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Makybe Diva is clearly the best diva Australia has seen since
Marcia Hines. But is the seven-year-old mare, who won the WS Cox
Plate so spectacularly on Saturday, the best horse Australia has
ever seen? That's the second biggest question on everyone's lips
right now. The biggest is whether trainer Lee Freedman will allow
her to carry a top weight and almost the entire nation on her
570 kilogram frame in the Melbourne Cup. Of course, there will
be a riot if he decides not to. For there has rarely been a thoroughbred
that has captured the hearts of the racing public - and beyond
- than this magical dame.
Did you see the Cox Plate? Did you see her sweep seven wide on
the turn, along with the rest of the field fanned right across
the tight Moonee Valley bend? Did you see jockey Glen Boss rarely
touch her as she powered home over the top of Lotteria and Fields
of Omagh? Did you see owner Tony Santic cry like a baby behind
that Diva mask? Did you see Boss break down and cry when a mike
was thrust under his nose? Did you see Freedman jump and scream
like it was his first winner since being handed his license? Did
yer?
Stirring bloody stuff.
Where does she sit in the equine pantheon, then? She became only
the third horse to win the Cox Plate - the hardest race in Australian
racing to secure - after claiming the Melbourne Cup the year before.
The only other two who have done that is Might and Power and Phar
Lap. She's better than Might and Power. The old men in pork-pie
hats reckon she's the equal of Kingston Town, who won three consecutive
Cox Plates and should have won a Melbourne Cup if not for bloody
Gurner's Lane. Is she better than Tulloch? It's hard to argue
that she is not. And is she better than Phar Lap? Is she the best
ever?
You sense that it will only - only - take victory in
the Melbourne Cup for her to claim the title as the best we've
witnessed. Three Melbourne Cups, a Cox Plate, Sydney Cup, Australian
Cup, the BMW ... incredible. Makybe Diva will have to overcome
a massive weight difference to do it. She'll be giving as much
as eight kilograms to some of the horses she smashed on Saturday.
And run an extra 1200 metres. Weight can stop road trains. But
who is to say that it can stop this magical mare? She could have
Elizabeth Taylor on her back and still win.
If she runs, if she can do it, she will be the greatest. Debate
over.
What d'ya reckon?
Do you think she's better than Phar Lap?
Click your way to our Comebacks
page and tell us.
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