W.S. Cox Plate Legend - So You Think

If a Cox Plate could be won on looks alone, So You Think would win by the length of The Valley straight. A striking bay colt that sometimes appeared almost black with a long flowing dark mane, So You Think stamped himself as a champion at just his fifth start when the Bart Cummings-trained three-year-old took out the 2009 Cox Plate with Glen Boss on board.

The son of High Chaparral had won two of his first four starts, and the debate raged in the lead-up as to whether his form warranted a place in the W.S. Cox Plate field. The Committee deciding he was worth the gamble. History suggests they were more than vindicated.

In a slick time of 2:03:98, Glen Boss didn't give his competitors a chance in the race with a front-running victory by two and a half lengths, with race caller Greg Miles rightfully claiming "Bart's done it again" with the champion trainer's fourth win in the race that had included Dane Ripper (1997), Saintly (1996) and Taj Rossi (1973). It was also owner Dato Tan Chin Nam's second Cox Plate victory following Saintly's win.

So You Think returned 12 months later and at just his tenth start he started one of the shortest-priced favourites in the race's history. This time Steven Arnold took the ride and it while he opted to take a sit on More Joyous rather than lead throughout, the then four-year-old was never troubled and won with ease. Jockey Steven Arnold joked that he thought So You Think was so special he used to wipe his feet before he got onto the horse.

Cummings' track rider Joe Agresta also paid a special tribute to So You Think, saying that apart from being a champion, such was his status, that he was a "horse of a generation". Foreman Reg Fleming also had an emotional response when quizzed on his opinion of the stallion, "You want to know how special he is? If I'm having a bad day, I'll go in his box with him, after that, I'm having a good day!"

So You Think's stunning second victory in 2010 had now put him on par with the feats of champions like Phar Lap, Tobin Bronze, Sunline and Northerly as a dual winner of Australia's greatest weight-for-age race. While Cummings was a genius trainer, he was never overly forthcoming with his praise given he trained so many superstars but did offer this on So You Think. "It takes a special horse to win a Cox Plate; it takes a great horse to win two."

The question remains, how many Cox Plates could So You Think have won had he stayed in Australia? Having been sold to Coolmore for a princely sum reported to be around $30M and more, he was sent to Aidan O'Brien and would go on to win five international Group 1 races including the Irish Champion Stakes and Prince of Wales's Stakes.

So You Think entered the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2019 and currently serves as a shuttle stallion in both the Southern and Northern Hemispheres for Coolmore Stud, having sired six individual Group 1 winners with many more to come.