Racing: Sunline odds 'ridiculous' thanks to colt

By MIKE DILLON

If you want to back Sunline in the Cox Plate do it before she runs in Hawkes Bay on Saturday.

Melbourne bookmakers are taking a huge punt on the champion mare.

Melbourne bookie Michael Eskander yesterday listed Sunline at $7 for the Cox Plate and Double Bet has her at $6.

The reason is the amount of money that has flooded in for Sydney 4-year-old Lohnro after his remarkable first-up win in the Missile Stakes at Rosehill a couple of weeks ago.

Eskander and Double Bet have Lohnro clearcut Cox Plate favourite at $3.50.

"The Sunline money is probably ridiculous," said Double Bet's Brian Taylor.

Lohnro and Bart Cummings' Magical Miss are due to clash in Saturday's Warwick Stakes at Warwick Farm.

There have been huge bets this week for Magical Miss in the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.

There is a strong suggestion the world's leading stable, Godolphin, will target the Cox Plate this year as well as their number one stated goal in the Southern Hemisphere, the A$4 million Melbourne Cup.

Godolphin this week put in a tentative request for an astonishing 10 spaces at the Sandown quarantine station which, if it goes ahead at that level, will severely stretch the resources at the state-of-the-art station.

At York in England on Tuesday, Godolphin's Noverre showed he was up to Cox Plate class when he finished a good third to two world-class weight-for-age horses in Nayef and Golan in the £450,000 Juddmonte International Stakes (2000m).

Double Bet originally had Noverre quoted at 66 to 1 for the Cox Plate, dropping him to 40 to 1 after some specking and brought him in to 25 to 1 after Tuesday's run.

Jardine's Lookout, for whom a late entry was paid for the Melbourne Cup, disappointed at York, beating only one home in the £100,000 Lonsdale Stakes (2 miles) as 2 to 1 favourite.

The Sporting Life commentary on the performance read: "Tracked leader, ridden 3f out, soon outpaced and carried head awkwardly under pressure, rallied and kept on (going) inside final furlong".

"Although he beat only one home, he was beaten only three lengths, so it's not the end of the world," said Brian Taylor.

John Dunlop's Give Notice finished only one place ahead.

The odds for the three major spring races:

A$2.5 million Caulfield Cup:

$8 Magical Miss, Republic Lass; $10 Carnegie Express; $13 Distinctly Secret; $16 Don Eduardo, Elegant Fashion, Fields Of Omagh, Galroof, Sixty Seconds; $26 De Gaulle Lane, Northerly, Rain Gauge, Sky Heights, Universal Prince.

A$3 million Cox Plate:

$3.50 Lohnro; $7 Sunline; $8 Northerly; $10 Defier; $13 Carnegie Express; $16 Eishin Preston, Universal Prince; $21 Don Eduardo, Grandera, Magical Miss, Victory Rein.

A$4 million Melbourne Cup:

$8 Vinnie Roe; $10 Magical Miss; $16 Don Eduardo, Republican Lass, Universal Prince; $21 Cyclades, Distinctly Secret, Give The Slip, Prized Gem, Rain Gauge; $26 Carnegie Express, County Tyrone, Jardine's Lookout, The A Train.