Cox Plate on the radar of Tofane in bid to add to elite-level haul
Multiple Group 1-winning daughter of Ocean Park launches her spring campaign at Caulfield tomorrow
Prominent owner Rupert Legh is hoping Tofane’s (Ocean Park) path this spring might lead to what he describes as the “pinnacle” of Australian racing – the Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) at Moonee Valley.
“It’s number one. The Melbourne Cup of course you would want to win in a heartbeat but the Cox Plate is weight-for-age and running against the best of the best of all ages and that tells you the best horses. That’s the pinnacle of our racing here in Australia,” Legh said.
Tomorrow his three-time Group 1-winning mare will take an important step towards trying to reach those heights when she resumes in the Memsie Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) at Caulfield.
She comes off a short break after taking all before her during the Queensland winter racing carnival where she won the Stradbroke Handicap (Gr 1, 1400m) and the Tatt’s Tiara (Gr 1, 1400m) in stunning fashion.
“She’s in as good a health and her track work has been as good as it was leading into the two Group 1s in Queensland,” Legh continued.
“She’s lightly raced and just getting to her peak physically. She’s a proper racehorse. She’s as good as ever.”
Legh is confident of a bold first-up performance from the six-year-old who will be lining up against top shelf horses in a 12-strong field tomorrow including fellow Group 1 winners Behemoth (All Too Hard), Aegon (Sacred Falls) and Colette (Hallowed Crown).
How she performs will set the course for the remainder of the spring.
“Barring bad luck, which you can have in racing, particularly in big fields, I would like to see her fighting out the finish. She’s forward enough to win first-up over 1400 metres.”
After tomorrow, a tilt at the Makybe Diva Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) at Flemington on September 11 could be next on Tofane’s agenda.
“Who knows where she can go?” Legh said. “She’s bred to get 2000 metres, we all know that, and all things going well she will go to the Makybe Diva and then we might be tempted to go to the Turnbull and the Cox Plate.
“We are lucky to have so many options. You have to pinch yourself how lucky you are that you have a horse that can do that.”
Tofane was potentially going to be sold through the broodmare auctions earlier this year but Legh and the rest of her ownership group decided to hold onto her and race on.
That decision proved vindicated with the mare delivering them two subsequent Group 1 race wins to add to her earlier elite-level success in last year’s All Aged Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m).
“Mares are clever. They will tell you when they don’t want to race anymore.
“When they go off, they go off, but when they are in form you can back them until your nose bleeds. We won’t put a timeline on it – she will tell us. When she doesn’t want to show that tenacity we will send her to the breeding barn.”
Legh said they do still plan to eventually sell Tofane, especially in light of the very strong market for high quality mares.
“She’s too valuable a mare and I think she will be picked up by one of the big studs. Most people in the ownership of her are there to race and are not real breeding people. If she got the money we think she’s worth, I’d love to stay in personally, which I may do, but the majority will exit because of what she’s worth.
“Let’s hope the market is still strong when we decide to pull up stumps,” he added.