BRIAN Cox is hoping his dad was right.
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The Wodonga Cup king will saddle up relative roughies Minnie Downs, Full Hand, Smoken Cash and Grassini in today’s feature.
It will be a quest for his 11th cup.
It will also be his first cup without his long-time mentor and patriarch of the Cox stables Ollie. Cox senior passed away in August.
“I really want to win it but I know it will hurt, I miss him a lot,” he said.
“Dad was always there in the background — would give you a tug on the ear or a boot up the backside if you needed it.
“But he was always there for me.
“We had disagreements and all but he was like any parent, still there guiding you on the right path, telling you if you were doing something wrong.
“The Wodonga Cup is not a true mile — it’s nearly all downhill so you can get away with a horse that can only get 1400m or 1500m.
“Dad said to me not so long ago that Smoken Cash was the type of horse that could win a cup.
“We can only hope he’s right.”
It’s not long after 8am at Cox stables at Wodonga.
Some of his staff have been on deck since 4.30am, horses are now in the walker, strappers are putting others through laps of the pool.
In the office — a rough addition to a set of stables — Cox is tucking into breakfast, sipping on a soft drink.
A woman sweeps the concrete floor.
She is no ordinary helper.
This is Kath Smith — the first women to be granted an A-grade licence to train in Victoria.
She’s also the first woman to have trained a Grand National winner.
She cleans up the remnants of a morning’s work — mostly dirt from muddy boots — and puts it into one of three bins that sit neatly under a bench.
Cox gives up on breakfast, throws the soft drink can in one of the other bins.
Another bloke dressed in jeans and boots pops in — bridle and lead rope in hand.
“I’ll just go and do that thing with that bloke,” he says.
That “bloke” is a horse, Cox nods.
Nothing more needs to be said.
Cox is no Gai Waterhouse.
He’s not about to talk your ear off about his exploits.
He’s not going to tell you that neddy over there is a group 1 horse if it’s not.
He measures his words, considers his moves.
But the fact is Cox has trained 10 Wodonga Cup winners, his first in his early 20s almost four decades ago, went within a short-head of the Australian record of seven winners on a card at the cup meeting in 2001.
A year later he won five races including the cup with Mooball, but Cox has not won the Wodonga Cup since 2006 with Elbrus.
His father Ollie also won the Wodonga Cup with Fair Fiona (1961) and Magic Cent (1969).
“You win that first cup and it’s fantastic — great memories but after that you just lose count over the years,” he said.
“In some ways, and even though it’s a public holiday this year, it is just another day at the races for us.
“Clubs need these big race days just to survive — we can only support them by backing the day with runners.
“There are plenty of businesses supporting it and about 3000 people already locked in but I don’t think we should try to compete with the Albury carnival.
“They are very different race days.”
Cox said there were no secrets to preparing horses for the cup but admits he likes the hometown advantage.
“A handy horse has always won it but they haven’t gone on to be superstars,” he said.
“It’s the same with the Albury cup — they have had some nice horses win it since they bumped up the prizemoney but they really haven’t gone on to win group races.
“I’ve got a fair bit of respect for the visitors who have nominated but they have to travel.
“Whether it is our starters or Sylvia’s horse they are only out of their box for an hour and that has to help.”
Cox believes both his starters have a chance.
“I’d love to see Smoken Cash in the field, because then you know it will be a truly run race,” he said.
“He’ll go straight to the front that’s his pattern.
“Minnie Downs will need a bit of luck — if it was Wangaratta where there is a bit of room it would be better.
“Around here you can’t afford any mistakes. I guess you can only hope.”
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