You will probably be kidding yourself if you thought James McDonald needed the three wins he secured at Warwick Farm on Wednesday to build up his confidence going into the Cox Plate on Saturday.
Yet …you could still make the case that things haven’t exactly been going McDonald’s way in recent weeks.
Before that treble at Warwick Farm, McDonald had taken forty-two rides in October, bringing home five winners during that time at a winning strike-rate of 11.90 percent. Significantly though, none of those winners came at any of the three Saturday metropolitan meetings McDonald has ridden at since October 1.
Perhaps more pointedly, those ‘blank’ metropolitan statistics from the October 4, October 11 and October 18 meetings include six rides in Group 1’s, two rides in Group 2’s and six Group 3 rides.
That is fourteen Group rides for McDonald with no cigar … not exactly very McDonald-like. In fact, by McDonald’s standards, some might even call it a drought.
Of those fourteen Group rides, McDonald’s best results were the second place achieved by Just A Journey in the Edward Manifold Stakes and a third-place finish by Via Sistina in the Turnbull Stakes.
Also, during this time, because of a commitment to Via Sistina, McDonald missed out on a winning Group 1 ride aboard the unbeaten Autumn Glow. She won the Group 1 Epsom Handicap at Randwick on the same day that Via Sistina contested the Turnbull Stakes.
On Saturday all roads will lead to a very special meeting at Moonee Valley which will host the very last Cox Plate in the electric arena as we know it now, with major renovations due to start taking place once the dust has settled on 2025 edition of the Cox Plate, which, appropriately, will be the last race at the ‘old’ venue.
It will be a grand stage on which McDonald normally thrives.
McDonald has four Group rides on the day … Napoleonic in the Group 3 Red Anchor Stakes, Enviable in the Group 2 Fillies Classic, Providence in the Group 2 Drummond Golf Vase and then, the big one, Via Sistina in the Group 1 Cox Plate.
You would say he is due.
It is not that the really good jockeys do not feel the frustration and disappointment when they are having a dry run. The difference is that the really good jockeys, more often than not, are able to confine the past to the past and be well and truly up for their next challenge.
So it will be with McDonald. The woes of the past weeks will have done nothing to diminish his ability, his focus and his hunger.
He will be straining at the leash to put the record straight and that will just add another level of intrigue on what will undoubtedly be a great day of racing.
