Kolding will head straight into the Cox Plate without another run after posting an important win in the Group Two Hill Stakes at Randwick.
Trainer Chris Waller scratched the last-start George Main Stakes winner from the Epsom Handicap specifically to trial him for a start in the weight-for-age championship.
Kolding’s only other run over the Cox Plate distance was an unplaced effort in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) in the autumn which Waller said was inconclusive.
“In the Queen Elizabeth he was at the end of his prep and it was a wet track so now was the time to try him after he had just won a Group One race,” Waller said.
“He will go to the 2020 Cox Plate. He deserves to. He doesn’t like Caulfield but let’s hope he likes Moonee Valley.
“Moonee Valley has a great camber and I’ve never taken a horse there that hasn’t handled it.”
Kolding finished out of the placings in two Caulfield runs earlier this year at his only two starts in Melbourne.
But he has bounced back to his best in Sydney this spring and his victory in Saturday’s Group Two Hill Stakes (2000m) was comprehensive.
Kolding ($3.60) ambled up to the leaders on straightening and shot to the front to score by two lengths over Avilius ($6.50) with Fierce Impact ($2.30 fav) running on from the back for third.
His success continued a flying start to the day for James McDonald, giving the jockey his fourth win from as many races after he earlier scored on Laure Me In and juveniles Enthaar and Shaquero.
