Ryan Moore conquered all before him in Melbourne in 2014, winning both the Cox Plate and the Melbourne Cup (aboard Protectionist). Sportsbet currently has Highland Reel as the $8.00 third favourite for the Cox Plate behind Kermadec and Winx.

Fawkner is bringing some enviable form into the 2014 Cox Plate, and owner Lloyd Williams will be excited on race day, we’re guessing. He has seen three of his charges come home in second place in the Cox Plate over the years, and he’s had a third-place runner as well, but Williams has probably never had a better chance to score a win in the race than he has with Fawkner in 2014. With The Cleaner likely to try to set a good pace, the 2014 Cox Plate could well suit Fawkner, too, and jockey Nick Hall feels confident that the 2013 Caulfield Cup champion and this year’s Caulfield Stakes winner can rise to any challenge: ‘he’s taken the next step and is in for his best season. He’s a really diverse horse and I’ll ride him according to the race. We all know there will be good pressure with The Cleaner in the field.’

Fawkner will see strong challenges on the day from a star-studded field of runners – amongst them horses owned by Lloyd Williams’ rivals Waterhouse and Waller, who have an impressive five runners between them. In the Racing odds, though, the horse with the shortest odds beside his name (aside from Fawkner), is Aidan O’Brien’s Adelaide, who’s a real chance to claim another of Australia’s big races for an overseas raider in the 2014 Melbourne Spring. Watch this space!

Japanese star Admire Rakti has already made sure of the Caulfield Cup, and this weekend sees the turn of the Cox Plate – and it’s well-travelled galloper Adelaide who is the pick to win it. Greg Carpenter, Racing Victoria’s Chief Handicapper, seems to be of the mind that Adelaide can overcome an unfavourable barrier draw to get home well: ‘he [Adelaide] has very good credentials. He probably should have nearly won at his last start in France, and for a horse of his age he has pretty much travelled the world. He has raced in England, Ireland, France and America, all against group company and Adelaide also has the bonus of having 2400-metre form, which will stand the horse in good stead under the rigours of the Cox Plate distance.’

Adelaide’s handlers look to be quietly confident, too, and confident in their horse, especially, in the face of the challenges from an unfamiliar environment, and a poor barrier draw, too: ‘we are 100 per cent on target and are absolutely delighted with every aspect of his preparation. The horse is well and they are delighted with the way he worked. Arlington was a tight, left-handed track, as was Belmont, but that said, Moonee Valley is a particularly quirky kind of track in international terms with a very short straight. If you all just sat and then sprinted in the straight, it would be a different story, but we know that [in the Cox Plate] from the 800 metres particularly, and from the 600 metres, they pour on the pressure. He’s used to getting out of his established routine and surroundings and one would hope that would stand him in good stead. That gladiatorial arena and amphitheatre is not something he has experienced – or the crowds in so confined a space – but he’s got a wonderful temperament and he takes most things in his stride. We wouldn’t have any excuses on the score of preparation or acclimatisation, but race day is a different thing. I’d certainly rather be drawn in there than in barrier three where you are likely to get cluttered up. It’s the horse that comes out of the barrier, not what barrier you draw.’

All encouraging noises coming out of the camp, then, of a horse expected to have a real say in the Cox Plate at the weekend, and one that the Racing odds will show you is a real chance to win it, denying local horses another of the big trophies of 2014…

Those previous near-misses were in 2005 and 2009, and behind Maybe Diva and So You Think respectively – worthy champions both. And Waterhouse’s runners will face stiff competition once again in this year’s race. Fawkner is the in-form horse coming into the 2014 Cox Plate, and he’s got odds of $4.40 beside his name on Sportsbet right now. But the Racing odds include more than just the odds on each of the runners, of course, and this year’s Cox Plate has been viewed by many in the press as a battle between trainers as much as it will be between the horses on the day. Between them, Gai Waterhouse and her great rival Chris Waller have five runners in the race, which beside from being an impressive feat, gives both a real chance to fill a gap in the trophy cabinet. Sportsbet are offering odds on both the trainers on their site as we speak, and they’ve been getting some attention, according to Christian Jantzen at Sportsbet: ‘punters have a great opportunity to stick with the strength. Two champion trainers with five runners between them, in a race they are yet to win. Surely this is the year for one of them?’

Are you prepared to bet against either Waterhouse or Waller, or even against both? If the favourite comes home it will mean another year goes by before either claims that elusive Cox Plate win, but is that how it will play out?

But The Cleaner will have to overcome a less-than-ideal barrier draw if he’s going to see success in the Cox Plate, and against a field that’s studded with real quality, too. In fact, it will have to be an incredibly brave run from The Cleaner, who would likely have to run at the front of the quality field all the way home if he’s going to win it. He has still been well supported by punters, according to Sportsbet, even in spite of the barrier draw: ‘The Cleaner is a crowd favourite, he could jump from the car-park and punters would still back him. He’ll jump and go to the lead and much of the big crowd will be willing the champ from Tassie to stay there.’

Whether he can or not is the big question those punters will have to answer, and we think there will be a little bit of heart in most of the bets behind The Cleaner. Looking at the Racing odds for the rest of the field will show you that it’s still Fawkner at the shortest odds, with $4.40 beside his name as of right now, and you’ll see that Sacred Falls is at odds of $6.00, just ahead of Adelaide at odds of $7.00…

Those preparations included a relaxed run out this week at Werribee, and Leanne Masterton, who was overseeing Side Glance, sounded pleased with him when she spoke to the press: ‘he felt great, really good, just an easy piece. Putting the finishing touches on him. He feels fantastic, he lost a few kilos (after the Caulfield Stakes), put that straight back on and feels really good. I think it will probably benefit him, having a race this year. He was fresh last year.’ And, looking ahead to the Cox Plate at the weekend, Masterton feels like the race could suit Side Glance: ‘there will be pace in the race. He has probably only made the running three or four times and most of the time he has come from behind. If he can sit handy we will be more than happy.’

Side Glance is up against it in the 2014 Cox Plate, though, in a field that features some seriously classy contenders. Side Glance is a $34.00 bet on Sportsbet today, while you’ll see odds of $4.40 for the favourite Fawkner and odds of $6.00 for Sacred Falls if you follow this link: Racing odds.

Three of Waller’s horses have seen changes in their handicapping for the big races coming up in the Melbourne Spring after they found success last weekend. Looking ahead to the Caulfield Cup and the Melbourne Cup, it could be that Waller has some serious prospects on his hands. The first of them is Who Shot Thebarman, who announced himself to pundits and punters alike with a strong win in the Bart Cummings Stakes, and he’s in amongst the horses with the smallest numbers besides their names in the Racing odds right now on Sportsbet. Elsewhere, He’s Your Man saw his weights go up for both the Caulfield Cup and the Melbourne Cup, but Waller has been saying for a while that he’s more likely to run the Cox Plate than either of those two – still, the win in the Epsom Handicap and the subsequent attention from the handicapper can’t have hurt his chances much at all!

And finally, keep an eye out for Junoob, who took the Metropolitan at Randwick in impressive style, and who is just a decent run away from the Melbourne Cup. Watch this space for more…

With a couple of wins from two starts this year, Guest of Honour comes into the 2014 Melbourne Spring with some real form behind him, and every possibility of making a name for himself on the biggest stage. Neither of those wins were in Group 1s, it has to be said, and both of them were over in the UK, but Guest of Honour comes to Australia with a little bit of buzz about him nonetheless, and he’s likely to make a try for the Cox Plate if he can secure a place in that race. According to Guest of Honour’s co-owner Darren Dance: ‘we are still hopeful. He goes into quarantine on the first shipment and all being well he will go into the Toorak at Caulfield as his first Australian start. He will be running against Dan Excel in that race I suspect and we will get a pretty good guide for the Cox Plate out of that. If he can run top three and be impressive we will know that he will have improvement for the Cox Plate. You just can’t say I want to run in the Cox Plate because you actually have to get invited, so we would like to be there and hopefully our rating is high enough and we run well enough in the Toorak to get a run in the Cox Plate because that is what we bought the horse to achieve.’

So keep your eyes on the Racing odds for Guest of Honour, a rising Irish import who could be adding a little bit of lustre to the Melbourne Spring – and his own career, too – in the 2014 Festival!

There were some big names in the field behind him, but The Cleaner had enough gas to hold them off after taking the race on from the front all the way. It was Mourinho and Foreteller who followed him home, with a certain The Offer trailing not too far behind in fifth place. The win looks like it will earn a Cox Plate run for The Cleaner, and trainer Mick Burles was understandably chuffed: ‘he’s a bloody champion isn’t he? We’ve had our ups and downs but this makes up for it all. To just have a runner in the Cox Plate is a dream. He’ll improve again over 2000 metres and they’ll know they’re in a race.’

So keep an eye out for The Cleaner when October 25th and the Cox Plate rolls around – he’s likely to feature in the Racing odds we’ve got for you between now and then!

He’s looking like he’ll be one of the horses with the shortest odds beside his name for the Dato Tan Chin Nam, too – and one who’s well worth keeping an eye on. He scored some good wins last year, and he’s already tasted victory in 2014, so he’ll be looking to start the 2014 Melbourne Spring well in the hope of picking up some good momentum before a tilt at the Cox Plate – and that is likely to be the target race for Star Rolling this year, though it sounds like trainer Peter Morgan hasn’t set his plans in stone just yet: ‘it’s a long campaign. I don’t think we’re going to the Cups with him, he’ll run Saturday then go the Underwood and then we’ll decide what we’re going to do. If we can win the Underwood or something like that then of course we’re going to be in the Cox Plate.’

So, as ever, it’s a case of keeping an eye on those Racing odds for Star Rolling, and keeping track of where he’s heading through the 2014 Melbourne Spring – he could be a real prospect!