27 MOONEE VALLEY RACING CLUB 26 Enter the Japanese. In 2006 they ran one-two in the Melbourne Cup with Delta Blues and Pop Rock. In 2014 they had Admire Rakti win the Caulfield Cup, and a week before the 2019 Cox Plate, they had another Caulfield Cup winner in Mer De Glace – ridden by Damian Lane. The only one of the big three that Japan hadn’t won was the Weight-For-Age Championship, the Ladbrokes Cox Plate. That was about to change. The Ladbrokes Cox Plate boost was introduced in 2019. An additional $1M would be on offer if a horse could win one of 13 local races and then win the Cox Plate. Furthermore, two international Group 1’s, the Takarazuka Kinen in Japan and the Juddmonte International in the UK, carried a bonus payout of $2M. At this stage, I worked at The Junction Club in Moonee Ponds, mainly in the TAB, which the Moonee Valley Racing Club owns. With a few helping hands, I was able to pester my way in to get some work experience. My CV was bare, but I was keen to showcase my passion for racing. Lys Gracieux won the Takarazuka Kinen with our own Damian Lane aboard. The invitation went out to Japan, and she was $26 quickly into $7 for the Cox Plate as soon as Yoshito Yahagi accepted. $7 was still overs. Despite a capacity field of 14, the first since Winx’s maiden Cox Plate in 2015, the stunning jet-black mare was backed in from $3.80 into $2.50 on race day. It remains one of the biggest Cox Plate plunges we have ever seen, and had the race started any later, she might’ve been pushed into the red. Her opposition included Avilius, Mystic Journey, Te Akau Shark, Magic Wand, the three-yearold Castelvecchio, and Verry Elleegant, who was still far from the finished product. Without disrespecting those good horses – she was simply better than them. She had form around the 2019/20 Hong Kong horse of Year Exultant, and she was coming 2019 – Lys Gracieux off a three-length demolition job in one of the best Group 1 races worldwide. Her form, her looks, and her presence in the mounting yard before the Cox Plate set punters off. We were lucky enough to snag members’ tickets on Cox Plate Day through The Junction – Moonee Valley Racing Club connection. We set up camp on the far-right side of the grandstand, a luxury we’d never been afforded on Cox Plate Day, and prepared for the best two minutes in sport. She got back in the run from the wide gate, and the speed was on. A genuinely run Cox Plate always ensures the best horse wins – and this day was no different. Approaching the home turn, the lone three-year-old Castelvecchio slipped two lengths clear. It was an inch-perfect ride by Craig Williams, and he may have thought the race was his, but here came the mare. It was like an Airbus A380 descending on a microjet. She didn’t handle the turn at all well, laying in on little Castelvecchio as she swallowed him whole, but she still won with an absolute leg in the air. “Lys Gracieux stomps up! And the Land of the Rising Sun wins the Cox Plate!” Matt Hill exclaimed. Japan conquered the Cox Plate for the first time, and Lys Gracieux took home $5M in prizemoney. $3M for first prize and a $2M bonus – still the biggest prizemoney split owners have won in Australia. We knew we’d witnessed something special again, and Lys Gracieux returned to Japan and re-affirmed her status when bolting in with another Group 1, the Arima Kinen. That win gave her the Japanese Horse of the Year for 2019/20, over fellow superstar mare Almond Eye who won in 2018/19 and would again in 2020/21. Lys Gracieux was unbeatable that Spring. She might’ve even been the best horse in the world. At the very least, she is the best international I’ve ever seen in Australia.
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