A genuine champion sire should be able to produce the horses that win the very best races in the country in which they stand and the late great Fastnet Rock have us a demonstration of that when his high class Northern Hemisphere bred offspring Via Sistina (IRE) and Buckaroo (GB) fought out an epic finish to the $6million Group I MVRC WS Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley on Saturday.
The last race run at Moonee Valley as we know it before the track is closed for redevelopment, the 2025 Cox Plate was always going to be a sentimental rollercoaster of emotion with a modest field of eight G1 winners doing battle and none being last start winners.
Last year’s record breaking winner Via Sistina was sent out favourite with her regular pilot James McDonald shooting for his fourth Cox Plate in a row.
He had won the three previous on Godolphin stallion Anamoe, Hong Kong superstar Romantic Warrior and then last year on the might Yulong owned mare Via.
A winner first up in the Group I ATC Winx Stakes on a heavy track, Via was beaten at her next two starts in Melbourne and the reigning Australian Horse of the Year was looking vulnerable as she never had before.
But this is the Cox Plate… it’s where legends are made and Via brough her A Game when it mattered and had enough on the line to hold off the ever valiant Bucky to win by a head… a large one given the size of hers!
"It was a great race. A classic Cox Plate. James had to get going early and everyone could see him. He was five wide turning for home. She was great and Treasurethe Moment was awesome and gave them something to chase,” said Chris Waller.
"I'm glad Via won and Buckaroo, he's run out of his skin."
A Cox Plate quinella is a special result for the Waller stable and it’s a team effort.
"Candice and Sebastian they look after her and came down from Sydney with her. There are other staff also involved and I'm so proud of them all,” he added.
James McDonald is becoming a Cox Plate legend himself.
"It was a sensational feeling. It was funny because she began well. I thought, 'this is beautiful'. I thought I was in a great spot,” he said.
"Zac Lloyd (Nepotism) was jostling for a position. She came back and raced a little bit keen for a bit but her incredible will to win shone through there and she's a champion racehorse.
"I'm so proud of her. She deserved to be in the same breath as Sunline and those sort of horses with two Cox Plates.”
The current superstar performer in the stellar Yulong racing stable, Via Sistina is a fascinating horse as she is the original ugly duckling that grew into a swan.
Her original owners Stephen and Becky Hillen purchased her as a yearling for 5,000 guineas at the Tattersalls December Sale and they were over the moon when she sold at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale in 2023 fetching 2.7million guineas to the bid of Yulong to be the second highest priced mare at the sale.
Via Sistina has the overall record of 15 wins and nine placings from 28 starts with prizemoney just topping $18million and is the best of two winners from Nigh, an unraced half-sister by Galileo to dual Group I winning sprinter Kingsgate Native.
She is the greatest of all time by her sire Fastnet Rock, who passed away this year at Coolmore Australia and his place on the roster has been taken by his promising young son Acrobat.
