The Irish are planning a crack at Winx in the Cox Plate…with a former hurdler.
Shrewd trainer Willie Mullins hasn't been far away from winning Melbourne Cups with hurdlers in recent years with Max Dynamite and Simenon running well in the great race after switching from the jumps.
Mullins will attempt the same with Riven Light, who won his maiden hurdle by 12 lengths but missed the placings at four of his five subsequent jumps starts in Ireland before a successful return to flat racing over shorter trips.
The son of Raven's Pass won a 1m 1/2f (about 1700m) handicap at Galway on August 1 before backing up five days later to be beaten 1¾ lengths when fifth in a seven-furlong race (1400m) at the same circuit.
Mullins told the Racing Post Riven Light, the winner of four of his 16 starts would need to improve to warrant a Cox Plate run but the stable will have a shot at getting him to Melbourne in the coming weeks.
"Riven Light will need to improve but the Cox Plate is on our radar for him and we would like to take it on."
"We will hopefully get one or two more runs into him before we start making concrete plans about Australia. We would like to run him on better ground on a more conventional track as Galway is a very unique racecourse and the ground was quite soft for both of his runs there.
"He is going to have to show his form again at a more conventional track on better ground which is something I am hoping he will be able to do."
Sportsbet has Riven Light as a $101 chance to cause a boilover in the Cox Plate.
