Chris Waller ... faces a tough decision. Photo: Jenny Evans
SYDNEY'S leading trainer Chris Waller holds the key to the make-up of Saturday's Cox Plate as he decides whether to run his hardy veterans Shoot Out and Rangirangdoo.
Last night, it appeared there would be a maximum field of 14 runners for the $3 million race but if Waller decides after trackwork at Moonee Valley tomorrow morning that Rangirangdoo is worthy of a start, he may present a headache to the Moonee Valley Racing Club's committee.
Waller said yesterday Shoot Out was likely to contest the Plate and that Rangirangdoo was not yet out of the race for a spot in the field depending on how he worked tomorrow.
If Wallers accepts with both for the race, the committee could be forced to demote one horse to an emergency. As it stands, only Linton, Happy Trails, Rekindled Interest and the three-year-old, Proisir, are not group 1 winners and would come under the most scrutiny.
Rekindled Interest's claims are strong as he was placed in the race last year while Happy Trails all but secured his spot with a win in the club's lead-up race the group 2 Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes.
That leaves just Linton and Proisir but Proisir is coming off a second placing in a group 1 race - the Spring Champion Stakes, which is run over a similar distance to the Cox Plate.
Waller said that he favoured Shoot Out as being his first Cox Plate runner and Rangirangdoo was more likely to go around in Saturday's 1600-metre group 2 Vase, but that a final decision would be made after the pair worked tomorrow.
''The big weight hindered Shoot Out in the Epsom on a day dominated by lightweights and leaders,'' Waller said. ''The same was true for Rangirangdoo.''
It appears the Hawkes stable is not interested in recruiting champion Singapore-based jockey Joao Moreira for the ride on the Caulfield Guineas winner All Too Hard after the rider confirmed last night there had been no contact.
Moreira, a natural lightweight who can easily make the colt's weight of 49.5 kilograms, has ridden 170 winners this year in Singapore - more than 100 winners ahead of his nearest rival, former Victorian hoop Stephen Baster.
All Too Hard is the only likely Cox Plate runner without a rider as Team Hawkes said the colt was still no certainty to run and that a decision would be left until tomorrow morning's pay-up time of 8.30, following a gallop at Flemington.
Jim Conlan said he plans to return Rekindled Interest to Moonee Valley tomorrow morning for a final gallop, as he did last year before the horse finished third in the weight-for-age championship after a luckless run.
''Everything's good with the horse and he'll just need to go there on Tuesday for a final gallop to have him spot-on for Saturday,'' he said.
Conlan said Rekindled Interest, which will be reunited with jockey Dwayne Dunn on Saturday, felt the hard ground at Flemington last start in the Turnbull Stakes when he finished in the second half of the field.
''He jarred up on that track but he's recovered fully and if he's ever going to challenge these top horses, it's going to be at Moonee Valley in a pressure race like the Cox Plate.''
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