MELBOURNE - "We aren't going to go down wondering" were the last words from top jockey Glen Boss who will ride second favourite Sky Heights in Australasia's premier weight-for-age event, the $A2 million ($2.62m) BMW Cox Plate at Moonee Valley today.
Boss is adamant that champion mare and reigning Cox Plate heroine Sunline won't get things her own way as she did last year, when she led and kicked away to a winning break coming to the home turn.
His race tactics depend on how Sky Heights jumps, but there was no way Sunline would be left alone to dictate the pace, says Boss.
He wants to ensure that the 2040m trip is run at a solid clip throughout to really test Sunline whose record at 2000m to 2040m is five starts for two wins, both at Moonee Valley, and a second to Fairway in the Turnbull Stakes (2000m) at Flemington last start.
"If there is a chink in her armour horses like Sky Heights, Tie The Knot and Shogun Lodge will find it," he said.
Last year Sky Heights went into the Cox Plate, in which he finished third, backing up a week after his narrow victory in the Caulfield Cup over Laebeel.
Top jockey Darren Beadman, who will ride last year's runner-up Tie The Knot, feels Sunline could be vulnerable over the last 100m today.
Beadman tested the theory out on Fairway in the Turnbull Stakes when he led and Sunline sat off him.
"It dulled her acceleration and she didn't like it."
Tie The Knot had been specifically targeted at the Cox Plate this year, unlike last year, and would go into the race fresh.
Beadman did warn that champions like Sunline can bring you undone, but he believes Tie The Knot is "overs" at his current quote of 6-1.
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