The 2013 Cox Plate will feature three runners from the Macedon Lodge stable and co-owner Nick Williams is confident that Green Moon, Masked Marvel and Sevillewill all run better than their odds suggest at Moonee Valley on Saturday.
Seville is one of three Lloyd Williams-owned horses set to run in the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley on Saturday. Photo by: Steve Hart
Williams rates Green Moon as the best chance of the three in the Cox Plate field and told Sky Racing HQ that the Montjeu entire will be at close to full fitness despite missing the Group 1 Caulfield Stakes (200m) after being found with a fever.
“He has come through it all terrifically and I think he won’t miss anything from it,” Williams said.
“It is a similar situation to It’s A Dundeel; he missed a run but up at Macedon Lodge we are very fortunate that we have some fantastic facilities and we can pore the work into him.
“Whilst he has missed a race start, he has had plenty of race starts, it is not the end of the world for him and he will run really well on Saturday.”
Williams predicted at the start of the 2013 Spring Racing Carnival that Seville was the horse to watch from the Macedon Lodge stable and after taking some time to reach his peak form the Galileo entire lived up to that billing with an impressive win in the Group 1 The Metropolitan (2400m) at Royal Randwick on October 5.
Seville is considered an outsider in 2013 Cox Plate betting markets but Williams believes that the five-year-old is good enough to cause a boilover at Moonee Valley this weekend.
“Seville has really come on since The Metrop and that win with blinkers first time really brought him on,” Williams said.
“We freshened him up a little bit and he seems to have some ping in his legs.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if he runs a very cheeky race on Saturday.”
Masked Marvel is rated the outsider of his three chances in the 2013 Cox Plate by Williams; even though he is currently rated a better chance than Seville in betting markets.
The Montjeu entire showed that he is a grinding stayer in both the Group 2 Hill Stakes (2000m) and Group 3 Craven Plate (2000m) and Williams is not sure that the five-year-old has the turn of foot required to be successful in the Australasian Weight-For-Age Championship.
“Masked Marvel hasn’t won for us yet but he had those two good runs in Sydney,” Williams said.
“In the first one he ran off the track for some reason and in the second he just got beaten in the Craven Plate.
“He has done very well but whether he is sharp enough to win a race like this over a mile and a quarter I’m not sure.
“One thing about all three of these horses is that they will run a lot better than their odds suggest.”
Green Moon ($17), Masked Marvel ($34) and Seville ($51) are all available at lengthy Cox Plate odds, while It’s A Dundeel ($4) has been backed into favoritism and Gai Waterhouse-trained Fiorente has drifted out to $4.60 as the betting market continues to adjust following the withdrawal of Atlantic Jewel.
The Macedon Lodge team is yet to taste success in the Cox Plate; with the second place finishes of Zipping in 2008 and 2010 their best previous result in the race.
