Champion jockey Craig Williams knows Cox Plate favourite Sir Delius needs to lift to add a Cox Plate to his resume, but believes the signs are right heading to Flemington on Saturday.
Sir Delius, the only horse to have relegated Autumn Glow from the winner’s dais, might not have been in the placed in his two runs in the Makybe Diva Stakes and Turnbull Stakes this spring but is going better than in the autumn.
“His work on Tuesday, was the best he’s done this preparation,” Williams said. “He’s going the right direction. He has to come on from his last run but had to, to turn the tables on a couple that we meet again.
“To put it into context, he wasn’t going as well [heading into the Queen Elizabeth Stakes] as what he’s gone in his two runs this preparation.
“His first two runs in the autumn were nowhere near where he is at the moment. As hard as it is for people to believe, he’s actually gone better in his two runs this prep.”
The feel Williams got as Sir Delius filled his lungs down the Flemington straight on Tuesday has him confident a third Cox Plate is within reach for him.
Sir Delius is a horse that takes morning work to raceday.
“As I said to Gai and Adrian, the correlation between his attitude and the way that he works just goes hand in glove,” Williams said.
“He’s done things better because they’ve changed things around, and I could feel that in his work on Tuesday.
“When he gets it right like that, he’s a force of nature, and 2000 metres is his wheelhouse.”
The end game for Sir Delius was always the Cox Plate and his program was designed to be there third-up, where he is three-from-three in his career.
Williams looks at his two runs as necessary battles to win the war.
“He has got those bloody noses, which seasoned him up, toughen him up for the Cox Plate,” Williams said.
“I think [the Turnbull fourth] just got to the bottom of him, especially the way we tried to dominate the race a little bit.
“We came up against battle-hardened horses, whereas we had a little improvement left.
“He was obviously vulnerable, having his second-up run on soft ground, heavy ground, and at that tempo.
“But it was so important, and might be the run that wins him the Cox Plate.”
