European star Paddington enters the Cox Plate reckoning
Paddington (Siyouni), the breakout star of the European season, could be headed to Australia for the $5 million Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) after connections described a tilt at the Moonee Valley contest as “tempting and exciting”.
Coolmore’s Tom Magnier revealed the potential surprise move on the day it was announced that next month’s International Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f) at York – a race for which the three-time elite-level winner is favourite – has been added as a ‘win and you’re in’ race for the October 28 feature.
Since finishing fifth at Ascot on debut last September, the Aidan O’Brien-trained Paddington has put together an unbeaten run of six races, with a career-defining success in this month’s Coral-Eclipse Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f) on what was his first start beyond a mile following impressive victories in the Irish 2,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m) at the Curragh and St James’s Palace Stakes (Gr 1, 1m) at Royal Ascot.
An official rating of 124 has the three-year-old as the best of his age group in Europe, 1lb higher than his Epsom Derby (Gr 1, 1m 4f)-winning stablemate Auguste Rodin (Deep Impact).
“We’re going to be chatting about that over the next couple of days [bringing horses to Australia],” Magnier, who is Coolmore Australia’s principal, told RSN Racing And Sport.
“When you look at Paddington, he is the best three-year-old in Europe. Obviously, we’ve got Auguste Rodin that won the English Derby – he’s a machine, but I was looking at Paddington and what he is doing is breathtaking.
“I don’t know if anybody saw him running in the Coral-Eclipse the other day, the race Dubai Honour was in… that was an unbelievable field and he just decimated them. He is an absolute superstar.”
Set to be run at York on August 23, the International Stakes is a possible option for Paddington, while fellow three-time top-flight winner Auguste Rodin (Deep Impact), who is on target for Saturday week’s King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 4f) at Ascot, could also be targeted at the race.
“You’d have to think that if he lined up in a Cox Plate, he’d be very hard to beat. I’m not saying that that’s going to happen, but we obviously hold Australian racing in very high regard and bringing a horse like Paddington down for a Cox Plate… it would be tempting and very exciting.”
O’Brien, who won the Cox Plate in 2014 with Adelaide (Galileo), who now stands at Coolmore’s Jerrys Plains base in New South Wales, before his son Joseph O’Brien was victorious in 2021 with State Of Rest (Starspangledbanner), acknowledged the Cox Plate as a stallion-making race.
“The Cox Plate has enormous prestige and is a very important race for a colt to win, especially for a potential dual hemisphere stallion. We won it with Adelaide and more recently Joseph won it with State Of Rest. It is always a great race and a very prestigious race on the international calendar,” the trainer said.
Next month’s International Stakes, which was last year won by William Haggas’s now retired stable star Baaeed (Sea The Stars), is the third and final overseas ‘win and you’re in’ race for the Cox Plate to be announced, following the Saratoga Derby (Gr 1, 9.5f) in the US and the Takarazuka Kinen (Gr 1, 2200m) in Japan.
The latter of those contests is the only one to have been staged so far this year, being won by the world’s current highest-rated racehorse Equinox (Kitasan Black) on June 25.
Following yesterday’s announcement, Moonee Valley Racing Club’s head of racing Charlotte Mills said: “We’re very keen to continue our great association with York racecourse, and undoubtedly the winner of this year’s race will be more than worthy of a berth in the 2023 Ladbrokes Cox Plate.
“We’ve been thrilled with the reception that we’ve had from the international jurisdictions for the international qualifiers; we’re getting positive conversations and dialogue between trainers, jurisdictions and ourselves.
“Between Racing Victoria and the clubs here in Victoria, we are actively going out to recruit to ensure we’re doing everything in our capacity to bring the best horses to Australia.
“With the best of our local horses and the opportunities to have international raiders, we want to present the best possible product on the day. To have a pioneer like Aidan O’Brien return, that would be a huge thrill for the club and for the race itself.”
Earlier this week it was confirmed that the Cox Plate is the next major target for Hong Kong star Romantic Warrior (Acclamation).