasurethe Moment sidelined and out of the Makybe Diva with her likely next-up run to be the Underwood Stakes.

She is at $11 for the Cox Plate.

After originally drawing 11 international nominees, there are no remaining Northern Hemisphere trained raiders in the Cox Plate entries leaving it up to the locals.

Surround (1976) is history’s sole Cox Plate winning filly to date and this year the only left in the mix trying to end the hoodoo is the Bjorn Baker trained Within The Law.

Other potential threats to the queen include the 2023 runner-up Mr Brightside and Godolphin’s All-Star Mile champ Tom Kitten.

Click here to view the full list of 2025 Ladbrokes Cox Plate first acceptances.

The Cox Plate second acceptances close at midday on Tuesday September 23.

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