Some facts about the Group One $3 million WS Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley on Saturday:
* First run in 1922 when the committee of the Moonee Valley Racing Club realised the need for a high-quality, weight-for-age race for the best horses.
* The winner of the first running was Violoncello.
* The race was named in honour of William Samuel Cox, the founder of Moonee Valley racecourse.
* Some greats of the Australasian turf are on the race’s honour roll including Manfred (1925), Heroic (1926), Amounis (1927), Nightmarch (1929), Phar Lap (1930-31), Chatham (1932, 1934), Ajax (1938), Tranquil Star (1942, 1944), Flight (1945-46), Carbon Copy (1948), Delta (1949), Hydrogen (1952-53), Rising Fast (1954), Redcraze (1957), Noholme (1959), Tulloch (1960), Aquanita (1962), Tobin Bronze (1966-67), Rajah Sahib (1968), Gunsynd (1972), Taj Rossi (1973), Surround (1976), Dulcify (1979), Kingston Town (1980-81-82), Strawberry Road (1983), Red Anchor (1984), Bonecrusher (1986), Rubiton (1987), Better Loosen Up (1990), Super Impose (1992), Octagonal (1995), Saintly (1996), Dane Ripper (1997), Might And Power (1998), Sunline (1999-2000), Northerly (2001-02), Fields of Omagh (2003, 2006), Makybe Diva (2005), El Segundo (2007), Maldivian (2008), So You Think (2009-10).
* Rising Fast (1954) is the only horse to win the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup in the same year.
* Cox Plate-Melbourne Cup winners in the same year: Nightmarch (1929), Phar Lap (1930), Rising Fast (1954), Saintly (1996), Makybe Diva (2005).
* In 1998 Might And Power ran 2:03.54, the fastest time on the StrathAyr all-weather track which was installed before the 1995 race.
* Four-year-olds have the best record of any age group in the race winning on 26 occasions. Other age groups are three-year-olds (19), five-year-olds (22), six-year-olds (15) and seven-year-olds (6). Super Impose (1992) is the only eight-year-old to have won and Fields Of Omagh (2006) the only nine-year-old to win.
* Phar Lap won the race in 1930 and again in 1931 before heading to America.
* Phar Lap was the shortest-priced winner of the race, starting at 1-14 in 1931.
* Kingston Town is the only horse to win three times, in 1980-81-82. He was ridden by a different jockey on each occasion – Malcolm Johnston, Ron Quinton and Peter Cook.
* The late TJ Smith is the most successful trainer having won seven times with Redcraze (1957), Tulloch (1960), Gunsynd (1972), Kingston Town (1980-81-82) and Red Anchor (1984).
* The only three-year-old filly to win was Surround in 1976.
* Darby Munro is the most successful jockey, winning five times on Rogilla (1933), Young Idea (1937), Mosaic (1939), Beau Vite (1941) and Hydrogen (1952).
* Jockey Brent Thomson won the race four times in five years on Fury’s Order (1975), Family Of Man (1977), So Called (1978) and Dulcify (1979).
* There have been 18 odds-on favourites of which 12 have won.
* The biggest crowd was 50,670 in 1960 when Tulloch won.
* The only mares to win are Tranquil Star (1942, 1944), Flight (1945-1946), Dane Ripper (1997), Sunline (1999-2000) and Makybe Diva in 2005.
* In 1946, the Cox Plate was run in two divisions when the winners were Flight and Leonard.
* In 2000 Sunline equalled the biggest winning margin of seven lengths recorded by Dulcify in 1979.
* No trainer with a runner on Saturday has won the race before.
* Jockeys with a ride on Saturday who have won the race before: Steven King – Efficient (Fields Of Omagh 2003); Darren Beadman – Wall Street (Saintly 1996); Damien Oliver – Glass Harmonium (Northerly 2001, Dane Ripper 1997); Steven Arnold – Shamrocker (So You Think 2010); Craig Williams – Pinker Pinker (Fields Of Omagh 2006); Luke Nolen – King’s Rose (El Segundo 2007).
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