KEY POINTS:
The word was on the street in Melbourne late on Sunday - C'est La Guerre was about to switch direction and take on Princess Coup in Saturday's A$3 million Cox Plate.
The rumour was stacked up yesterday - and the immediate weight of money, suspected to be directly
or indirectly from the former New Zealander's leviathan punting owner Lloyd Williams, smashed the odds on C'est La Guerre.
At a stroke, this year's Mercedes Derby winner at Ellerslie was crunched from $34 to $17 in what has for some time been touted as a match race between New Zealand champion mare Princess Coup and the outstanding Sydney filly, Samantha Miss.
Suddenly there is a new player in a race devoid of a host of genuine chances - one which will be suited to the sit-back, charge-home rhythm of a Cox Plate.
DoubleBet's Brian Taylor said: "Some of the agencies were betting as much as $51 at the weekend and you're flat finding better than $17 right now. It's been a big go."
The $2 million Kelt Capital Stakes winner, Princess Coup, was the $3.70 Cox Plate favourite yesterday, just ahead of Samantha Miss. Perhaps surprisingly because of the weight of money for just one local runner, Princess Coup was $3 with the New Zealand TAB yesterday morning - but that was later trimmed to $2.80.
C'est La Guerre has been building to what everyone thought would be a peak performance in the A$5.5 million Melbourne Cup - and the big one is probably still on the table for him - but his connections are clearly encouraged by the fact that the list of genuine Cox Plate chances is skinny.
The former New Zealander, bought for massive money by Lloyd Williams, former owner of Melbourne's Crown Casino, impressed on his Australian debut when he finished seventh behind Weekend Hussler in the too-short 1400m Memsie Stakes.
He disappointed as beaten favourite when ninth at Moonee Valley next time out, but the race that night did not suit his back-running style. He was back in the groove when less than a length away in fourth behind recent Yalumba winner Duoro Valley.
Cox Plates can be the survival of the fittest with talent and grit - just the type of race for C'est La Guerre.
Princess Coup looked magnificent in her solo gallop between races at Tauranga on Saturday and is due to be flown to Melbourne tomorrow.
Opie Bosson was suspended on Saturday for three weeks, but will be riding on a one-week lay-over allowed for jockeys with important pending engagements, to prevent connections of horses being inconvenienced.
* Sydney betting agency Betchoice, run by Col Tidy, is taking legal action to recover more than A$300,000 lost by former jockey Glenn Lynch. Lynch, a former Cambridge-based jumps jockey in New Zealand, won the 2006 Queensland Derby and Grand Prix on Ice Chariot. After giving up riding and attempting to switch to training, Lynch went on a reported A$10 million betting spree.
* Red Ruler is recovering from the slight lung infection he was found to have after finishing sixth in Saturday's Caulfield Cup.
