THE former Aidan O’Brien-trained Homesman, winner of the 2017 Gallinule Stakes, raced into Cox Plate calculations with a strong win in the Group 2 Feehan Stakes at Moonee Valley on Saturday. At weight-for-age over 1,600 metres, the race carries a ballot-free entry into the A$5 million Cox Plate on October 26th.

Trained by Liam Howley, private trainer for Lloyd and Nick Williams, the War Front six-year-old was a two-length winner defeating the Magnus gelding Mahamedeis and the British-bred Best Of Days by Azamour.

“I can tell you that nothing in racing would mean more to us than getting our hands on a Cox Plate,” said Nick Williams. “We’ve tried many times and come up short but he’s certainly heading the right way. Since he’s been in this time, the Cox Plate has been his aim.”

AS per the past two years, the Peter and Paul Snowden-trained Redzel finds form at the start of spring. The winner of the two runnings of the Everest, worth A$14 million this year, primed that focus with a win in Saturday’s Group 3 Concorde Stake over 1,000 metres at Randwick, a third consecutive win in the event.

With regular jockey Kerrin McEvoy in the saddle, the Snitzel gelding led all the way to hold off the late closing Pierro horse Pierata with the Star Witness horse Graff in third. “Everyone wants to write horses off when they get beaten a couple of times but from our perspective the faith has always been there,” said co-trainer Paul Snowden of the $15.6 million earner. “We know what we’ve got. He didn’t need to be better, he just had to be back to where he was and that gets harder for horses when they get older.”