COX PLATE PLANS FOR CAMELOT

Danny O'Brien has flagged the Cox Plate as a likely target for exciting colt Russian Camelot after Racing Victoria announced last week there would be no change to the spring calendar. 

Speaking with the Herald Sun, O'Brien said the SA Derby winner would be aimed at the Cox Plate pending his form in the early spring races. 

“There’s a lot of hype about him and he’s an exciting horse, but the bottom line is that all he has done so far is win a South Australian Derby. That’s a long way from a Cox Plate standard,” O’Brien said.

If Russian Camelot does head to the Cox Plate, it would be a further kick in the guts to the Melbourne Racing Club who was unsuccessful in their push to move the Caulfield carnival in 2020 which would have seen the Caulfield Cup run in late November. 

O'Brien was one trainer who strongly threw his support behind a later carnival and suggested the proposed program would suit Russian Camelot. 

"We could run him in the Mackinnon Stakes and Caulfield Cup, which would be ultimately a far better preparation for him coming out of the winter than having to have him racing in the first week of September," O'Brien told RSN 927 last month. 

The lightly-raced Russian Camelot has won three of his five career starts which included successfully stepping up from Benchmark 64 level to the Group One SA Derby at the end of his recent campaign. 

He has been kept safe in betting for all three big races of the spring, sharing the top line of betting for the Cox Plate with a host of runners at $11(TAB), while he's the $11 second favourite for the Caulfield Cup and $9 favourite for the Melbourne Cup.

By Nick Hluchaniuk for Punters.com.au 

Photo by Atkins Photography