![Peter Moody is keeping the Cox Plate on the table for Sheza Alibi after her defeat by Autumn Glow in the Winx Stakes. [Bradley Photos]](https://betsy.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/2278934.jpg)
Veteran trainer Peter Moody says the Cox Plate is still an option for his star mare Sheza Alibi as the team assess the fallout from Saturday’s clash with Autumn Glow.
Moody was typically blunt in assessing the loss in the Winx Stakes, and said while they won’t avoid Autumn Glow, he is still not completely sold on what Sheza Alibi’s grand final may be.
He hinted a Cox Plate campaign is still possible if he feels his star mare would be better suited over the 2040m.
‘’We got our pants pulled down. We got beaten fair and square by a better horse, without excuse. So that’s life. We went, we tried, we didn’t conquer, but we lived to fight another day,’’ he said on his podcast Moody on the Mic.
‘’Autumn Glow was just too good, and all honours there for sure. I think the one thing, like I said last week, was about learning where we sat in the food chain, and I think we got the rest covered.
‘’We’re probably just got to sidestep [Autumn Glow] when opportunity presents and maybe look to take her on at a slightly longer trip. Is that going to be enough to turn it around? I’m not sure, but she’s in great order.
‘’She’s better than us. She’s certainly better than us at 1400m. We had a little short sharp blow. We recovered very quickly. No excuses there on the fitness front.’’
Moody concedes the two stars could clash again in the 1600m King Charles Stakes worth $5 million – but also raised the prospect of bypassing the Golden Eagle and heading to a Cox Plate at Flemington instead.
He said he is still not convinced what distance suits his mare.
‘’We haven’t explored options with our mare beyond a mile, where Autumn Glow’s been beyond a mile,’’ he said.
‘’I would think we could probably make it more interesting at a mile. But I’m still not going to guarantee we can beat her at a mile. But I reckon we’ll make it more interesting at a mile.
‘’So race like the King Charles, they could clash again. I suppose the other thing, I’ll have to assess my filly when we see a few more of the horses come out that might be running in the Golden Eagle.
‘’Is my filly going to be sharp enough or good enough to win it that race at 1500m or do we do we seriously put the Cox Plate back on the agenda, or thinking that she might tell us she wants 2000m this time round because we’re still learning each and every time?
‘’But we certainly won’t dodge Autumn Glow going forward. We’ll just pick our mark and place her where we think she’s best suited, and if that involves taking on Autumn Glow, so be it.’’
In the meantime, Sheza Alibi will head home to Victoria before her next start at Flemington.
‘’Our filly will go to the Makybe Diva next start, a mile at Flemington,’’ he told Moody on the Mic.
‘’So that’s a three-week gap between runs, which is ideal after the trip back from Sydney, and then we’ll just assess it off the back of that.
‘’But at this point in time, the Golden Eagle is the sole target. Unless I think, hang on, we might not be able to win a Golden Eagle. Could we win a Cox Plate? I’m not sure. But if we couldn’t win a Golden Eagle, maybe we couldn’t win a Cox Plate either.
‘’But we’re not throwing the baby out with the bathwater. We’ve got a very, very good mare. She raced extremely well first-up. She was just beaten by one better on the day, and we’ll keep all options on the table, as we said from the start of the prep.’’
