'You never know': Mystery surrounds Melb Cup favourite as bookies ...

Champion mare Via Sistina will return from a brief break in luxurious surroundings in the Macedon Ranges with a decision still to be made on whether the Melbourne Cup favourite will start in Australia’s great race next Tuesday.

As tongues wagged with superlatives surrounding her Cox Plate winning demolition, the Chris Waller-trained mare was refreshing at Macedon Lodge, which has housed more than its fair share of Melbourne Cup winners and hopefuls.

The immaculate property at Mt Macedon was formerly the base of leviathan owner Lloyd Williams and serves as a luxury retreat for horses as well as a training base.

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Bought for $5.5 million last year by Yulong Investments, the seven-year-old mare is expected back in the Waller stables at Flemington on Wednesday as the Sydney-based trainer considers whether to aim her for the $8 million Melbourne Cup.

Via Sistina is also a candidate to travel to Hong Kong for a major international meeting in early December.

“It’s only a couple of days after the race (Cox Plate) so it’s a bit early for a decision so we need a few more days, it will be later in the week. We’re still waiting to see how she comes through the run, it was an amazing win,” Waller told reporters at Flemington on Tuesday.

“It’s been great to see that she’s been rated the highest-rated horse in the world, which really did show how good the win was, so we’re still enjoying the celebrations of that victory.

“Most importantly just seeing how she is as a horse, in terms of going to that career-best high and what it takes out of her - she seems fine but you never really know until a few more days or even in fact until they run so we’re just trying to preserve her to ensure that wasn’t just a one-off.

“My job, as the coach, is to get her to win not just one race but many races and to advise the people that own the horse what’s in her best interest.”

The decision on Via Sistina will have an implication on both the order of entry and the betting market. But in an update from Monday, when the TAB listed the mare as outright favourite at $4.50, she is now listed as a $6 chance and doubtful by the betting agency.

Whether she starts will have an impact on leading rivals, as a discussion at Flemington on Monday for the launch of the carnival demonstration.

After receiving windburn from Via Sistina in the Cox Plate, champion jockey Jamie Kah winced before letting out a nervous laugh when asked if she would be concerned if the superstar mare started in the revered 3200m handicap.

Kah will ride impressive Moonee Valley Cup winner Okita Soushi in Australia’s most famous race and is among the leading contenders who are hoping premier trainer Waller opts against starting Via Sistina after she routed her rivals over 2040m at Moonee Valley.

“Without a doubt, yes,” she said when asked if Via Sistina would be a concern next Tuesday.

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Her concern is with good reason, for Kah saw the champion mare gallop away from a stellar Cox field including her brilliant three–year-old Broadsiding and Japanese raider Prognosis in a record breaking Cox Plate.

Not only did Via Sistina smash the track record in Australia’s weight-for-age championship, she also posted a higher-rating in triumph than the legendary Winx did as a four-time winner of the race.

If champion jockey James McDonald had his way, Via Sistina would be in the starting gates race and he has no doubt she would be able to stay the distance as well.

McDonald, who secured his 100th Group 1 win when steering Via Sistina to an astonishing eight-length victory over Prognosis, will ride the five-year-old should she race at Flemington.

The star Kiwi jockey, who has ridden three different horses to win the past three Cox Plates, was flabbergasted by Via Sistina’s performance and is pleased with how the mare has come through the race.

“I would do it, but I am without a ride. I would love her to run in the Melbourne Cup. From the footage Chris has sent me as to how she has pulled up, she has pulled up sensational,” McDonald said on RSN927 on Monday.

“She was bucking her brands off in the paddock ... and she has obviously pulled up really well. If she ran in the Melbourne Cup, I have no queries on her not running the trip out and her class will take her a long, long way. I think she would be unbelievably hard to beat.

“I was flabbergasted with what actually happened there on Saturday. We went in with good expectations of being competitive. It is such a hard race to win and you need a lot of things to go right, but I couldn’t believe the style she did it in. She did it in spectacular fashion.

“She obviously had world-class form lines. She was a Group 1 winner in Europe. And she has brought her best form here to the Cox Plate on Saturday. I was the lucky one to be the passenger on top steering her around a left-hand corner, basically.”

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - OCTOBER 26: James McDonald riding Via Sistina (IRE) celebrates winning the Ladbrokes Cox Plate and his 100th Group 1 race during Cox Plate Day at Moonee Valley Racecourse on October 26, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Kelly Defina/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

Rivals share McDonald’s belief that Via Sistina would be “unbelievably hard to beat”.

Kah said she was staggered by the performance of the mare, who sparked front page headlines earlier in the week when throwing McDonald from the saddle during a Breakfast with the Stars workout and galloping two laps of the Moonee Valley track at full pace.

“That was extremely impressive,” Kah said.

“I was speaking to James (Cummings) before the race and said ‘I’d be more than happy to follow her’ but I didn’t really want to get stuck behind her, because I could not believe they were running her after what happened (last) Tuesday.

“As soon as we crossed the line, I thought, ‘Well, I definitely didn’t need to be worried about that.’ That was insane.

“It was a hot speed and when she quickened up, I felt like (Broadsiding) was cantering. She was very impressive. So yes, if (Via Sistina) runs in the Cup, I am definitely going to be worried about that.”

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - OCTOBER 28: (L-R) James Cummings, champion horse trainer, Anastacia, American singer-songwriter, Ariarne Titmus, Melbourne Cup Carnival ambassador, Michelle Payne, 2015 Lexus Melbourne Cup winning jockey, Gai Waterhouse, Hall of Fame trainer and Jamie Kah, Champion jockey pose at the 2024 Melbourne Cup Carnival Launch at Flemington Racecourse on October 28, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

James Cummings, whose legendary father Bart Cummings made the Melbourne Cup his own through a grand career, will start last year’s Victoria Oaks winner Zardozi. The mare is a $26 chance after finishing fourth in the Caulfield Cup.

But having watched Via Sistina hand his three-year-old Broadsiding, which will skip Saturday’s Victoria Derby to run in a weight-for-age race on the final Saturday of the Flemington carnival, a galloping lesson at Moonee Valley, he suspects the Waller camp are seriously considering extending the horse’s campaign to the Melbourne Cup.

“I would think that there’s a reason why the stable have not shut it down straight away,” he said.

“It evidently is well and truly on the table and that’s to be respected. One thing about that stable is they don’t make many mistakes and they’ve got it quite right on the weekend with that mare. They evidently know her very well.

“Yet again in a feature race in Australia, a feature staying race, the international horses did come to the fore, and we saw that with Via Sistina, We saw that with Prognosis. They’re very, very high rating horses who are hard to beat in those high pressure environments.

“And therefore, how could you really, with confidence, bet against her being a winning chance in the Melbourne Cup? There’s a reason she’s favourite for the race.”

Michelle Payne, who is the only woman to ride a Melbourne Cup winner and is now co-training with her elder brother Patrick Payne, is tipping the Willie Mullins-trained Irish galloper Absurde will be hard to beat next Tuesday.

But she believes Via Sistina would be an “unbelievable addition to that race” if she was to start at Flemington instead of heading to Hong Kong.

“What you would be doing is letting her tell you (whether she is ready to race). If she is thriving and looking great, then why not?” she said.

The Park and Flemington Racing Launch. Picture: Jason EdwardsSource: News Corp Australia