Racing: Jimmy Choux makes Bary proud

Pinker Pinker (centre) finishes clear of Jimmy Choux (right) in the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley on Saturday. Photo / Getty Images

What a difference a day makes.

On Saturday John Bary still had a heavy load of adrenalin surging through his system when he said: "We all did our best, we're very proud."

And the Jimmy Choux camp had reason to feel that way - there is no similarity between second in a A$3 million Cox Plate and going to jail.

Yesterday Bary, a fierce competitor, was saying very similar words, but this time there was that distinctive edge of "what if".

"We gave it our best shot.

"But you don't get many chances to race in a Cox Plate and to come up just that little bit short can hurt."

To the whole world, Jimmy Choux looked the likely winner when he put two lengths on the opposition soon after rounding the home turn with only the extremely short Moonee Valley home straight to negotiate.

"At the 200m I dared to dream," said Bary.

Dreams can be fickle and Pinker Pinker dashed past Jimmy Choux with fewer than 10 bounds to go.

On the surface, Jimmy Choux appeared to have his chance, but a couple of factors might have made a difference.

Jonathan Riddell did a marvellous job, as we all expected, of slotting Jimmy Choux into the beautiful one-out, one-back position from his wide draw.

Everything went magnificently until fellow New Zealander Lion Tamer started to drop back into his lap approaching the home turn after softening up the favourite Helmet in front.

Lion Tamer would have been feeling something because he snapped a hind leg on pulling up and was euthanased.

Jimmy Choux had to go three wide to get around the weakening Lion Tamer, right at the point when that really counted against him.

And, the work Lion Tamer had done in taking the steam out of Helmet, which should have advantaged Jimmy Choux, worked against him.

Helmet stopped quickly on the home bend, leaving Jimmy Choux in front too soon.

"If he'd had Helmet to chase in the home straight instead of being left there like a sitting duck it might have made some difference," said Bary.

"But, woulda, coulda, shoulda."

A beautiful summation because racing luck is just that, racing luck.

While the 400m action was happening up front, Pinker Pinker and Craig Williams were living their dream in getting magnificent runs inside runner after runner to be right there on Jimmy Choux's heels turning in.

Despite that you can take nothing from Pinker Pinker, whose finishing sprint was magnificently strong on the line.

The whole of Australia is heralding Caulfield Cup winning jockey Craig Williams for producing one of the great rides in Cox Plate history.

Williams won't be admitting this today, but if he tried to get that same run through the field in 10 Cox Plates, he'd be disappointed more often than elated.

Bary and Pinker Pinker's trainer Greg Eurell have something in common - they started their careers in horse spheres away from racing.

Eurell, who had such good fortune with Apache Cat, was a topline showjumper, representing Australia at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Bary's field was polo and he competed at a similar level.

Trainer Murray Baker must have been feeling disconsolate over the fate of Lion Tamer, but was putting on a brave show with: "Oh well, that's racing."

Lion Tamer snapped his leg as Hugh Bowman eased him back to a walk to turn around and trot back after pulling up.

"Hugh said the horse didn't feel exactly right in the race," said Baker.

"We'd been very confident going into the race - he'd worked the place down on Tuesday morning."

The loss would have hit 89-year-old owner Phil Bayly, who also races Harris Tweed from the stable, hard.

Wall Street's fourth was one of the runs of the race.

He got very worked up when Darren Beadman went to put him in the barriers. The crowd was close and the former barrier rogue became more unsettled, remaining that way when locked in his gate.

As a result, he missed the start. He was last most of the way before flashing home down the outside of the track to be close up.

Helmet melted under the pressure, adding further to the history of 3-year-old failures in the race.

Rekindled Interest was held up behind Efficient approaching the home turn and ran on gamely into third, but it's difficult to make a case he could have beaten the winner.

Jimmy Choux yesterday had a few nicks on his hind legs. "Helmet went off in the barrier next to him and Jimmy got a fright and kicked out - that's when he broke through the front of his gate," said Bary.

He is unsure whether he will start Jimmy Choux in the Emirates Mile at Flemington on Saturday week or go straight into the Hong Kong Mile at Shatin in mid-December.

Meantime the team can carve up the A$440,000 cheque for second.

No, nothing like jail.