Cox Plate fancy Dissident will miss Saturday’s Group 1 $400,000 Hyland Race Colours Underwood Stakes (1800m) at Caulfield and be kept for the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes the following week.
Dissident will miss Saturday's Underwood Stakes at Caulfield. Photo by Race Horse Photos Australia.
Dissident scored back to back Group 1 wins with a narrow victory in the $400,000 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) at Flemington last Saturday and trainer Peter Moody had seriously considered backing the four year old up this weekend.
Moody is tracking a path towards the Group 1 $3m Sportingbet Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley on October 25 and will now drop Dissident back to 1400m in the of Group 1 $400,000 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes at Caulfield.
“Dissident at this stage will bypass Saturday’s Underwood Stakes,” Moody’s racing manage Jeff O’Connor tweeted.
“Next start likely the Rupert Clarke followed by Caulfield Stakes, Cox Plate.”
Moody has reported that Dissident has pulled up well after his narrow win over last year’s Caulfield Cup winner Fawkner and plans to run him in the Group 1 $400,000 Cathay Pacific Caulfield Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield as his final hit out before the Cox Plate two weeks later.
“He has pulled up super after the Makybe Diva Stakes win on Saturday and we do have options,” Moody told the Herald Sun.
“Everything points to a Cox Plate path.
“If he goes well in the Caulfield Stakes, we’ll know if he can run the 10 furlongs (2000m) and that will confirm he will go to the Cox Plate.
“He was very courageous on Saturday and when you beat a Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup and Australian Cup winner (Green Moon, Fawkner, Super Cool) you are going well.”
Dissident proved he was top class with a win in the Group 1 $600,000 Royal Randwick Guineas (1600m) at Randwick during the Sydney Autumn Carnival and then resumed from a spell to win the Group 1 WFA $400,000 New Zealand Bloodstock Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on August 30.
Last Saturday’s win in the weight for age Makybe Diva Stakes was Dissident’s third Group 1 win and pushed him up the Cox Plate market order with Ladbrokes.com.au marking him as the second pick at $11 behind Fawkner who is the current favourite at $10.
The Aidan O’Brien trained Irish galloper Adelaide is marked at $13 alongside of super Kiwi mare Silent Achiever with Commanding Jewel, Dan Excel, Royal Descent and Sacred Falls all at $17.
