Dubai: Godolphin will have to wait another year to win the $3 million Cox Plate, Australia’s weight-for-age championship, after Sweynesse finished J O’Shea a close eighth behind Irish-trained Adelaide at Moonee Valley in Melbourne on Saturday.
Ridden by Chad Schofield, the Darley-bred colt finished strongly but was swallowed up by the pace in the final furlong as eight horses raced for the line.
However, it was British champion jockey Ryan Moore who conjured up a breathtaking burst from Adelaide, producing the Aidan O’Brien trained horse from the back of the 14 runner field to score by a short-neck from favourite Fawkner, while New Zealand mare Silent Achiever was a shorthead away in third.
It was a first Australian win for champion trainer O’Brien.
A son of top stallion Galileo, Adelaide had previously won the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes at Arlington Park, USA, in August.
Moore told The Age: “He’s a very good horse. I was a long way back and I thought down the back we had to be a bit closer. I was giving away a good bit of ground. I got on the back of Fawkner and he pulled me into the race.
“This is usually a race where the best horse wins, and sometimes the best horse has to do it a bit tough.”
Adelaide became the second overseas trained horse to capture a Grade 1 prize in Australia this season following Japan’s Admire Rakti who landed the Caulfield Cup, earlier this month.
