'We had to look at it analytically' - stunning Cox Plate winner Via Sistina ruled out of Melbourne Cup

Stunning Cox Plate winner Via Sistina will not take her entry in Tuesday's Lexus Melbourne Cup (4.00am). The six-year-old recorded her fourth Group 1 victory since joining Chris Waller and her fifth in total when smashing the course record at Moonee Valley last Saturday.

Off the back of that stunning eight-length victory, Via Sistina shot to Melbourne Cup favouritism but the mare had drifted out to a share of 5-1 with Onesmoothoperator and Vauban in the past few days.

Vin Cox, racing manager to owners Yu Long Investments, confirmed their star mare will instead wait an extra four days to tackle next Saturday's Group 1 Champions Stakes at Flemington instead.

"We would desperately love to win a Melbourne Cup and we've probably got the best chance we're ever going to have," Cox told Racing.com. "But at the end of the day, the ultimate goal wasn't the Melbourne Cup, it was the Cox Plate.

"She peaked and peaked unbelievably highly. The rating tells you that because she's now rated the number one horse in the world."

The daughter of Fastnet Rock landed last year's Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh prior to chasing home King Of Steel in the Champion Stakes when trained by George Boughey.

Connections cannot be accused of a lack of boldness after they were rewarded with proceeding with the primary goal of the Cox Plate despite Via Sistina unshipping James McDonald during a public workout at Monee Valley, four days before she provided the same rider with his 100th Group 1 victory.

"We all had to get our feet back on the ground, take all the emotion out of it and look at it analytically," said Cox. "The Melbourne Cup was then a bit of an afterthought, rather than the primary motivator and afterthoughts tend not to end well on a racetrack."

The Hong Kong Cup in December is also off the agenda for Via Sistina, with Cox adding: "She hasn't completely acclimated to Southern Hemisphere seasons.

"To take her back into the Northern Hemisphere, albeit only for a month or six weeks, potentially jeopardises the progress she's made and we'd really like to keep her racing in Australia and racing really well.

"That was a tough call because the boss, Mr Zhang, was very keen to take her to Hong Kong."

Via Sistina's stablemate Buckaroo, who she beat by a head in the Turnbull Stakes, leads the market at 7-2 for the Melbourne Cup, with ante-post favourite Jan Brueghel having been taken out of the Flemington showpiece by Racing Victoria stewards.

Lexus Melbourne Cup (4.00 Flemington, November 5)
Coral: 7-2 Buckaroo, 5 Onesmoothoperator, Vauban, 9 Absurde, 11 Land Legend, 14 Kovalica, 20 Interpretation, 25 Okita Soushi, Zardozi, 33 bar.

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