Cosmic Crusader has won the $6 million Cox Plate at Flemington, storming home under William Pike to give trainer Andrea Leek her first win in Australia’s weight-for-age championship.
The six-year-old gelding beat Chris Waller’s Birdman into second, with James McDonald’s mount Aeliana third and Ceolwulf fourth in the 2040m Group 1 on Saturday, Sporting News reported. Saint George finished fifth.
It was the first time the Cox Plate had been run at Flemington, with the race set to return to Moonee Valley in 2027. Cosmic Crusader won the Turnbull Stakes over 2000m on the same track three weeks earlier, then ran fourth as favourite in the Caulfield Cup on 17 October before backing up.
Wizards from the West
Pike, the West Australian jockey, kept the ride after the Caulfield Cup. Cosmic Crusader, Pike and prominent WA owner-breeder Bob Peters are known as the ‘Wizards from the West’, 7NEWS reported, and the gelding joins Northerly, who won in 2001 and 2002, as a Cox Plate winner from the west.
“It was written in the stars,” race caller Matt Hill said on Seven.
Read more: Racing: Cosmic Crusader Wins Turnbull Stakes for Leek and Pike
Bruce McAvaney added on Seven: “For Andrea, it is an absolute crowning moment, this horse has had a preparation like nothing else, he’s as tough as nails and needed all of that today.”
Leek follows Deirdre Stein (1985) and Moira Murdoch (1994) as a female trainer of a Cox Plate winner, Nine reported.
History denied for the rest
The result ended several record bids. Waller was chasing a record-equalling seventh Cox Plate, McDonald was after a fifth win in a row, and Craig Williams was chasing his third. Gai Waterhouse is still waiting for her first, with her early favourite Sir Delius finishing sixth, while Rachel King and Jamie Melham missed the chance to become the first female jockeys to win the race.
Cosmic Crusader’s win completes a Flemington Group 1 double this spring after the Turnbull Stakes. Look back at every past winner in our Cox Plate winners list.
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