Who be or not who be? That is the question

More than any other race in Australia, the Cox Plate defines the difference between a very good horse and a great horse. To win Australia's weight for age championship, you have to have a certain quality and 14 horses will be vying for greatness at 4:30pm on Saturday.

Champions have won the Cox Plate, some of them multiple times like Phar Lap, Flight, Tobin Bronze, Sunline, Northerly and of course Kingston Town, but most of them were not champions before they won this wonderful race. To win one the Melbourne Cup takes months, sometimes years of planning, strength and determination from jockey, trainer and horse as well as a fair bit of luck. But the nature of handicap racing means that often more about the jockey and the trainer rather than the horse.

The 2040m around Moonee Valley at weight-for-age conditions is about having the ability to perform against the best in the land on the day. It is racing's Grand Final, and it is the site of coronation for the many of the legends of the sport. Most of all it's a race of no excuses.

Much like a Grand Final, while many have been elevated into greatness by success in the Cox Plate, many have missed their chance by failing to flatter on this giant stage. Those who try and fail are always marked with an asterix in the racing annals. Is this the fate awaiting Whobegotyou in Saturday's race?

Whobegotyou is undoubtedly a wonderfully talented racehorse who has proven over the past 13 months that he has the potential to be champion of the turf. His win in last year's Caulfield Guineas put stamps of quality all over him, while his excellent spring this year has him up with some of the best weight-for-age horses of recent times.

Seven years ago, a similar judgement was held of Lonhro, who like Whobegotyou, had built his credentials on an outstanding win in the Caulfield Guineas the year before. The son of Octagonal was the pin-up boy of racing and went into a Cox Plate against the legendary Northerly and Sunline as a $4 favourite. But a career-worst run saw him finish sixth and Northerly etch his name among the champions of the turf.

The next 12 months were all about redemption for the rising star. After winning the Mackinnon Stakes seven days later, he headed to the paddock and returned in Sydney in the autumn to win five of his six starts, including three Group Ones. The spring path was all about building for the Cox Plate and he headed into the race on the back of four consecutive wins, including two Group
Ones.

This time there was no Northerly or Sunline. In fact there were just seven rivals, and so confident were punters that Lonhro would atone for his defeat 12 months prior, they backed him into $1.60, one of the shortest Cox Plate favourites in years.

As the rain fell on the Valley in the lead-up to the race, there was a feeling that it was Lonhro's time to step in to greatness. But another legend was being created that day, Fields of Omagh. Lohnro, who lacked his usual sprint on the slippery Strathayr surface, would finish third beaten by less than a length. But in the court of public opinion, it might as well have been 10 lengths.

Lonhro went on to win four of his five remaining starts, including one of the greatest wins in the history of the Australian Cup, arguably the second best weight-for-age race in the country.

He won an extraordinary 25 races from 36 starts and nearly $6 million in prizemoney. But if you ask most racing fans on their opinion, they would say he was a fantastic horse but……………

Greatness awaits Whobegotyou on Saturday, but so do the knockers. Rarely has a horse gone into a Cox Plate with such an established dominance over his rivals and such an affinity for the tight turns of Moonee Valley. But that was then, this is now. This is the Cox Plate and nothing else matters.