3 minute read

The reigning NZ Horse of the Year will on Saturday have his final lead up race towards winning the G1 A$3 million Tatt's Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley on October 22

Jimmy Choux races best with spaced racing and the NZ$200K G1 Windsor Park Plate (1600m) under WFA at Hastings will be crucial for the four-year-old entire.

A targeted four-race campaign to make his stallion value skyrocket will see the Cox Plate followed by the G1 Hong Kong International Mile in December then some entertaining of female guests.

His trainer John Bary and owner/breeder Richard Wood have set lofty goals but the WFA championship of Australia and the richest mile in the world would make a sensational swansong before taking up stud duties.

Bettors will be pleased to know Jimmy Choux is unbeaten second up and at the mile has raced four times for three wins (at G1, G2 and G3), with the miss coming at G1 when he had a health issue.

His master Timeform rating of 124 was achieved when winning the G1 Rosehill Guineas (2000m) in autumn this year and if repeated on Saturday or even somewhere near that is reached then his unbeaten second up record will remain intact.

I felt his stomping home late for second fresh up in the G1 Makfi Challenge Stakes (1400m) under WFA behind Mufhasa near the end of August was a tremendous performance considering the way the race was run and won.

The last 100m for Jimmy Choux was real quality and under the WFA scale it answered the many questions a four-year-old faces first time at meeting the older brigade early spring.

Mufhasa raced outside the leader Fleur De Lune, which stayed on gamely for third, and in his usual bulldozing style strode up turning for home and drove clear to win by almost two lengths.

The fourth finisher in the race was the strapping Lion Tamer, which sat midfield the fence and ran home stoutly along the inner, after getting a perfect trip throughout and run through when it mattered.

Mufhasa and Fleur De Lune have drawn gates one and two respectively on Saturday, so bettors know where the pace will be coming from in a virtual replay of the Makfi to the home turn.

A good comparison to consider is Lion Tamer has a master Timeform figure of 119, which he obviously achieved when gapping the field in the G1 VRC Derby (2500) last spring at Flemington.

He will tackle the G1 Underwood Stakes (1800m) at Caulfield on Saturday and is a good chance if some rain arrives and is bound for a Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup campaign.

Jimmy Choux is striking the inferior overall line up on Saturday and is five ratings points higher than Lion Tamer, a chance in the stronger Underwood line up.

Mufhasa has a master Timeform figure of 122, which he achieved in winning the G1 Telegraph Handicap (1400m) this February, and this beast of a sprinter-miler has won fifteen races so far or a third of his starts.

He has also won a third of his starts at a mile, with three emphatic wins and six misses that almost all came in Australia at the highest level.

The last time he ran at the mile, we saw Mufhasa demolish a field at WFA to win the G1 feature at Otaki in 2010.

As he did in the Makfi he beat Wall Street, the reigning G1 Emirates Mile at Flemington winner where he rated 122 under handicap conditions, by a big margin home under the WFA scale.

Wall Street did over race and throw his head in the air three back the inside in the Makfi and his effort was a shocker but he is back on Saturday to restore his reputation drawn three.

Interestingly both Mufhasa and Wall Street have met and felt the awesome power of the freakishly gifted and good looking specimen So You Think.

Mufhasa ran in the Emirates Mile of 2009 and finished twelfth, where So You Think was running some bionic sectionals up front before being run down into second.

Wall Street ran seventh in the 2010 Cox Plate, where So You Think was racking up two in a row in the race with consummate ease and style for a not yet turned four-year-old.

I see the gate nine of Jimmy Choux on Saturday almost ensuring his regular rider Jonathan Riddell will have to go forward for a closer spot than what panned out in the Makfi, where he sat wide worse than the midfield.

Jimmy Choux is quite capable of leading and setting a good clip, which is a weapon that could be called upon at Moonee Valley if required in six weeks time, but that is unlikely to happen on Saturday.

He runs on all types of footing albeit he is yet to feel the spring of strathayr though many a Jimmy Choo has strode over the Valley carpet before to great effect and viewing!

Another runner in the Windsor Park Plate that has bigger aims this spring and needs to progress second up is Booming, the stablemate of Wall Street, which too needs to be bullish on Saturday.

Booming has Cups aims in the spring and this proven stayer usually shows some form third up at 2000m then the rest follows his name, so Saturday is a stepping-stone to Melbourne.

He finished second in the G1 Auckland Cup (3200m) in March 2010 to Zavite, which gained his master Timeform rating of 123 this March in winning the G1 Ranvet (2000m) at WFA.

The reigning G1 Caulfield Cup winner Descarado finished second to Zavite and fourth home was the G1 Melbourne Cup runner up Maluckyday, which split Americain and So You Think at Flemington last spring.

Booming actually achieved his career highest rating when winning the G1 Thorndon Mile at Trentham this January under 57kg, when coming with an irresistible inside run from well off the pace.

St Germaine, which ran a ripper sixth fresh up in the Makfi has unfortunately drawn gate eleven again but she is the likely value for multiples bettors.

She along with Fleur De Lune could turn up in Melbourne for the many blacktype opportunities and in particular races on offer for mares.

Enjoy the race and there are plenty of names that need to perform up to a high standard to get their boarding pass to Melbourne.

Scarlett Lady and Lion Tamer are already over there with Cups and Cox Plate agendas, so expect to see Jimmy Choux, Booming and Wall Street to soon join those two.

In what is shaping already as a spring of no yet known WFA colossus, all bets are not off but in fact piling on as everyone fancies their chances now.

Jimmy Choux will be trying to be the first New Zealand trained winner of the Cox Plate since the mighty mare Sunline won her second in a row in 2000.

The last three individual New Zealand trained winners of the Cox Plate all started with the letter 'S', namely Sunline (twice), Solvit and Surfer's Paradise, so no trend for Jimmy Choux to follow there.

However a New Zealand bred freak that won his second Cox Plate in a row 80 years ago was ridden by a Jimmy, so could lightning strike thrice?

Ends...