3 minute read
A Cox Plate qualifier, the Feehan Stakes has become a better Cups guide in recent years.
The Feehan Stakes has carried a Cox Plate ballot exemption for a tick over a decade, but it became entwined with the Cox Plate much earlier than that.
Rising Fast was the first horse to complete the double, while Sunline, Northerly and El Segundo were all part of iconic wins in the 1600-metre Group 2 this century before going on to win the Cox Plate.
Makybe Diva, Fields Of Omagh and Maldivian are others to have won the Cox Plate in the first decade of this century after contesting the Feehan Stakes.
But, since the introduction of the Cox Plate ballot exemption, the Feehan Stakes has had more of an impact on the other spring majors than the Moonee Valley Racing Club's signature event.
It is now 15 years since a Cox Plate winner came through the Feehan, Maldivian being the most recent, and in the past six years only four horses have made it to the Cox Plate after contesting the Feehan.
The best Cox Plate finishing position of those four was Mr Brightside's seventh after winning last year's Feehan.
Seven Melbourne Cup runners have come through the Feehan in the same period, and 14 Caulfield Cup runners, including Homesman and Nonconformist, who both finished second in the world's richest 2400m handicap.
Jameka is the most recent major winner to have come through the Feehan, winning the 2016 Caulfield Cup after a midfield finish in the Feehan.
This year's Feehan contains only one runner shorter than $26 in Cox Plate betting, the unbeaten Globe ($15), but includes Caulfield Cup favourite Francesco Guardi, who is also prominent in Melbourne Cup betting, as are Feehan rivals Goldman and Lunar Flare.
Francesco Guardi resumed with a 10th placing in the Group 1 Winx Stakes (1400m), but Globe, Goldman and Lunar Flare are all first-up, as were the four Feehan winners from 2017-2020; Bonneval, Magic Consol, Homesman and Humidor.
The past two Feehan winners, Superstorm and Mr Brightside, were second-up out of the Group 2 Lawrence Stakes (1400m), which has proven the best guide since the Feehan switched dates with the Makybe Diva Stakes with The Cleaner (2015) and Awesome Rock (2016) also having won the Feehan second-up out of the Lawrence.
Pinstriped (second), Tuvalu (fourth), Attrition (fifth), Pounding (sixth), Forgot You (seventh) and El Bodegon (13th) are this year's Feehan runners who resumed in the Lawrence Stakes.
