Beaten Caulfield Guineas fancy Royal Symphony will take on champion mare Winx in the Group 1 $3m Ladbrokes Cox Plate (2040m) at The Valley on October 28 with lightweight jockey Dean Yendall booked to ride.
Royal Symphony, above, will take on Winx in the Ladbrokes Cox Plate at The Valley. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.
Trainer Tony McEvoy confirmed that Royal Symphony had pulled up well following his unlucky fourth to 100-1 outsider Mighty Boss in the Group 1 $2m Ladbrokes Caulfield Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield last Saturday.
Yendall got the call up after first choice jockey Kerrin McEvoy opted to ride the Charlie Appleby trained Folkswood in the Ladbrokes Cox Plate and Royal Symphony will only have to carry the three year old colt’s weight of 49.5kg under the weight for age scale.
“We’ve had a couple of days now to look at him and let the dust settle from the Guineas,” McEvoy said.
“He has come out of it like the winner and probably should have won had it not been for a lack of opportunity in the run.
“We would have gone to the Cox Plate if that was the case so I’m thinking why not?”
The Chris Waller trained Winx has a mortgage on the betting for the Ladbrokes Cox Plate and tops the market order at $1.20 with Ladbrokes.com.au with Royal Symphony listed at $21 alongside of the Epsom Handicap winner Happy Clapper while Folkswood and last Saturday’s Ladbrokes Stakes winner Gailo Chop are marked at $17.
Winx will extend her unbeaten run to twenty-two wins if she can claim her third Ladbrokes Cox Plate victory in succession and equal Kingston Town’s record he set with his wins in 1980, 1981 and 1982.
Early market order for the 2017 Ladbrokes Cox Plate at Ladbrokes.com.au: $1.20 Winx, $17 Folkswood, Gailo Chop, $21 Royal Symphony, Happy Clapper, $34 Aloisia, Hartnell, Humidor, Johannes Vermeer, The Taj Mahal, $41 Bonneval, $51 or better the rest.
