BRUCE MCAVANEY: Pride of Jenni is a crowd favourite but Prognosis is a deserving Cox Plate favourite

For anybody who has an interest in racing, one look at the WS Cox Plate honour roll quickly reveals what the race is all about.

Phar Lap was the first to win two and then, more than 50 years later, Kingston Town notched up three and in 2018 along came Winx, the only horse to have won four.

That says a lot about the race.

Surprisingly, for many years the Cox Plate played second fiddle to the Moonee Valley Gold Cup – run on the same day but worth quite a bit less in prize money.

Australian racing is based on the big handicaps and, historically, the spring carnival was all about the Caulfield Cup-Melbourne Cup double.

Weight for age racing is now the benchmark and the Cox Plate is certainly the high mark in terms of class and status.

It is, quite simply, the weight for age championship of Australia.

Everybody in the sport has their own Cox Plate memories. Mine haven’t dulled over time. If anything, they’ve become more vivid.

The first, from afar, was Tulloch in 1960. And, not long after, Tobin Bronze, a South Australian favourite, in 1966 and 1967.

The seventies were about Gunsynd, the grey from Gundiwindi. He’d pause on the track and acknowledge the applause.

Another grey, Surround, is still the only three-year-old filly to have won the race.

And then there was Dulcify’s demolition, in 1979.

The next year it was time for the king. Tommy Smith’s black champion, Kingston Town, overcame his Melbourne hoodoo and won in 1980. His 1982 victory, when he came from the clouds to win and to create history, is one of the most memorable moments in racing.

The highs kept coming: Sunline and Northerly sharing four at the turn of this century. And that pair were preceded by Might and Power, one of only two horses to have won all three Melbourne Spring Jewels: the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup.

Anybody fortunate enough to be at the Valley in 2005 when Makybe Diva rode the tsunami wave coming up to the home turn will still have goosebumps.

Then So You Think put on a show over two superb years, followed by the incomparable Winx with the first of four victories in record time ­– the second by a record margin.

It’s been the century for mares in Australia, if you think about Sunline, Makybe Diva, Black Caviar and Winx.

The history of the Cox Plate illustrates the rise of the mare. Mares and a single filly won just five of the first 76 runnings and now have won 10 of the last 27.

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Which brings us to this Saturday’s race and the biggest stories this year.

Pride of Jenni is the most popular horse in the country. She’s a frontrunner. She’s fast, and she’s brave.

We know at some stage she’s going to have a big lead but by the time they get to the home turn, the field will be closing.

If the seven-year-old were to hang on and win, it would bring the house down.

The other mare in the race is also Seven. She’s from England but her father’s is Australian. Sired by Fastnet Rock, Via Sistina was sold as a yearling for 5000 guineas – about $11,000 – and then, just 12 months ago, resold for close to $5 million. Since then, she’s travelled to Australia and won three Group One races.

Her preparation almost came to a spectacular and frightening end with her stumble and stampede at Breakfast with the Stars on Tuesday. James McDonald shrugged that off pretty quickly.

If the pair were to win, it would be McDonald’s one hundredth Group One win, a milestone that’s frustrated him for a few weeks. And a third consecutive Cox Plate. Only two jockeys have ever achieved that before.

For Broadsiding, the three-year-old colt, it’s about the Cummings family legacy. And Jamie Kah’s chance for a “Michelle Payne-moment” in Australian racing.

Mr Brightside is another family affair. Jockey Craig Williams is riding for the Hayes family. He already has two Cox Plates and is on a high after winning The Everest last week.

The horse is writing his own fairytale, having been passed in as a yearling for $22,000 and going on to win nearly $15 million. This will be his third start in the race after finishing second last year.

The track is unique. You’re so close to it and the straight is so short. It’s the 104th running of the Cox Plate and the second to last time the race will be run on this circuit before the complex undergoes a major renovation. So these last two are precious and priceless.

Every year, you just know when the horses are entering the barrier, one of them and their rider and trainer is about to be elevated in the annals of the sport.

David Hayes, now based in Hong Kong, will be cheering Mr Brightside alongside his three sons. A Hall of Fame trainer, just like his father, David summed it up perfectly this week when he talked about his love for the race: “The best horse usually wins.”

And this year, I think that the best horse comes from the land of the rising sun. His name’s Prognosis. He’s the son of the most famous Japanese horse of all time, Deep Impact, and he’s going to be ridden by a champion Australian who’s a household name in Tokyo, in Damien Lane.

It is, truly, the race where legends are made.