A Century of National Yearling Sales Success: Cox Plate

Moonee Valley’s A$6m Group One WS Cox Plate (2040m) is known as the weight-for-age championship of Australasia and has been won by many of Australia and New Zealand’s greatest thoroughbreds.

From Phar Lap (NZ) (Night Raid) to So You Think (NZ) (High Chaparral) and many others in between, graduates of New Zealand’s National Yearling Sale make up a key part of that rich history.

NZB will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the National Yearling Sales at Karaka in January. That century of sales has produced 20 Cox Plate champions.

The Cox Plate has been run since 1922 and has had a total of 36 New Zealand-bred winners, starting with the great Nightmarch (NZ) (Night Raid) in 1929.

 

1930 & 1931: PHAR LAP 

The first New Zealand National Yearling Sale graduate to win the Cox Plate is one of the greatest of them all. Phar Lap (NZ) was born near Timaru in New Zealand’s South Island and was offered at Trentham in 1928, where he was bought for 160 guineas.

The legendary chestnut had 51 starts for 37 wins and five placings. He won 32 of his last 35 races.

Phar Lap won 13 times in his three-year-old season, including the Australian Derby (2400m), VRC Derby (2500m), Rosehill Guineas (1800m), VRC St Leger (2800m), Chipping Norton Stakes (2000m) and AJC St Leger (2800m). He also ran third in the Melbourne Cup (3200m).

He went on to win 14 of his 16 starts as a four-year-old in 1930-31 including his first Cox Plate as well as the Melbourne Cup, Melbourne Stakes (2000m), St George Stakes (1800m) and Futurity Stakes (1400m). His Melbourne Cup triumph came under a weight of 9 stone, 12 ounces – the equivalent of 62.5kg.

Phar Lap added a second Cox Plate as a five-year-old, along with the Underwood Stakes (1600m), Memsie Stakes (1800m), Craven Plate (2000m) and Melbourne Stakes (2000m), and he then ventured to Mexico and won the US$100,000 Agua Caliente Handicap (2000m) in what would be the final start of his extraordinary career.

Phar Lap was among the inaugural inductees into both the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame and the Australian Racing Hall of Fame. Respected American publication the Blood-Horse magazine voted him the 22nd greatest racehorse of the 20th century.

 

1940 & 1941: BEAU VITE

Beau Vite (NZ) (Beau Pere) was bred by James Curran in the Horowhenua town of Shannon. His owner Ralph Stewart bought him for 900 guineas from the National Yearling Sale at Trentham.

From a 60-race career, Beau Vite went on to record 31 wins, nine seconds and five thirds. He earned more than £26,000.

Beau Vite’s victories included seven races that now have Group One status – the Great Northern (New Zealand) Derby (2400m), Canterbury Stakes (1300m), Metropolitan Handicap (2600m), and two editions of the Mackinnon Stakes (2000m) as well as the 1940 and 1941 Cox Plate.

At the end of his illustrious racing career, Beau Vite stood at Rosswood Stud in Masterton and sired a dozen stakes winners.

 

1954: RISING FAST

Bought for just 325 guineas from the 1950 National Yearling Sale at Trentham, Rising Fast (NZ) (Alonzo) had a glittering racetrack career that earned him induction into both the New Zealand and Australian Racing Hall of Fame.

Rising Fast had 68 starts for 24 wins, 16 seconds and two thirds, earning £66,765 in stakes for owner Leicester Spring.

In 1954 he became the first horse to complete the Spring Grand Slam – the Caulfield Cup (2400m), Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup (3200m). He is still the only horse to win all three races in the same season.

Rising Fast later successfully defended his Caulfield Cup title in 1955, and his other feature-race victories included the Caulfield Stakes (1800m), Turnbull Stakes (2400m), Feehan Stakes (1600m), Herbert Power Handicap (2400m), CF Orr Stakes (1600m), Blamey Stakes (2000m), Memsie Stakes (1800m), and two editions of the Mackinnon Stakes (2000m) and Fisher Plate (2400m). He was beaten by a nose in his attempt at a second Melbourne Cup.

 

1960: TULLOCH 

Tulloch (NZ) (Khorassan) was offered by Trelawney Stud at the 1956 Sale, where he was bought by Hall of Fame trainer T. J. (Tommy) Smith for 750 guineas.

In a 53-race career, Tulloch recorded 36 wins, 12 seconds and four thirds. He won the AJC Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) as a two-year-old, then added a whopping 14 wins as a three-year-old including a remarkable classic treble in the VRC Derby (2500m), Australian Derby (2400m) and Queensland Derby (2400m). That campaign also produced victories in the Caulfield Cup (2400m), Warwick Stakes (1400m), Rosehill Guineas (2000m), Caulfield Guineas (1600m), VRC St Leger (2800m), Rawson (now Ranvet) Stakes (2000m), Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m), AJC St Leger (2800m), All Aged Stakes (1600m) and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2800m). Incredibly, 11 of those races now hold Group One status.

Tulloch went on to win another two editions of the Queen Elizabeth Stakes as an older horse, along with the 1960 Cox Plate and the George Main Stakes (1600m) and Mackinnon Stakes (2000m).

Tulloch was among the inaugural inductees into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame, and he was also inducted into the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame.

 

1969: DARYL’S JOY

At a 1968 National Yearling Sale where the top-priced lot fetched $37,000, a mere $1,100 was enough to buy the champion racehorse Daryl’s Joy (NZ) (Stunning).

He was one of several yearlings purchased for Malaysian clients by Michael Floyd, general manager of Wrightson Bloodstock Ltd, being eventually raced by Mr Robert Goh of Singapore and named after Goh’s only son. Breeder Walter Bellerby of Martinborough, in his first venture into thoroughbred breeding, purchased the mare Rutha (NZ) (Ruthless) to put to his local stallion Stunning, standing at Trevor Thomson’s Highway Lodge Stud in Greytown.

Trained by Syd Brown in New Zealand and later by Charlie Whittingham in the United States, Daryl’s Joy had 30 starts for 16 wins, nine seconds, four thirds and over $300,000 in prize-money.

Daryl’s Joy was champion two-year-old of his year and won the Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m), then went on to add the Cox Plate and a three-length romp in the Victoria Derby (2500m) as a spring three-year-old. He also placed in the Caulfield Guineas (1600m) and the Ascot Vale (now Coolmore Stud) Stakes (1200m).

Following those 1969 spring successes, Daryl’s Joy was exported to the United States, where his victories included the Grade Two Del Mar Invitational Handicap (2200m), Grade One Oak Tree Stakes (2400m), Grade Three Arcadia Handicap (2000m) and Grade Two San Luis Obispo Handicap (2400m).

 

1979: DULCIFY

One of the most memorable Cox Plate victories was recorded in 1979 by Dulcify (NZ) (Decies). He blew his rivals off the Moonee Valley track by seven lengths – a winning margin that stood as an all-time record for the Cox Plate for 45 years. It was finally broken by an eight-length win by Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock) last year.

Dulcify was bred by R. Porter in Feilding and was offered at the 1977 National Yearling Sale, which had a top price of $120,000. Dulcify was bought for $3,250 by master trainer Colin Hayes, who retained a one-third share along with his wife Betty.

From 21 starts, Dulcify recorded 10 wins and five placings and earned A$568,775. As well as the Cox Plate, his major victories included the Victoria Derby (2500m), Australian Cup (2000m), Rosehill Guineas (2000m), Australian Derby (2400m), Turnbull Stakes (2000m) and Mackinnon Stakes (2000m) – all now Group One races.

Hayes and jockey Brent Thomson both had no hesitation in rating Dulcify the best horse they had anything to do with in their distinguished careers.

“He was like a Porsche with a turbo charger,” Thomson later said when describing his Cox Plate performance.

 

1984: RED ANCHOR

Bought for $11,000 from the 1983 Waikato Yearling Sale, Red Anchor (NZ) (Sea Anchor) stormed into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame during a spectacular career that was restricted to just 14 starts.

He won nine of those 14 races and placed in all of the other five, earning A$773,880 in prize-money.

Red Anchor won the Group One Champagne Stakes (1600m) at Randwick as an autumn two-year-old, then made his mark in Melbourne the following spring with Group One triumphs in the Cox Plate, Caulfield Guineas (1600m) and Victoria Derby (2500m). Injury forced him to be retired from racing before the end of his three-year-old season, but he was named Australia’s Horse of the Year for the 1984-85 season. He later stood at stud, where his half a dozen stakes winners included the Group One Epsom Handicap (1600m) winner Navy Seal.

Red Anchor was bred by Peter Setchell.

 

1993: THE PHANTOM CHANCE

The Phantom Chance (NZ) (Noble Bijou) was bred by the South Island’s legendary Dennis family and was bought by master trainer Colin Jillings for $50,000 at Karaka in 1991.

The Phantom Chance went on to make his name on both sides of the Tasman in a 44-start career that produced 11 wins, seven placings and $2.18m in stakes.

The Cox Plate was one of three Group One victories for The Phantom Chance, who also won the New Zealand Derby (2400m) and the Waikato International Stakes (2000m). His other wins included the Group Two (now Group One) Turnbull Stakes (2000m), and he placed in the Group One Metropolitan Handicap (2400m) and the Caulfield Stakes (2000m).

 

1995: OCTAGONAL 

Octagonal (NZ) (Zabeel) was one of Australia’s best and most popular gallopers of the 1990s and was a $210,000 purchase from Karaka in 1994, where he was offered by his breeders Cambridge Stud.

Octagonal had 28 starts for 14 wins, seven seconds and a third, earning A$5.89m for his owners Jack and Bob Ingham – almost 30 times his purchase price.

With his dark colour cutting a stark contrast with his owners’ cerise silks, Octagonal rose to prominence as a two-year-old when he won the Group One Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) and was runner-up in the Group One Golden Slipper (1200m).

Octagonal’s seven wins as a three-year-old included the Cox Plate and additional Group One victories in Canterbury Guineas (1900m), Rosehill Guineas (2000m), Tancred Stakes (2400m) and Australian Derby (2400m). He also ran third in the Group One Caulfield Guineas (1600m) and second in the Group One Victoria Derby (2500m).

As a four-year-old, Octagonal won the Group One Underwood Stakes (1800m), Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m), Australian Cup (2000m) and Tancred Stakes. He also ran second in the Group One Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m).

Octagonal went on to a successful career at stud, where his progeny included the 11-time Group One winner and even more influential stallion Lonhro.

 

2009 & 2010: SO YOU THINK 

Almost exactly 15 years on from his second Cox Plate triumph at Moonee Valley, the exceptional racehorse and sire So You Think (NZ) (High Chaparral) sadly died this week at Coolmore Stud.

Bred by Michael Moran and Piper Farm, So You Think was offered by Windsor Park Stud at the 2008 Premier Sale at Karaka and was bought by Duncan Ramage’s DGR Thoroughbred Services for $110,000.

Trained initially by Bart Cummings and later by Aidan O’Brien, So You Think had 23 starts for 14 wins, five placings and more than A$10 million in prize-money.

He won his first Cox Plate as a three-year-old in 2009, leading all the way under his 49.5 kilograms and winning by two and a half lengths. He returned a year later as the $1.50 favourite to defend his crown, and the result was never in doubt as he cruised to another emphatic victory.

That second Cox Plate was part of a near-perfect spring campaign for the four-year-old, who had previously won the Group Two (now Group One) Memsie Stakes (1400m), the Group One Underwood Stakes (1800m) and the Group One Caulfield Stakes (2000m). He added the Group One Mackinnon Stakes (2000m) in his next start, then finished third in the Group One Melbourne Cup (3200m).

Overall, So You Think recorded six Group One victories for Cummings in Australia, followed by another five for O’Brien in the United Kingdom and Ireland – the Eclipse Stakes (2000m), the Irish Champion Stakes (2000m), the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes (2000m) and two runnings of the Tattersalls Gold Cup (2100m).

So You Think has gone on to greatness at stud too, siring 761 winners from 1120 runners including 66 individual stakes winners – a dozen of them at Group One level.

 

2012: OCEAN PARK  

Ocean Park (NZ) (Thorn Park) was bred by Trelawney Stud, who offered him at the 2010 Select Sale at Karaka. He was bought by Gary Hennessy for $150,000.

Hennessy trained Ocean Park through a three-year-old campaign that featured a four-length runaway in the Group Three Wellington Stakes (1600m) along with a Group One placing in the Rosehill Guineas (2000m), but it was the spring of his four-year-old season that he really made his name.

Ocean Park won four consecutive Group One races in that career-defining campaign, starting with the Makfi Challenge Stakes (1400m) at Hastings. He then travelled to Melbourne and added the Underwood Stakes (1800m), Caulfield Stakes (2000m) and a superb victory over star three-year-olds All Too Hard (Casino Prince) and Pierro (Lonhro) in the Cox Plate.

Ocean Park later won the Group One New Zealand Stakes (2000m), finishing his 15-race career with eight wins, four placings and more than $3.67m in stakes – almost 25 times his purchase price.

Standing at Waikato Stud, Ocean Park has sired 348 winners from 577 runners. His 23 individual stakes winners include Tofane (NZ), Kolding (NZ), Kovalica (NZ) and Ocean Billy (NZ) at Group One level.

 

2025 COX PLATE

• Antino (NZ) (Redwood) was bought for just $27,000 from the 2020 Ready to Run Sale. He has had 29 starts for 13 wins, seven placings and A$3.29m in stakes, including Group One triumphs in last season’s Toorak Handicap (1600m) and Doomben Cup (2000m). His most recent appearance was a strong-finishing second in the Group One Turnbull Stakes (2000m) at Flemington on October 4, in which the Cox Plate defending champion and favourite Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock) finished third.
• Aeliana (NZ) (Castelvecchio) was offered by co-breeders Rich Hill Stud in Book 1 of Karaka 2023, where Star Thoroughbreds secured her for $180,000. Her 13-race career has produced four wins, five placings and A$2.6m in stakes. Among last season’s standout crop of three-year-olds in Australia, she produced one of the most spectacular performances of her generation to win the Group One Australian Derby (2400m) by five lengths at Randwick in April. She has made a promising start to her four-year-old campaign, running eye-catching seconds in the Group One Winx Stakes (1400m) and Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m).