Champion mare Winx appears to have frightened away some potential opposition for the 2017 Ladbrokes Cox Plate when nominations closed on Tuesday.
Winx heads the 141 nominations, the smallest number of nominations for the last four years, for the $3 million Ladbrokes Cox Plate on October 28 as she bids to equal the three consecutive wins in the race by Kingston Town.
Winx is among 11 nominations for trainer Chris Waller along with Egg Tart, Foxplay and import Sarrasin.
International nominations are also down on the last three years. There are 15 from overseas compared with 22 last year with Aidan O'Brien nominating six horses including Highland Reel, placed behind Winx in the 2015 Cox Plate, and this year's Epsom Derby runner-up Cliffs Of Moher.
This year's Sha Tin Group I Queen Elizabeth Cup winner Neorealism is the sole nomination from Japan.
The Cox Plate has been won 20 times by three-year-olds and there are 44 three-year-olds nominated in 2017 including Group I winners Catchy, The Mission and Summer Passage from New Zealand, trained by Lance O'Sullivan who won the race as a jockey aboard Surfers Paradise, as well as the unbeaten Royal Symphony.
Racing Victoria general manager of racing, Greg Carpenter, said the quality of entry bodes well for the 2017 Spring carnival.
"We're excited to be able to welcome Winx back to Melbourne and it's satisfying to see international entries from Aidan O'Brien, Saeed bin Suroor, Charlie Appleby and Willie Mullins," Carpenter said.
"I'm also looking forward to the Noriyuki Hori-trained Neorealism from Japan who, if he did come, I think could be one to challenge Winx."
Nominations also closed on Tuesday for the $2 million Ladbrokes Caulfield Guineas and the $500,000 Schweppes Thousand Guineas, both over 1600m for three-year-olds at Caulfield.
The Caulfield Guineas has attracted 327 nominations, two shy of a record number, while the fillies race has attracted 237 nominations.
Included among the nominations for the Caulfield Guineas are the unbeaten Royal Symphony and Group I winners Invader, Summer Passage and The Mission while Lindsay Park racing has nominated the Blue Diamond Stakes winner Catchy for both the Caulfield Guineas and the Thousand Guineas.
Catchy is one of 20 nominations from Lindsay Park Racing in the Thousand Guineas including Tulip, Formality, and last Sunday's impressive Sandown winner Sanadaat.
First acceptances for the Cox Plate, Caulfield Guineas and Thousand Guineas close at 12pm on September 12.
Click here for the full list of nominations for the 2017 Cox Plate
Click here for the full list of nominations for the 2017 Caulfield Guineas
Click here for the full list of nominations for the 2017 Thousand Guineas.
