Sunshine Coast trainer David Vandyke is keen to see his filly Yankee Rose take on champion mare Winx in the Group 1 $3m Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley on October 22.
Yankee Rose, above, is set to take on Winx in the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley Photo by Steve Hart.
While Vandyke knows it is virtually impossible to beat the Chris Waller trained Winx, he is confident of picking up some of the huge prizemoney on offer for the minor placings.
“The owners are fairly realistic. We all would love to win a Cox Plate (but) to beat Winx and Hartnell is against the odds,” Vandyke told Radio TAB’s Past The Post.
“(But) I think there’s been three three-year-old fillies run in the Cox Plate in recent years and two of them have run a place, so we’re looking at a 66 per cent success rate of them filling a place, which is a pretty good statistic.”
Yankee Rose only has to carrier 47.5kg in the Cox Plate under the weight for age scale and Vandyke said that if any of the top fancies have an off day, Yankee Rose will be there ready to pounce.
“With the 47.5kg they wouldn’t want to be having an off day because she’s going to be there ready,” Vandyke said.
“Winx is a champion, our filly isn’t, so we are realistic in that sense but at this level if there’s a chink in a horse’s armour, there’s horses like Yankee Rose ready to strike.”
Yankee Rose claimed her second Group 1 trophy with a win in last Saturday’s Group 1 $500,000 Moet & Chandon Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) at Randwick after winning the Group 1 $1m Inglis Sires’ (1400m) at Randwick during the Sydney Autumn Carnival.
Lightweight jockey Dean Yendall rode Yankee Rose to victory in the Spring Champion Stakes and will be on her back again in the Cox Plate.
In Cox Plate betting Yankee Rose is sharing the third line at $15 with French galloper Vadamos while Winx sits at the top of the market order at $1.90 ahead of the John O’Shea trained Hartnell at $3.
Early Cox Plate market order at Ladbrokes.com.au: $1.90 Winx, $3 Hartnell, $15 Vadamos, Yankee Rose, $17 Divine Prophet, $18 Lucia Valentina, $19 Black Heart Bart, Hauraki, $61 Awesome Rock, Jameka, Palentino, Happy Trails, He’s Our Rokkii, $81 or more the rest.
