MV On Track 2018

ON TRACK MAGAZINE 45 2008 - MALDIVIAN 1995 - OCTAGONAL 1983 - STRAWBERRYROAD What a difference 12 months can make. In October 2007, as the warm Caulfield Cup favourite, the shortest in 41 years in fact, trainer Mark Kavanagh would have felt the world was against him when the horse became fractious in the barriers and was withdrawn from the event. His form the following spring did not reflect that of the year prior where he had enjoyed multiple Group 1 wins, and many were thinking connections had missed their chance, Kavanagh included. Kavanagh adopted some age old training methods with Maldivian, with the application of blinkers for the first time and jumping his charge just days out from the race. It proved a masterstroke at the odds of 10/1, when the horse led from barrier-to-box for jockey Michael Rodd. You wouldn’t find many better looking horses than Octagonal and the Ingham family were hoping he had the ability to match when paying $210,000 for a son of an unproven stallion who went by the name of Zabeel. The “Big O” tackled the Cox Plate as a three year-old and was the second stringer in the race to Caulfield Guineas winner Our Maizcay, of whom Hawkes’ charge had finished third in the same race with jockey Darren Gauci onboard. Gauci was fighting a losing battle with his weight, but it didn’t stop him trying to make the 49.5 kilograms falling one kilogram short - with Shane Dye the winning beneficiary. With the margin a half neck, we’ll never know if one kilogram would have made the difference. From humble beginnings, Strawberry Road was a true rags to riches story. His dam was purchased for a mere $3,000 and his trainer Doug Bougoure a stranger at racing’s elite level. Winning would soon become the norm after he won five straight races as a three-year-old and knocked back offers of $2 million the year of his Cox Plate win. Even that was a back-up plan with a virus ruling him out of his preferred option, the Caulfield Cup. Strawberry Road would blitz his rivals by three lengths, prompting John Singleton to purchase a half stake in the horse, who would go on to race overseas and stud success. In 2018, the history books of the W.S. Cox Plate have the opportunity to add their most significant chapter to date ahead of the 98th edition of Australasia’s Weight-For-Age Championship. Let’s take a walk down memory lane and relive some of the LEGENDARY horses who have made up the rich tapestry that is The Valley’s classic race.